Canadiens players forced to learn French?

[HABsurd]

Though Habs related I thought we should keep the main board free of politics.

So you thought that the morass that is the reasonable accommodation debate in couldn't sink any further? Well, be warned that it seems to be a never ending pit of discontent.

The latest contributor is Guy Bertrand who accuses Saku Koivu of violating the language law. It seems that his pregame speeches are in English which means that he is not offering services in French to his fellow employees. Bertrand's solution: mandatory French language classes for all Canadiens players.

Naturally, the PQ found a hockey bandwagon that it could jump upon. When asked by reporters if Canadiens players should be forced to learn French, Marois responded: "Why not?"

For more details:

www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=81bc5a2e-a853-4e79-8bd8-d70d16958a75

In related news the Cardinal of Montreal is telling the commission that Quebecois would be more tolerant of the other religions if they just went to mass more often. No doubt he wishes to turn back the clock to the tolerant society that marked Quebec of the pre Quiet-Revolution.

Can't wait what wonders awaits the commission in the coming weeks.

[Polarice]

Well most players, English is their second language, For Saku for instance, French would be his Third language. I think people are pushing the issue a bit too much. Foriengn players should get a break on this issue.

However, Canadian players, should already have the basics in French from school, its not a big stretch, especially living in a French city, to pick up the language.

[HABsurd]

polarice said:

Well most players, English is their second language, For Saku for instance, French would be his Third language. I think people are pushing the issue a bit too much. Foriengn players should get a break on this issue.

However, Canadian players, should already have the basics in French from school, its not a big stretch, especially living in a French city, to pick up the language.

I agree completely. Furthermore, I think it is in a player's financial interest to learn French. As captain of the Habs, Koivu is foregoing a substantial revenue stream by not tapping into French language marketing.

What is most infuriating is how politicians are attracted to such phony issues, while ignoring substantive issues.

[Skilly]

For starters Saku is not violating any laws, because he is not the employer ... the Montreal Canadiens are the employer.

If Marois wants to jump on some wagon .. here is one. The Montreal Canadiens have 7 (if Streit speaks french which I think he does) french speaking players on the team (30%), and none of them wear a letter. The letters are Finnish, Russian, and American .... not one from english or french speaking parts of the country. Only 10 Canadians on the entire team.

The media like to speak to the leaders of the team (the letter guys) and are basically not getting the option to interview in the language of the land.

Now, do I think players who play for Montreal be forced to learn french? No, I don't .. would I like them to? Yes. However, I agree with Polarice that all citizens of Canada should have a passable comprehension of both official languages.

If this was such an important issue to the club (it is not my say whether people in Quebec feel this is important - that's their call), the the solution would be to offer incentives to the players to learn the language. Outright paying a playing $500k if he learns french is probably against the CBA - it isn't a performance bonus. But these GMs and business guys are suppose to be smart, I am sure they could come up with some way to get more players to learn the language.

If we force players to learn french, we will never attract players.

[HABsurd]

skilly said:

For starters Saku is not violating any laws, because he is not the employer ... the Montreal Canadiens are the employer.

You are absolutely correct. My original post was unclear. It is up to the company to enforce the language laws in the workplace.

At some point, the issue is; does one choose the carrot or the stick.

[habmeister]

this is just ridiculous, the same jerks that snuck into his hotel room to take pictures of him while he was recovering from almost losing his eye, get on their high horse and say he should speak french. the french media is pissed because the captain can't speak to them or give them interviews in french, big deal.

i find it comical that saku can speak french, but wont' because of the lack of respect he's received from the french media. good on him, he's stubborn, and until they treat him with more respect and stop harping on the language thing every year he won't be speaking french to them anytime soon.

i do however wish for some of the pre-game stuff he spoke french to the montreal fans, he's punishing the fans a bit for the tiff with the media.

[Cranky]

habdomen said:

Though Habs related I thought we should keep the main board free of politics.

So you thought that the morass that is the reasonable accommodation debate in couldn't sink any further? Well, be warned that it seems to be a never ending pit of discontent.

The latest contributor is Guy Bertrand who accuses Saku Koivu of violating the language law. It seems that his pregame speeches are in English which means that he is not offering services in French to his fellow employees. Bertrand's solution: mandatory French language classes for all Canadiens players.

Naturally, the PQ found a hockey bandwagon that it could jump upon. When asked by reporters if Canadiens players should be forced to learn French, Marois responded: "Why not?"

.

You said it in one word..........morass.

[Cranky]

skilly said:

If we force players to learn french, we will never attract players.

We don't. We don't even attract Frencophone players because they don't want to be a part of any of this.

[PTH]

This is ridiculous.

There's an article about Koivu in La Presse - it basically says he's learned French as well as guys like Steve Shutt, and just like him isn't comfortable giving interviews in French.

Koivu's kids speak French and according to Saku they'll soon speak better French than Finnish. He's living proof that the system works.....

I still think Koivu should find a way to speak French publicly (as much as a guy like Brian Savage, for exemple) - he'd become a God in town, just like Gainey and Robinson can do no wrong (or at least, Gainey as GM got an extremely long honeymoon), but that's up to him.

[Disgruntled70sHab]

As I said in the other thread, I think Koivu handled this very well. He doesn't seem to be too wrapped up in the political aspects of this issue ... in fact it doesn't seem to be an issue with him at all. Good on him.

This board however ...

Cheers.

[jimmyjazz]

I think most people who would like him to learn french don't do it because of hatred or xenophobia or I don't know what other thing some people might think. It's because they love the team and feel they're part of it as much as the players are, in a way. And they'd just love him to speak french, that's all. I see it more as an inclusive thing than anything else, but no one in the media will ever see it that way because i guess it just doesn't sell.

The sad thing in all this is that all it does is feed the extremes and ignorance on both sides.

And in the end, it's the organisation's business to think about taking care of this, not the players'. And in a way it serves them well when people say that because of that no one will want to come here, it attracts the attention away from the real issues of the team.

Personally i'd love it if saku did speak french publicly, i'm sure he does it well and many people would appreciate it a lot. doesn't make me intolerent or a xenophobe either, it's just something i'd like, I don't think it's that big a deal to feel such a thing.

[MC Habber]

Why restrict it to hockey players? Maybe Quebec should deny all non-French speaking entertainers the right to entertain in the province. Bono won't sing all his songs in French? Then U2 can't perform at the Bell Center.

[PTH]

machabby said:

Why restrict it to hockey players? Maybe Quebec should deny all non-French speaking entertainers the right to entertain in the province. Bono won't sing all his songs in French? Then U2 can't perform at the Bell Center.

Now now, Bono isn't settling down here, either.

I think it's legitimate for fans to want to hear their teams captain speaking their language. How would it look if Sundin didn't speak English ?

That being said, I'd rather have Saku speaking French in private when visiting hospitals than to have someone speak French to the media and not visit hospitals, start a foundation to buy major hospital equipment, and be generally involved in the community.

[MC Habber]

pth said:

I think it's legitimate for fans to want to hear their teams captain speaking their language. How would it look if Sundin didn't speak English ?

People would complain, but it wouldn't be a political issue. And if the Leafs were winning, I don't think there would be too much fuss.

[Skilly]

I've noticed Saku ending alot of his interviews this year with "Merci Beaucoup". Once he gets his comfort level up, I am sure you will hear more.

[Doc Holliday]

habmeister said:

i find it comical that saku can speak french, but wont' because of the lack of respect he's received from the french media. good on him, he's stubborn, and until they treat him with more respect and stop harping on the language thing every year he won't be speaking french to them anytime soon.

I sincerely wish this is not the case and that Saku's choice are not aimed to spite people or to stick it to them "separatists bastards"... So to speak... As I said alsewhere, I feel many people are recuperating this as a vehicule to their own frustrations... From both sides of the fence.

jimmyjazz said:

I think most people who would like him to learn french don't do it because of hatred or xenophobia or I don't know what other thing some people might think. It's because they love the team and feel they're part of it as much as the players are, in a way. And they'd just love him to speak french, that's all. I see it more as an inclusive thing than anything else, but no one in the media will ever see it that way because i guess it just doesn't sell.

The sad thing in all this is that all it does is feed the extremes and ignorance on both sides.

And in the end, it's the organisation's business to think about taking care of this, not the players'. And in a way it serves them well when people say that because of that no one will want to come here, it attracts the attention away from the real issues of the team.

Personally i'd love it if saku did speak french publicly, i'm sure he does it well and many people would appreciate it a lot. doesn't make me intolerent or a xenophobe either, it's just something i'd like, I don't think it's that big a deal to feel such a thing.

I completely agree with that and I think many feel the same way. We'd like for Saku to give us the 'ole hat tip or wink bu uttering a few french words every now and again but it's sure not the potitical or national issue that some make it out to be.

[jimmyjazz]

docholliday said:

habmeister said:

i find it comical that saku can speak french, but wont' because of the lack of respect he's received from the french media. good on him, he's stubborn, and until they treat him with more respect and stop harping on the language thing every year he won't be speaking french to them anytime soon.

I sincerely wish this is not the case and that Saku's choice are not aimed to spite people or to stick it to them "separatists bastards"... So to speak... As I said alsewhere, I feel many people are recuperating this as a vehicule to their own frustrations... From both sides of the fence.


I completely agree with that and I think many feel the same way. We'd like for Saku to give us the 'ole hat tip or wink bu uttering a few french words every now and again but it's sure not the potitical or national issue that some make it out to be.

Sad truth right there. the thing that I dislike the most about it is when people say « players won't want to come here because of that » (the whole french media obsession thing). The same people tell you that all they want is a winning team, no matter who speaks what language. Well, the same goes for players, and especially free agents, when it's time to choose where they'd play. So in the end, saying that this weights a lot in the balance is in itself making an issue out of something that shouldn't be. Works both ways.

In the end, it doesn't serve any good purpose. Most people's reaction vaccumms any intelligent and tolerent response, no matter what «side» they're on.