Bonjour, Voici pour vous laisser savoir que la Fédération des

Bonjour, Voici pour vous laisser savoir que la Fédération des

Bonjour,
Voici pour vous laisser savoir que la Fédération des communautés
francophones et acadiennes (FCFA) a fait parvenir une lettre ouverte au
Vancouver Sun, au Regina Leader-Post, au Saskatoon Star Phoenix et au
National Post en réponse aux allégations de « sabotage » rapportées la
semaine dernière relativement aux données du recensement de 2006.
S’appuyant sur la circulation, il y a 4 ans, d’un courriel anonyme
encourageant les francophones à ne pas divulguer leur connaissance de
l’anglais, le Ottawa Citizen, dans un article repris par d’autres journaux
du groupe Canwest, a mis de l’avant la théorie d’une « conspiration
francophone » et d’un « effort coordonné pour manipuler le recensement de
2006 afin de garantir du financement pour les programmes pour les
francophones ». Le Citizen a repris cette idée dans un éditorial intitulé
Numbers Racket, publié le 2 juin. On y parle notamment d’une « tentative
coordonnée et malhonnête des francophones afin d’obtenir davantage d’argent
pour des programmes francophones ».
Marie-France Kenny a donné des entrevues au sujet de cette histoire la
semaine dernière à Radio-Canada. En réalité, les francophones n’ont rien {
gagner en terme de financement pour des programmes, qu’ils soient unilingues
ou pas. De plus, lors du recensement de 2006 la FCFA et l’ACF ont envoyés
au réseau et à la population une consigne demandant aux gens de répondre
correctement aux questions du recensement.
Voici le texte de la lettre envoyée aujourd’hui aux quotidiens de Canwest
par la Présidente de la FCFA Marie-France Kenny, nous attendons voir si la
lettre sera publiée:
To the Editor:
A recent article that appeared in several CanWest newspapers has unjustly
and unjustifiably called into question the integrity and reputation of
“thousands” of Francophones from outside Quebec by alleging a mass
conspiracy to manipulate the census and defraud taxpayers. Regrettably, the
article did not include several key facts that would have changed the tone
and substance of the story by nullifying the conspiracy theory on which it
is built.
While the article correctly refers to a warning posted on the Statistics
Canada website that some of the data on the bilingualism of Francophones
“may not be” reliable, it does not add that Statistics Canada has stated
publicly that many factors could explain the unusual data. The article also
refers to the circulation of an anonymous email, encouraging Francophones to
avoid divulging their knowledge of English, as the instigator of this
attempted coup on data. No mention is made, however, of the significant and
public efforts made at the time by Francophone groups themselves to
discredit the email and urge all citizens to fill in the census form
truthfully. This additional information would have greatly altered the
perception created by the article. After all, how can a mass conspiracy
exist if the community itself is arguing against the recommendation of an
anonymous email? Instead, and despite the evidence, the insinuation that
“thousands” of Francophones participated in a fraudulent exercise is allowed
to linger.
More troublingly, the article betrays a lack of understanding of the
Official Languages Act, Charter rights, and the rationale for
French-language services by drawing a link between bilingualism among
Francophones and the provision of French-language services when none exists.
Governments do not provide these services because Francophones do not speak
English. They do so because their first language – an official language –
is French. The Francophone community could be 100 percent bilingual and it
would change nothing to their Charter rights or the government’s obligations
to provide French-language services under the Act. An important national
newspaper chain such as CanWest ought to know that.
Tensions between linguistic communities in our country rise and fall. To
ease those tensions, it is up to leadership organizations such as CanWest
News Service to debunk myths and promote understanding. By portraying
Francophones as a conspiratorial special interest group in an incomplete and
inaccurate article, this newspaper has failed in this most fundamental task.
Marie-France Kenny
President,
Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada
Suzanne Bossé
Directrice générale
FCFA du Canada
(613) 241-7600
<mailto:[email protected]> [email protected]
<http://www.fcfa.ca> www.fcfa.ca