For English Speakers Only: An Early Mandarin Bilingual Program in Vancouver

• In Event: Race and Language Learning in Multicultural Canada

Abstract

This paper focuses on a recent controversy surrounding an early start Mandarin bilingual program in Vancouver in Canada and explores historical and ideological underpinnings of the exclusion of Mandarin-speaking children from the proposed program. Through critical discourse analysis (van Dijk, 2001), we examine publicly available information (e.g., YouTube videos of public meetings, local newspaper articles, and websites) and argue that a historical legacy of racism in Vancouver and a federal policy of multilingualism within a bilingual framework (Haque, 2011) favor a segregated bilingual education model.

Canada has implemented French immersion programs throughout the country, projecting a profile of a nation with progressive language education. Ironically, Canada lives up to this expectation only in regard to its official languages. For example, in Vancouver—a city resided in by many Chinese immigrants and ethnically Chinese families, no public school uses Chinese as a medium of instruction. This restriction forces immigrant children to assimilate culturally and linguistically into (double)monolingualism.

However, responding to the strong lobbying by English-speaking parents, the Vancouver School Board recently decided to start a Mandarin bilingual program at an elementary school. Yet, unlike two-way bilingual programs implemented elsewhere in North America, the program admits only English-speaking children, excluding Mandarin-speakers. The discourse analysis revealed that parents and local residents rationalized this exclusion by drawing on the ideology that regards monolingualism as beneficial for immigrants and the society (e.g., “Immigrant children want to learn English.” “English benefits immigrants’ social mobility.” “English unites us.”). Although many did recognize the benefit of bilingualism for English-speaking children, others rejected the teaching of Mandarin altogether arguing that it “contributes to balkanize Canadian identity.” The double-tongued discourse that idealizes multilingualism for English speakers while simultaneously devaluing multilingualism of immigrant students—typically children of color—has long been contentious in heritage language education in Canada (Cummins & Danesi, 1990). This reflects a lack of official recognition of languages of racial/ethnic groups other than those spoken by Canada’s two founding groups, signifying also a racial hierarchy (Haque, 2010).

While the inclination toward a segregated bilingual education model in multilingual/ multicultural Metro Vancouver is perplexing, what is equally puzzling is the fact that many second- or third-generation Chinese Canadian parents supported the monolingual ideology for immigrant children. This could be understood vis-à-vis a legacy of anti-Chinese racism in British Columbia (Stanley, 2011) with racial segregation followed by assimilation experienced by Chinese immigrants. We argue that this is not a case of discrimination against their own kind but rather signifies segregation between assimilated old-timer “visible minority” Canadians upholding symbolic whiteness (i.e., English-speakerness) and non-English-speaking newcomer immigrants of color. Here, the segregated bilingual education model, which was historically established as a result of a failure to bridge socioeconomic and religious disparities between Francophones and Anglophones in French immersion programs (Bousquet, 1979), embodies symbolic racial tensions. We suggest that educators and researchers committed to social justice need to find ways to actively participate in public discourse for anti-racist and anti-linguicist policy change.

Authors

• Ryuko Kubota, The University of British Columbia

• Ai Mizuta, The University of British Columbia