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L’Etat, C’est Moi
In Quebec, where francophones and immigrants are already prevented from sending their children to English-language public schools, the leader of the Parti Québécois has come out in favour of extending the policy to daycare centres as well. Such a policy would be easy to implement, since Quebec has an extensive program of government-subsidized daycare. It will be interesting to see whether Quebec parents welcome this further incursion into their children’s upbringing.
Quebec parents are well aware that the ability to speak English is a definite asset in an English-dominated world and, if they can, they often ensure that their own children become fluent in English. Both Jacques Parizeau and Lucien Bouchard, former leaders of the PQ and premiers of Quebec, sent their own children to private English-speaking schools.
To what extent can a state legitimately restrict the rights of its citizens in the name of the public good? There are difficult trade-offs here, but our two cents’ worth is that the preservation of the French language is not as important as the preservation of the right of parents to decide their children’s education.