Of the many many people I know who live and work here and got jobs, not one has needed fluent french. In my company Spanish would be an asset. Mandarin goes without saying. The fact that the main advantage according to most of the people on this thread is working for the feds, sucking off the taxpayer, speaks volumes imo. French is not that useful, unless you're a bureaucrat.

I'm with you up to here. I know French is not very useful for business in Vancouver. It's not in Toronto either.

Here we very much part company. Firstly, one should not learn things, or have one's children learn things just because they are "useful". There's value in book larning for book larning's sake.

Secondly, learning a second language is a gateway to a third or fourth. French is the one offered by immersion schools, if there's a choice of Spanish immersion, Korean immersion and the like, then selecting a school becomes complicated but those are not options. The options are French or not-French.

Thirdly, Canada has chosen to offer affirmitive action to francophones (and in Ontario, Catholics), unlike the US where one would have to become black to benefit, in Canada one can make one's children eligible for affirmitive action simply by changing their language or religion, it seems silly not to take advantage.

There is use for French in Canadian business, francophones buy things, francophones are in power in some companies, some documents have to be offered in both languages, French people visit Canada and a child born in Canada might, one visit Europe. That, however, is not the compelling reason for immigrants to ensure that their children speak French, immigrant parents should do that as a gesture of embrace for the culture of the country to which they have moved, they should do it to give their children a chance to be Canadians, not just Americans with metric speedometers.

As a civil servant, and a taxpayer, I have to disagree. Us civil servants pay taxes the same as any other employee in Canada and my colleagues may even assist to provide the services that allow Expats to enter our great country.

I'm going to guess you were joking and I won't take that personally, I am very proud of what I do and where I work.

Personally, for me all learning is good learning and if I can provide my son the opportunity to challenge himself and take on an additional skill then I will. The fact is Canada is a bilingual country and I am proud that my child will be bilingual.

Completely agree with these comments.

But what is the "affirmative action" to which you refer (here and in another post)? Is this Federal hiring preferences or something?

Me too - growing up in the UK I studied French all through senior school and into university, learned German for 7 years at senior school and opted to study Spanish at university.

Though I do not use my languages in my job, I am grateful for the places they have taken me.

I am hugely jealous that my future children will have the opportunity growing up in Canada to study in French immersion school - being bilingual (almost effortlessly) instead of having to learn from scratch as a teenager/adult is such a bonus.

How many years will it be until Mandarin (or Cantonese?) becomes Canada's third official language? Or will its prevalence dismantle the whole "official language" policy. It does seem that it will be difficult to argue that French has official status in places like BC and Ontario when in fact Chinese speakers far out number French speakers, and will grow as time goes on.

^^^ This is why we have gone down the FI path., and piano lessons too I guess.

If its a benefit with employment options (federal or service industry) later on that is a happy bonus

When last I looked, a decade or more ago, French was the 9th most spoken language in Toronto. It's not official because it's widely used, it's official because, as a rule, Canada is governed by lawyers from Quebec. I don't foresee that changing.

You cant dismantle the official language policy, its too enshrined in the constitution for it to happen. Same as public and catholic education in Ontario, the history of the country/ province makes it untouchable.

There does seem to be more than a little resentment towards those with government jobs.

It used to be the norm that secure jobs with good conditions and benefits packages were commonly available. Now its increasingly rare outside of government and that seems to breed resentment. Its sad. People should aspire to that level, not try and drag others down like crabs in a bucket.

Affirmitive Action is government policy to advance the interests of one section of the population ahead of the rest of the population. Such policies are intended to reverse the impact of systemic discrimination in the past. An example might be the current South African and Malaysian governments' requirements that company boards include people of specific ethnicities. In Canada such policies exist to benefit Catholics, francophones and aboriginal people.

I don't know about that. It seems to me that there's something a bit dubious about aspiring to a position that allows one to, for example, take a lot of time off. It's not professional and it smacks of "I'm alright Jack". One cannot respect someone who works for, say, Canada Post.

Er, have you looked at a census recently? Catholics are not exactly a minority in Canada.

I don't think I claimed them to be a minority, just a beneficiary of an affirmitive action program.

Does it count as affirmative action when it concerns the largest single religious group in the country?