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With these facts in mind, I ask Mr. Somerville to contemnplate the francophone within Canadian society. These people do Mr. Somerville also makes the startling revelation that the Quebecois are primariâ€" !y concerned with protecting their lanâ€" quage and culture within the province of Quebec. This is not news. The French were granted rights of protection in 1763 after the English took control of Quebec. Closer to home, Quebec has been officially French only since 1976 when the Quebec National Assembly passed Bill 101. This law was recently struck down as unconstitutional, and subsequently replaced with Bill 178, also declaring Quebec a unilingual provâ€" ince. through the use of the now infamous "not withstanding" clause. Nor is it strange that they should be concerned with the protection of the culture within Quebec. Ask yourself, where else would protection of Quebecois culture be a reaâ€" sonable endeavor? There you have it. In Canada we have a bilingual federal system, and a collection of bilingual, and unilingual provinces, Firstly, he is concerned that Quebec should not be granted control over its internal language policies, for fear that all other provinces would then demand equal footing. The truth of the matter is that Quebec. and all the other provinces and territomes already have their own lanâ€" guage laws in place. For instance, Ontario is officially English only; however, French services are provided where the population concentration makes it necessary This is an open letter in response to the letter "Bilingualism on the way out" by Mr= David Somerville of the National Citizen‘s Coalition. Indeed the position of Mr. Somerville is a regrettable one. He fails to understand the position of francophones in our society, and has grave misconceptions about the strucâ€" ture of language laws within our country. Perhaps I can shed some light on the situation for him. Time to set aside petty differences PAGE 6 â€" WATERLOO CHRONICLE. WEDNESDAY, MAY 22, 1991 > mmess e qs mc e is p ce ; + t peraaesmen 3?&3&; #3 e Wo $ex 5 aBe ; 3 Eo $ Â¥ s y se @i \o s % § s m m m j 6 4 s i $ Priee \. T. 3 S{&‘ smcs . yw.ls ~ + â€"] | §§ 1 \| N A Ej B ; § ce ne 0 oo ol urt ts s j s 1 P w e o oes hi se ,. 3 & o \ %;‘ C [ [ * N [\ & i:;’,,ggb@gfi $Â¥3 _ % ‘*5.‘ % 5 3 ANVI E bo PRDVE: Wt es ie es #5. ouck % | o : §, (.% §V§$« L c aAty ... t s & ## j C * k Frcd t - _ . §§‘ en se k * « s3 > . 3 es â€"» F d .A f _A es c colk. e se lt o. > e """% . 5’ e k ism F .\ m f e ucss e ies 3 & s d o _ " m _ @ie â€". . s o e e . CR ecpeanieiar ie t es Rirreni im sn ies mtc ts daes i tniieieerrcon, ies i ons ol winietien meonn . *n Waterloo Chronicle is published every Wednesday by Teresa Clemmer Gerry Mattice Don Steeves Display Advertising: Maureen McNab Pete Cudhea (Sports editor) Keren Adderley Deborah Crandall News Editor: Melodee Martinuk Chronicle The Fairway Group Incorporated 215 Fairway Rd. S., Kitchener, Ont. President: Paul Winkler Waterloo Town Square 75 King St. South, Suite 201 Waterloo, Ontario N2J 1P2 Telephone News Line Fax. No. tm 1 886â€"2830 886â€"302 1 886â€"9383 Publisher: Rick Campbell Circulation: Mary Baycroft Jerry Fischer Ray Lakhan Anita Auernigg Circulation Manager: Greg Cassidy Major Accounts: Bill Karges Mr. Somerville, take a trip to Quebec this summer, See the people and the culture you so readily dismiss. Learn a second language, whichever one you may choose. I think that you will learn things about others, about yourself, and we will all be better for your effort The time has come to lay aside petty differences. Step into the new age, or the world will move on without you. In closing, it is sorrowing to see that in the new age of the global village there are people who would cut themselves off from the rest of the world because of lauguage. The purpose of existence is to bettter oneself, and in learning a second language, you are opened up to a new world of ideas and opinions. In this world, 42 nations speak English and 33 speak French: in Canada we are given the gift of having both. I thank the Ontario school system for teaching me to speak French, so that I might communicate more freely throughâ€" out the world, to see more that what is going on in my own back yard. It is truly shameful that an organization known as the National Citizen‘s Coalition should bear witness to the fact that many within our society are still bigoted against that which they do not understand. Subscription rates $40 yearly in Canada, $70 yearly outside Canada +GST Well, Mr. Somerville, if that is what you believe, then nothing I can say will change your mind. I am hopeful that you have an open enough mind to realize that a populaâ€" tion block the size of the one we are dealing with should not be required to divest itself of a centuriesâ€"old language and culture just to satisfy the closeâ€"mindedness of this nation. not become French speaking simply to inconvenience everyone; they are francoâ€" phone from birth. The everyday life of a Quebecois francophone is, not surprisingly, conducted in French. Now picture this person, who cannot speak English, being handed a tax return printed in English. Sir, I ask you, could you fill out a tax return in French? Russian? Spanish? Unâ€" daubtedly, your response to this is "Let them learn English." af Ameres Kryston Wesselink Bobcaygeon YOU 71 and unity. Public schools are being handed over to the Catholic school system â€" this on top of new schools being built at everyone‘s expense. I don‘t claim to be a good Christian, but I I i uc com io e lnnam ie ennnnom n en esmm We have in this province a situation interest groups. brought about by the policies of the three _ A united and equal Canada is not on the stoogies, i.e., Bill DavisDavid Petersonâ€" horizon. Bob Rae. While talking about unity and H.F. Hodges eqtéality. thoise three politicans introduced Waterloo and passed laws giving special treatment *eomunmmatermmemtatommntcometsmmmme to the Unilingual French and Roman l.ettal’s poncy Catholic school systems at the expense of $ all other taxpayers. So much for equality 'The _Qhron{cle _‘Ye_lco_m‘jP 1?“@“ to the It was interesting to read your Editorial Comment pertaining to the sneaky and behindâ€"theâ€"scenes activity of the Waterloo Catholic School boards. Does this really surprise you? _ LETTE Politicians a threat to Canadian unity "Yes, if someone is on the 401 and going to Waterloo they have to know where they are going." "Definitely. Absolutely 100 per cent." Should Waterloo have a sign on the 401? Julie Dietrich Kitchener Brian Kendall Waterloo editor. They should be individually signed with name, address and telephone number and will be verified foraccuracy. Nounsigned letters will be published and the Chronicle reserves the right to edit. All men (and women) are created equal, and this is as it should be, but the politicians of Canada have divided this country because of their stupid policies of giving preferential treatment to special interest groups. _ _ _ was taught that it is in giving that we receive and the continual grab by the Catholic School system System is contrary to the 8th commandment. ©"You bet. We have our own business. We have difficulty explaining to our customers to get off at the Kitchener exit." ‘‘Yes. A lot of people think of it as Kâ€"W â€" there‘s two population signs." Lynne Gollob Waterloo Sandra Baker Waterloo