Values and choices of exogamous couples

Editor’s note | Increasing numbers of francophones outside
Quebec are forming exogamous couples. This trend is
evident not only in Alberta and Western Canada, where three
francophones out of four choose a partner from another
language and culture, but in every province and territory.
The same holds true even in many communities in New
Brunswick, Canada’s only officially bilingual province. New
Brunswick is also the source of much research in fields
related to Acadian and francophone life in a minority setting,
including education.

The Centre de recherche et de développement en éducation
(CRDE) of the Faculté des sciences de |’éducation at the
Université de Moncton promotes and supports educational
research and development in a minority francophone
environment. The following article, taken from a report
prepared for the Réseau d’appui a l’intégration des enfants
des ayants droit au systeme éducatif francophone du
Nouveau-Brunswick, is the fruit of research and reflection
by three CRDE members. It is intended for francophone-
anglophone couples, which account for the vast majority of
exogamous couples in Canada.

Introduction

If you have one or more children and you form a couple in
which one parent is a francophone and the other an
anglophone, this article will be of interest to you. Your couple
reflects Canada’s linguistic duality; it embodies the country’s
two official languages and is shaped by francophone and
anglophone culture.

Like all good parents, you want to do what’s best for your
children, and you plan to make the best choices possible
when faced with decisions that affect their lives. You may
find these choices and decisions daunting because of the
influence they’ll have on your children’s well-being.

By REat ALLARD, CAROLE EssiEMBRE AND SyLviE ARSENEAU

Magazine ConnExXions, FPFA, p. 10-15

“What language(s), culture(s) and language
of education do we want for our child?”

The presence of two languages and cultures in your couple
opens the door to enriching experiences, but it also means
you face certain challenges. Like other exogamous couples,
you may be worried about passing on your language and
culture to your children. Maybe you’ve asked yourself the
following questions: Which language(s) and culture(s) do
we want them to have? How can we do it? Which culture
would we like our children to identify with? What’s the best
choice for their education?

This article will help you find answers to some of your
questions. It’s intended to provide you with information that
will help you make better-informed choices for your children
regarding language(s), culture(s) and education. Your
choices, decisions and behaviour toward language and
culture within your couple reflect or will reflect some of
your values.

Your values in relation to your
children’s education

To gain a better idea of your values regarding your children’s
education, consider the following questions:

¢ What are our values in relation to language and
culture?

@ Do we as a couple value each of our languages and
cultures?

¢ Is it legitimate and fair, or even desirable, for each of
us to value his or her language and culture and wish
to pass them on to our children?

¢@ Within our couple, what importance do we give to
French, the minority language, and to English, the
majority language in Canada?

@ What levels of written and spoken proficiency do we
want our children to reach in English and French?

¢@ Would we like them to value English and French
equally?

¢ What relations would we like our children to have
with the francophone and anglophone communities?

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Jufo-Parents