The Status of the French-language in Québec

Over four decades ago, John Porter published his seminal work The Vertical Mosaic: An Analysis of Social Class and Power in Canada. Published in 1965, this work examined the distribution of power and wealth in Canada and argued that there was a vertical mosaic in Canada. That is to say that the ethnic groups were aligned in a vertical hierarchy with some ethnic groups having greater economic clout than others. At the top of the hierarchy was the Anglo-Saxon economic elite with French-Canadians much farther down and Canada's indigenous populations at the very bottom.

Porter's findings did not mean that every Anglo-Saxon in Canada was wealthy, but it did signify that as a group, they did much better than all the others. Their average incomes, for example, was much higher than all the rest and they owned a much larger proportion of Canada's wealth, industry and businesses.

John Porter's research had a tremendous impact on the country. It certainly inspired Canadian policy on multiculturalism. The goal was to give all Canadians equal access to the country wealth. Such research also pushed change in Québec, including pushing the provincial government to adopt Bill 101. This bill is most famous in Canada for its French-only regulations regarding signs (which was overturned in part by the Supreme Court), but the major thrust of the bill was to promote a greater equality between French and English speakers. It sought to promote the use of the French langauge as a language of work, thus allowing greater social mobility for French-speakers.

In many ways, the bill was a success: French-speakers have made tremendous gains when it comes to average income and overall social status. However, bilingual French-speakers are at a distinct advantage: they have on average the highest wages along with bilingual English-speakers. Unilingual French-speakers in Québec fare even worse than unilingual English-speakers in the province, even though they represent over 80% of the population. However, the gains have been substantial.

The National Post published recently an article examining these gains made by French-speakers in Quebec. Below is an excerpt from the article.

Francophones are increasingly taking charge of the Quebec economy and closing the salary gap with anglophones in the province, says a C.D. Howe Institute report.
Francophone ownership of public- and private-sector businesses in Quebec grew from 47.1% to 67.1% from 1961 to 2003, according to study results released Tuesday.

The report, entitled "Laggards No More: The Changed Socioeconomic Status of Francophones in Quebec," appears on the eve of the 30th anniversary of passage of Bill 101, provincial legislation governing French in the workplace and in schools.

The relative income gap between anglophone and francophone employees has narrowed in the three decades between 1970 and 2000.

But while francophone workers are catching up fast, the report says the average income of unilingual francophones in 2000 still lagged behind the incomes of unilingual anglophones and bilingual workers.

The average income of unilingual francophone males was $29,665 in 2000, compared with $34,097 for unilingual anglophones, the report said. Bilingual anglophone and francophone workers earned average incomes of $38,745 and $38,851, respectively.

Being able to speak only French or English had less impact on women's salaries during that same period. But bilingual women generally earned more. In 2000, bilingual francophone and anglophone women earned average incomes of $26,644 and $26,247, respectively, compared with unilingual francophones ($20,786) and anglophones ($23,002).

English- and French-speaking allophones have generally seen their earnings decrease by comparison with francophone salaries since 1970, the report showed.
The average income statistics did not take into account the workers' respective education levels or experience, noted Yvan Guillemette, senior policy analyst for C.D. Howe.

The report, which updates previous studies on language and income, was co-authored by Francois Vaillancourt, an economics professor at Universite de Montreal, Dominique Lemay, an economist with Tecsult, and McGill University law student Luc Vaillancourt.

The authors note three factors that might have played an important role in the changing fortunes of francophone and anglophone workers:

• A significant departure of anglos from Quebec from 1970 to 2000 in reaction to provincial language laws, the threat of separatism, head-office relocations, and economic booms elsewhere;

• Growth in Quebec's public and private sectors, providing more jobs for qualified francophones;

• Increased purchasing power of francophones, who demand goods and services in French.

The study did not lead to new public policy recommendations, Guillemette said, but the authors did reiterate previous suggestions, including the compulsory use of French on signs, in addition to other languages; businesses to serve the local market in French; use of French as the language of work in Quebec; and French as the common language of all students, from kindergarten to Grade 3.

The C.D. Howe report is one of several studies that the Office quebecois de la langue francaise expects to review or produce in the lead-up to 30th anniversary of Bill 101 on Aug. 26, spokesman Gerald Paquette said yesterday.

This article demonstrates the role of the state in promoting greater equality. A proactive state, in this case the province and the federal government with official bilingualism, helped French-speakers gain greater social mobility.

The question remains as to why unilingual French speakers are still at the bottom of the heap? Though the research does not examine why this is the case, I can hypothesize as to the causes. The knowledge of English is tied to locate and education: an individual who has a university education is more likely to know some English and a higher education is correlated with higher earnings. Likewise, a French-speaker in Montreal is more likely to come into contact with the English language and as this is the economic center of the province, this will also provide job opportunities and better salaries than are generally available in more distant regions far from Montreal and the Saint Lawrence valley.