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I find this extremely embarrassing. I'm all for the protection of French in Quebec; but stupid decisions like this makes us look bad internationally and make no

I find this extremely embarrassing. I'm all for the protection of French in Quebec; but stupid decisions like this makes us look bad internationally and make no sense at all. I went to Laval University too, and guess what: my whole thesis, not just one chapter, was in English. Yet, I didn't speak English until I was 18. Am I not French enough for Quebec? I hope the employee who made this call will get in trouble. English is the language of science at the international level; mandating theses to be written in French (universities don't actually mandate this, but immigrants could now be scared to write it in English) will limit the reach of Quebec's science.

FpUser 7y ago
"I hope the employee who made this call will get in trouble" Government employees could get in trouble for many reasons. F..ing up living person's lives with moronic decisions is not the one though. Look for example at "Windrush scandal" in UK. The action of the government in my eyes are pure human rights crimes. Good luck finding any person from a government held responsible (never mind put in jail where they belong).
jkaplowitz 7y ago
I don't support the original decision either, but the blame does not belong on the immigration officer for following an unreasonably strictly worded rule requiring studies to be "entirely" in French. Yes, most officers don't read this particular rule literally, but immigration rules in general do and should apply literally instead of assuming that officers will always violate what the rule says in favor of contradictory judgment calls. The fix should include replacing "entirely" with whatever they actually mean in the rules for the program. Most similar eligibility criteria in other contexts use phrases like "main language of instruction", some variation of which would work fine.
klyrs 7y ago
The funny thing for me in all this is that I'm an immigrant from the US, a native English speaker whose education was 100% English (including my PhD earned at a Canadian university). And yet, I was required to take English language tests in order to get permanent residence.
908B64B197 7y ago
What's embarrassing is the political spin CBC (and the NYT) gave to that story and the multiple omissions. All this girl had to do is pass a standardized test and add it to her application. She was warned when she started her PhD program years ago.

FpUser 7y ago

"I hope the employee who made this call will get in trouble" Government employees could get in trouble for many reasons. F..ing up living person's lives with moronic decisions is not the one though. Look for example at "Windrush scandal" in UK. The action of the government in my eyes are pure human rights crimes. Good luck finding any person from a government held responsible (never mind put in jail where they belong).

jkaplowitz 7y ago

I don't support the original decision either, but the blame does not belong on the immigration officer for following an unreasonably strictly worded rule requiring studies to be "entirely" in French. Yes, most officers don't read this particular rule literally, but immigration rules in general do and should apply literally instead of assuming that officers will always violate what the rule says in favor of contradictory judgment calls. The fix should include replacing "entirely" with whatever they actually mean in the rules for the program. Most similar eligibility criteria in other contexts use phrases like "main language of instruction", some variation of which would work fine.

klyrs 7y ago

The funny thing for me in all this is that I'm an immigrant from the US, a native English speaker whose education was 100% English (including my PhD earned at a Canadian university). And yet, I was required to take English language tests in order to get permanent residence.

908B64B197 7y ago

What's embarrassing is the political spin CBC (and the NYT) gave to that story and the multiple omissions. All this girl had to do is pass a standardized test and add it to her application. She was warned when she started her PhD program years ago.