Grabbing a bilingual bite difficult at the U of O
THERE SEEM TO be two schools of anglophones at the University of Ottawa: That which takes issue with our school’s bilingual agenda and that which doesn’t.
Personally, I’ve always considered myself to belong to the latter group. I’m content to listen through French messages first, and I won’t complain if I have to scroll down an extra page or so to get to my English message.
As a non-bilingual student of a self-proclaimed bilingual university, I’ve frankly always been proud of the strong language culture that surrounds me. Until I tried to buy a sandwich, that is.
I think all signage should be written in both languages. I don’t think that’s too much to ask. With dual-language signage, French speakers can read in their native tongue, English speakers can understand just as easily, and bilinguals can take their pick. Everybody wins, right?
Clearly this demand is just too over the top for our campus Quiznos. Despite the obvious need for both official languages to appear on their signage, the sandwich shop has chosen to have theirs exclusively in French.
Call me crazy, but I think it’s important for students to be able to make informed choices about what they eat. We live in a world where food allergies are a dime a dozen, and with a campus chock full of exclusively anglophone students, French-only food signs are unacceptable.
I don’t care where you put the English information, and I could not care less about what size the font is; all I want is to know is what’s on my damn sandwich without having to worry about my throat closing up.
I shouldn’t have to grapple with francophone food workers and hold up the line for 15 minutes just to find out what I’m eating. I don’t understand why, for one restaurant, this is too much to ask.
Safety concerns aside, it’s disrespectful to English-only students on our campus to exclude the language entirely from any signage. If we can put so much effort into ensuring a strong French presence on campus, we should at least do the same for our other national language. This is Canada’s bilingual university, after all. I’m not asking for any special treatment here, just for a little bit of equality at lunchtime.
—Jaclyn Lytle
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As if we live in ontario, a primarily english speaking province and have to deal with French… I live in Hull and I’ve noticed the double standard, is it too much to ask for a Stop with my arret?
Oui. Loi 101. Éduque toi ;)
with all do respect….accept that you live in Hull which is in Québec…..a French Province, therefore they are not required to have bilingual signage. New-Brunswick is the only official bilingual province, Québec is French and all of the others are officialy English.
Glad I’m not the only one who noticed this insanity. Signs at our school should not be in Feench only, we are in Ontario afterall.
You chose to study at the U of O… a bilingual university. Well, maybe you should think about learning sooome french. You wouldn’t have to wait in line 15 minutes trying to figure out what you’re eating if the sign is in french only.
Think about all the times we, french people, have to read a label in english because there is no french translation (and yes, this happens all the time at the UofO). Well, we deal with it — although it’s frustrating –, because that’s just the way things are.
Makes me laugh to see that ONE sign in french gets english students upset. Really. Wow.
You understand that there are other factors that draw uni-lingual students to uOttawa other than bilingualism, right? Bilingualism is ONE of the benefits the university offers. Bilingualism is not mandatory. The Quizzno’s sign is a small example of where the lack of bilingualism has become a hindrance to students.
Are you really that upset that an Anglophone student expressed their views? The University of Ottawa’s largest Anglophone news paper is the perfect forum to express an Anglo’s discontent toward a university that fails to meet its own bilingualism standard.
This article doesn’t discredit Francophones that have to struggle with anglophone signs. Just as there are people who only speak English, there are people here who only speak French, but you aren’t preaching to them about learning English.
The same thing happens with English-only signs. French students get super angry. If it’s BILINGUAL it’s BILINGUAL. Not one or the other. BOTH. There should be no segregation whatsoever. Again, BILINGUAL. Yes we chose to go here, and yes we knew it was bilingual. However, everything should be both because of that bilingualism. And as someone with severe food allergies, restaurants on campus should require both. The point is that english-only speaking students can’t say anything because of responses like that. It NEEDS to go both ways, or it’s a faulty system. It’s only fair.
This school is so french biased its riduculous. Why do all the signs have french first? Why are most if not all the support staff Quebecers? Why does uOttawa give special academic and financial priveledges to francophones. I can assure you that no french uni’s give scholarships to anglophones. French people only account for about 30% of the student population but get treated better. What a waist of time and money this “bilingualism” crap is.
It is amazing to me that you would go and make these accusations without looking up information first. UofO is the one of the only 2 bilingual university of the province, and the largest bilingual university in north america. The reason why so much much money is reserved for Francos is because that is our mandate. We receive funding from the province of Ontario and from the Federal government to have programs offered in French, and to encourage the French population to study at uOttawa. It’s not that the money is given to french students, it’s that the money is given to the university for THEM. There isn’t a lot of choice for French students academically wise if they want to study in their mother tongue. I completely agree that the signage should be in both language, whether the complain comes from a franco or an anglophone. The reason why French is first is because THAT IS WHAT THE GOVERNMENT DECIDED.
And for the record, McGuill gives a great amount of scholarships to their largely anglophone student body. As does Concordia.
And Quebec staff ? Wake up, there are francophones all over Canada and outside of Quebec. It’s not just at uOttawa, if you want to work anywhere and actually move forward, you better put in a few hours in those FLS classes… Our country is bilingual, deal with it
First of all, U of O was founded as a French university. Believe it or not, up to the 70′s, the vast majority of students were French Canadians, hence the French “bias” you’re referring to. It is still in U of O’s mission statement to serve the French Canadians in Ontario.
To do so, staff have to be bilingual. Who’s bilingual in this country? Mainly French Canadians. If more anglophones put a bit of efforts into learning French, they too would be able to get office jobs at U of O and in many other places where bilingualism is an asset, when not a prerequisite.
As for the academic and financial privileges you’re mentioning, I must point out that the French Immersion Program for anglophones has no English counterpart. Francophones don’t get extra credits for taking classes in their second language, they get graded by the same standards as the native speakers and they don’t get any language-related support to follow an English course.
Amen Jean!!
Really? There are scholarships at Mcgill and Concordia funded through the Quebec government specifically to anglophones for which francophone Quebecers are ineligible?
My quarrel is not just with uOttawa it is with how Quebec is treated by Ottawa (Federal government), Canada constantly appeases Quebec on every issue, why is Quebec considered a Nation, its just a province. Everybody harps on Ontario for getting equalization payments but nobody mentions Quebec who gets almost 3.5x more (largest equalization payment btw). I kinda wish Quebec did separate so we wouldn’t have to put up with this bilingual crap when only 22% of Canada speaks french, the only thing id miss are the few good hockey players for Team Canada and Mcgill University (an English university)
PS. couldnt figure out where to put it, I cant even imagine how much money is wasted to get French training for government employees just so they have that certificate but never used french in their day to day work, huge waste of my tax dollars. Also maybe i wouldnt be so frustrated about this topic if Quebec acted fairly, why is it that every single road sign and message be in French and English in Ottawa, but right when you cross over to Hull theres not a word of English in sight,
Lastly, Hell No i will never take an FLS class, everything in this country and uOttawa should be in English, with english first and more prominently. One of the only reasons i go to this “bilingual” school is because its on the 95 route…
Get OVER it, you BABY! Either take an FSL class or shut up. Ottawa is bilingual, it will ALWAYS be bilingual, and you can either accept it or go to a different school – instead of sitting around and complaining like a whiny baby.
Hope you live at home so your mom’s around to wipe your sad tears. :’(
Please don’t tell me you are a student at this University? Huge waste of MY tax money to fund that apparently useless education of yours, that makes you have uneducated and racist comment like these ones. There minorities in every country. In civilised ones, we don’t kill them nor say they should leave the country. Get over it, it’s been like that for centuries now. The American melting-pot is just South. Please go.
You seriously need to shit up and grow up a bit (a lot).
You don’t know what you are talking about… it’s a bit sad.
Thank you for the advice, I really appreciate it, when you’re bilingual it doesnt really matter, but when you werent brought up in Quebec or taking immersion its pretty hard to learn a new language when you’re older, so yea you seem like a super mature person and you know what you’re talking about, ill get over it,
Its a shame that 1000′s of skilled Canadians are Forced to learn a language just because Quebec is being a whinny bitch about retaining its “culture and heritage”
Again thanks Britt for the advice, appreciate it friend, oh yea my mom is there to support me, at least she didn’t kick me out at the first chance possible :)
It’s not that hard to learn a new language. Especially at this school. So like I said, learn the language, move, or stop complaining.
Bitch is an offensive word. Don’t use it. People from Quebec are not the only ones who speak french in this country. Educate yourself. French-Canadians are CANADIANS and deserve the same right to language and heritage as everyone else.
Stop acting like your rights are being violated. And while you’re at it, stop being so painfully ignorant.
As a bilingual student, I have to kind of agree with the article. While I understand what the sign says, I prefer to be served in English. The signs should be bilingual. And I absolutely agree it goes both ways. Unilingual English signs need to be in both languages as well. We should have a choice in the language we are served in at the University, and the cafeteria, (as shitty as it is) is no exception. That goes for the workers too, who rarely address me in English.
Hey Boo
Just to quote you “You have freedom to say what you want about religion. I have the freedom to call you an asshole if what you say is offensive”
I can say what ever the fuck I want, saying Bitch, does not insight hate.
and painfully ignorant about what again?
ps so you would say for an anglophone with a full course load and maybe a part time job with a decent social life would find it easy to completely pick up a new language at this university, give me a break you “bitch”
I’m so sick of this French/English bullshit. Only a small percentage of people in Canada have French as thier 1st language. THERE ARE MORE PEOPLE IN CANADA THAT SPEAK MANDARIN AS THEIR 1ST LANGUAGE THAN FRENCH!!!! And Cantonese. Technically, our 2nd language should be one of those.
If Quebec wants to keep there French, fine. If Ottawa U wans to be a billingual Uni in Ontario, fine. But it is outside of Quebec, therefore should be legitimately 100% billingual, and advisors and teachers shouldn’t all be Quebecois.
I speak intermediate French, and when I go to MTL for the weekend they know by the way I speak that I’m English and I don’t get given the time of day in retail, and get bad attitude from waiters. But I still go cause I like the shopping, and I don’t complain. Outside of Quebec, we hear all this complaining about how French needs to be around too, well you don’t cater to me when I’m in Quebec so enough is enough. White people are becoming minority in Canada, so get over yourselves and lets try and be buddies and watch hockey and drink beer alltogether ok?
Ottawa U is a University, a place for adults wanting to further their intelligence…so act like it. So glad I chose Carleton over this B.S. Go to Carleton Jaclyn! :)
my friend, you need to check out the stats can website and respond to fact:
Here are the numbers for the 2006 census (by mother tongue):
- English 17.8 million
- French 6.8 million
- all chinese languages 1 million.
I’ve included the relevant link (in French): http://www40.statcan.ca/l02/cst01/DEMO11A-fra.htm
You’re exactly the kind of ignorant person that derails debates.
And all that is besides the point too. If ther were only 100 francophones in the country and uOttawa still committed to bilingualism, they should be held accountable to it.
UO is an extremely french-biased institution, regardless of what anybody says. It’s one thing to preserve French culture and another to shove the language down people’s throats. Every student is entitled to be equally successful in education, work, and in this specific case, purchasing food whether we speak English and/or French. Discriminatory policy on language – specifically against the Anglophones – is unacceptable.
This whole situation makes me realise that possibly french people have been more tolerant than english over the years bcz they’ve never felt like a minority.
I come from the only officially bilingual province and in my french village we speak english to english people to serve them better, not because we are trying to stop them from learning french.
I THINK SIGNAGE SHOULD BE BILINGUAL, I have worked at stores (in Ontario) where the labelling is only in english because the company is american and the company doesn’t bother putting them in both official languages.
I would say this situation is pure laziness on Quizno’s part, this is not about UO having an agenda to wipe out english or something, come on! You’re going off the deep end if you think that, this is Canada.
there are more people who speak french than mandarin
ps. i could write this in french as well but i know all the french people reading this can read english too
Everyone knows that the signs in the cafetaria ARE bilingual, right? So the whole premise of this article is flawed?
She even went on Sun News, and they showed videos of the signs, and the SIGNS ARE BILINGUAL. Any sign that was only french is ENGLISH ON THE OTHER SIDE. This doesn’t make any sense. Why is this an article!?
THE QUIZNOS SIGN IS BILINGUAL. LOOK AT IT.
Have you looked at the sign? It’s not very bilingual. It tells you the name of the sub i.e. “Turkey Ceaser” (in very small print mind you) Ok, fine. But all the ingredients that will be on the sub are in french only.
so what, last year it was only in English, did I went to see the Devoir for it?
I must say that this one of the most ignorant pieces I have seen in 7 years reading the fulcrum. As a francophone who studied a long time at the U of O, food service is the one area that uni absolves itself from billingual service. They outsource to catering companies who don’t care who they hire. In my experience if the person isn’t african at the caf there’s a 90% chance that they won’t speak French at all. If we tried to go on tv every time that happened they would stop taking our calls after 45 minutes.
Now picture this young lady, imagine if you paid the same full tuition you pay now but tomorrow you had a much lower class selection. This the reality of any francophone student today. As time goes one we have LESS class selection but we pay the same price that the fairplay englishmen do. We are told by the administration, too bad take an English class you are allowed. Imagine how much more airtime you would get on conservative trash tv if this b.s. was YOUR life.
Our frustration from signage seems foolish to you but it comes from trying to erase the ill effects of conquest and colonization. You being upset is a small frustration in your day that really comes from a superiority complex. You guys really wish you had went all the way when you had to chance to erase us. Hearing the tiniest bit of French is enough to send many U of O anglos into a seething racist rage.
Don’t be fooled, this is an ethnic and not linguistic battle in your red coat heart.
I am frankly shocked and saddened that the Fulcrum would entertain this ignorant nonsense on their pages.
Who are you to say this is nonsense. obviously people feel strongly about this. thats why there commenting
ps im sure more people in canada speak one of thr chinese languages than french
pss if u really want to take classes in french go to a university in the so called french Nation of quebec
Spelling mistakes aside, are you SURE you are attending your UOttawa classes? Your arguments lack basic critical thinking and are not only inaccurate but deeply flawed.
(1) 22% of the Country translates to slightly above 1 in 5 Canadians.
(2) Ontario is an officially bilingual province
(3) Canada was founded on the notion of the 3 founding peoples (I.E French, English and First Nations), giving constitutionally entrenched rights to those founding nations. So your comment about Mandarin China being the second official language is as stupid as it is childish.
For those who live and study in Ottawa and don’t know the other official language, I dare say you are lazy and missing out on an enriching and incredible opportunity.
Nick, if you’re going to assert that French shouldn’t be respected as a language in Canada outside of Quebec, then at least you should write your message in proper English. Your comments are about 75% spelling/grammar mistakes. It’s “they’re”, not “there”. The first letter of the first word in a new sentence takes a capital letter. “I’m”, not “Im”. if you don’t want to use contractions, you can use “I am”. This correction came from a Francophone, born outside of Quebec. It’s not that it’s too difficult for you to take a FLS class. You just have problems doing basic things like reading and writing in your mother tongue, and probably doing basic things like additions and subtractions, tying your shoes and breathing through your nose.
As a Francophone, I can absolutely sympathise with the author of this op-ed. It is unfortunate that the signs lack much English (other than the names of the sandwiches).
I take exception to those who have shown poor judgement in their comments. I think it’s disrespectful that many comments above have suggested that the author learn French. Especially for those, such as myself, who have been educated in French since kindergarden. If the signs were printed in English only, Francophones would most definitely have noticed and, in all likelyhood, a very similar piece would have appeared in La Rotonde. Therefore, far from being ignorant or lazy, the author reveals that sometimes even Anglophones must stand up for their language rights.
Also, see this clip from the Brian Lilley’s show on Sun News Network “Byline”: http://www.ottawasun.com/2011/10/25/french-favouritism
Ottawa U is the most bilingual university in Canada. Despite that, if there is a bias in the sense that people knowing only one language can’t be accomodated by university services, that bias is not against the anglos! All that this girl can whip out is a “french only sub shop”. I have been unable to speak in French with way more uOttawa officials / employees than that. (employees, at the cafeteria in the student center, employees and doctors at the on-campus medical clinic, refs and employees in sports services… and the list goes on for a long time)
I applaud the fact that the Fulcrum printed this issue, but I am appaled at the author appearing on Sun News Network to fight her case on francophone bias at the University of Ottawa. Knowing the reputation of Sun News (Canada’s Fox “news” network), I am ashamed as an anglophone that she appeared on this show. I want to apologize to the university community at large for bringing the idiots who run the station into this situation and discussion.
There are some specific issues in regard to bilingualism on campus but the big picture issue of language representation on campus is 50/50, I think. Both the anglophones and the francophones on campus have things to be proud of and things to complain about. Only French signs in the caf, only anglophone professors grading assignments handed in in French, employees who speak very little English in positions were 100% fluency is required… I think we could go back and forth all day.
Coming from Nova Scotia, where the population of native French speakers is nowhere near as large as Ontario, my knowledge of the French language was very basic upon moving to Ottawa. Having spent four years on campus, my French has improved leaps and bounds from just hearing people converse in French. Mind you, I won’t volunteer my French skills immediately, but in a situation where basic communication is needed in my second language, I feel I’ve learned enough to get by.
If you don’t feel comfortable speaking French or have no basic knowledge of the language, ask someone on campus or in line next to you to help out. Chances are, they speak some French. With a student body of almost 40000 students, chances are you’ll find someone within earshot to help you.
Ignorance cannot be your only argument. Take the opportunity to enrich yourself and inflate your resume. I can guarantee that if you put any mention of skills in the French language, an employer will pick you over someone who doesn’t speak a single word of French.
ok I went to Ottawa U and some things are english only, some french only but those are clearly honest mistakes. Ottawa U is bilingual AND in Ontario… still it is bilingual. I wouldn’t ask french service at Mcgill or Concordia,… they are english AND in Quebec. The “university” in Hull is french so stop using that as an argument. There is no problem… with the bilingualism at Ottawa U. There are alot of real problems all around us, people are starting to stand up for good causes, revolutions are going on. This whole french-english crap is old, tired and SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO boring. Merci, c’est vraiment n’importe quoi !
A lot – in fact, most – of these comments are super asinine and well beyond the scope of this article.
I really hope other schools don’t see these comments. Many of you really make uOttawa look like a school for uninformed rednecks and bigots.
Ann Coulter said, “I’m guessing the scores to get into the University of Ottawa are not very challenging.” Please stop proving that woman right.
As a recent graduate of the university I can whole heartedly say there is a definite French bias. The most recent example I can even point out is my convocation. While the speeches given at my presentation started out with English and french explaining both sides; it quickly changed. Several of the presenters simply slipped back and forth between the languages mid-speech and anyone who was unilingual would not be able to follow. In fact the majority of speeches continued on in French even though it was an English degree convocation. I am all for bilingualism and promoting both languages but the fact is I have seen the mistreatment at the university when being only able to speak English. I loved my time at U of O but this issue always left a bitter taste in my mouth. I always was spoken to in French by administration upon first contact and then at times was dealt with in a different attitude once it was discovered I was anglophone. Why must all university contact be done in French first than english following? If it was equal I would hear “hello” half the time when calling administration instead of always “bonjour”. Every letter or notice I received always emphasized French first and English second. Hopefully something can be resolved as maybe a third party needs to step in and assess the REAL level of “bilingualism” at the university. As for those saying that if you are not bilingual you should go somewhere else then you are the most ignorant of all. Grow up. There are other reasons to attend a university other than language choice. If it is truly “Canada’s University” than everything can be equally in canada’s languages.
This reminds me of a Simpsons episode:
Homer is trying to build a BBQ:
“Arggh… English side ruined… must use French…
Le Grill? What the hell is Le Grill”?
Bilingualism means that you’ll eventually have to communicate in both languages. It cannot be 50% English, 50% French ALL the time, but you should realize that francophones are faced with “unequal” situations way more often than YOU do. Stop crying and educate yourself.
J’ai étudié à l’Université d’Ottawa au courant des dernières cinq années et je suis Franco-Ontarienne. Yes, that means that I am from Ontario, not Quebec, and I speak french. I came to this university to study Fine arts, a program that is supposed to be bilingual. My first year classes were offered in french and there were english classes for those who wanted to be taught in english. After my first year, all of the other classes were to be bilingual since the group was smaller. Funny thing is, I only had two profs who actually spoke french AND english in the classes during my second year. After that? English only, since the majority of students could not understand the french part of the class. I almost failed a final exam because apparently, I couldn’t articulate my thoughts well enough in english for a certain prof that was in fact, not bilingual. I had to speak english in the last three years of my bachelor’s degree and struggle to get good grades because of it and you’re saying that it’s disrespectful and unjust to english students when a sign that is supposed to be bilingual, is in fact, bilingual…? Réveille-toi ma fille! Il y a des problèmes plus gros que ton sandwich au fromage et jambon au lieu d’un « Ham and swiss ».
One more thing… I find this so ironic. We are a country of two languages, are we not? we are expected to bend over backwards for bilingualism here in ontario but the second you step into quebec its all french all the time. Whenever you try to speak in english there or ask for help for something I have gotten the cold shoulder many times for my language.
Well, same goes when I go pretty much anywhere in Canada outside Quebec, New Brunswick and Ottawa. Nobody can understand “my language” (French). That you can get by everywhere in the world knowing only English is certainly one of the greatest myths of your time. Get out of your ghetto.
Maybe you should have a look at the stats on bilingualism, before making such irrelevant comments.
http://www12.statcan.ca/census-recensement/2006/as-sa/97-555/p13-fra.cfm
In 2006, 42,4 % of francophones (aged 21) were bilingual.
The same year, only 7,4% of anglophones outside Quebec were bilingual.
It simply is NOT true that you can’t speak english in Québec. And since anglos simply don’t speak french, well in the end, even the non-bilingual francophone still probably know much more english than the opposite – so the conversation ends up in english.
And being a UofO alumni, I can’t help but laugh at how silly this example really is, and how many lies have been written in this article (and repeated and augmented on ConservativeNews) about the actual situation of English at this institution.
The actual number of English students is skyrocketing when compared to French students, many French-speaking classes are canceled, French students have to endure profoundly incompetent (language wise) professors who are obligated to teach in French, yaddi yaddi yadda.
Yet you complain for an effing sandwich?!?
I guess I should’ve left the English version of StatCanada’s link… ;)
http://www12.statcan.ca/census-recensement/2006/as-sa/97-555/p13-eng.cfm
Suck it up
Jean, you just proved my point. Clearly the world is unfair and true bilingualism is a myth. I never said I could get by everywhere in the world with English. But if Canada is a country of English and French then I should be able to get by in Quebec just the same with English should I not? Clearly this board is falling into the lovely trend seen on the internet of unhappy people writing nasty unintelligent comebacks. I am quite happy in my “ghetto” and no helen I will not suck it up.
Michael, you’re right that Canadian bilingualism is a myth… especially in English Canada! But U. Ottawa remains bilingual as part of its mission!
Here’s the difference:
-Franco in an English province – switches to English.
-Anglo in Québec – whines
try speaking french in Alberta or anywhere out west, you will get ignored….Because we are in Ottawa, the bilingual issue seems to be more important because it is the nation’s capital. New-Brunswick is the same situation, as it is the only bilingual province in Canada. People will never be happy either way. In Québec, even though my mother tongue is french but I do not have a “Québec” accent, they will switch over to english. They just like to see an effort being made as Québec is a french province. I`ve never gotten the cold shoulder, must be some stuck up french people….
As a parent of a recent graduate, it was quite disapointing to attend the convocation and not understand the majority of what was being said. Fair is fair, as my child was graduating in a English degree convocation it would have been nice to know what was happening. So in reply to the above comments, NO, I will not “suck it up” nor will I be considered a whiner…its too bad this has left a bad feeling on an otherwise happy four years…
Please see my comment below.
Wow… poor you Jaclyn. Imagine been one of the many franco-ontarians who are face with this everyday! I cannot get service in French about 75% of the time in Ottawa. It is a good thing I can manage in English because there are very place who have French speaking employees or French menus and signs… It is a bilingual province, therefore you either adapt by learning the language or eat elsewhere. Simple as that!
The University of Ottawa’s mandate is to be a bilingual university.
French is arguably more at risk than English.
French therefore requires more attention from the administration.
That being said, I do agree that both languages should appear on things like signs.
But I think anglophones should also realise that there is a consistently higher volume of classes being offered in English. If you ask me, that’s significantly more important within a University experience than a sandwich sign.
Get over yourself. How can you go on television and possibly say that it is hard to find classes to learn French at Ottawa University? Are you that ignorant or you simply refuse to learn French?
As a student of the other ”bilingual” university in Ontario (Laurentian), I have to say I know what it’s like to be on the other side of this kind of debate.
Of course we’ll get the ”We’re in Ontario, everything should be in English” discourse, but the fact of the matter is that Canada is a bilingual country and U of O and Laurentian are both bilingual universities.
These are the last places where these kinds of arguments should take place. I’ve yet to understand why FSL (and ESL for that matter) aren’t mandatory for all programmes. The signage should be bilingual, yes, but if students looked around U of Ottawa, I’m sure they would find that the sandwich sign is the least of their worries when discussing bilingualism.
The same can be said about Laurentian.
To ”English mom”, I’m a recent graduate of a 4-year programme at Laurentian University (the other bilingual university in Ontario) where I completed my B.A. spécialisé en Histoire (that’s what’s printed on my diploma, my programme was entirely in French). The convocation ceremony had a majority of French speakers (coincidence) yet the ceremony was done probably upwards of 80 % in English. Why don’t I get equal treatment, even though I dished out 20 000$ and four years of my life to get this sheet of paper?
Bilingualism is a bigger issue than sandwiches, and if anyone wants to get anywhere, they’re going to have to stop being idiots and be proactive.
I don’t think you’re really taking in the issue of sandwiches. Like, if they don’t have bacon, it’s a pretty big concern.