Islamization of Canada update. From the Jewish Tribune, with thanks to Scaramouche:
MONTREAL — For many years, it was the norm that English was the dominant second language throughout Quebec’s primary and secondary francophone schools.
But if recent school enrolment trends continue, that linguistic status wil no longer be the case. English will be replaced by Arabic. And it could happen as early as next year.
According to figures that were released last week by Quebec’s Ministry of Education, there has been a sharp increase over the last five years in the number of students enrolled in Quebec’s French schools whose mother tongue is Arabic. It increased from 12,731 students in 1999-2000 to 18,084 in 2004-05. On the other hand, the number of English-speaking students increased from 17,313 in 1999-2000 to only 18,649 in 2004-05.
The explanation for this growing trend is twofold: the province’s immigration policies — which benefits applicants from francophone countries — and provisions from the language law Bill 101, which makes it mandatory for children of newly-arrived immigrants to Quebec to attend French schools.
“The English-speaking population is not growing,” said Jack Jedwab, executive director of the Association for Canadian Studies, in an interview with The Jewish Tribune. “And with Quebec continuing to accept more immigrants from Arabic-speaking countries, especially those that have French as a second language like Algeria and Morocco, parents of those families are sending their children to French school by law; it is clear to see why Arabic is quickly eclipsing English as the main second language in those schools.”