April 26, 2004
Second-Language Programs in B.C.
MLA Statement

R. Lee: Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend the annual general meeting of the British Columbia Heritage Language Association. This organization represents over 150 organized language programs in British Columbia which offer instruction in international language education — languages other than English or French. More than 35,000 students are currently enrolled in international language programs across British Columbia. Over 1,000 instructors are involved in teaching these languages in our community.

           With the 2010 Winter Olympics on the horizon, we are once again preparing to welcome the world to our beautiful province. Isn't it nice that British Columbians can give our visitors a warm welcome by conversing in their own languages? In fact, our youth are learning many languages in our community, including Amharic, Armenian, Mandarin, Cantonese, Dari and Pashto, Farsi, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Kurdish, Nepali, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Sinhalese, Spanish, Swedish, Tagalog, Tamil, Fanti, Ewe, Ukrainian and Vietnamese.

           International language education programs provide young people with opportunity not only in learning a communication skill but also in intellectual, social and cultural development. Many governments recognize the advantages of a multilingual population in economic development and the importance of second-language education. Alberta has just confirmed its commitment through a provincial education policy that mandates second-language education for all students from grade 4 to grade 9.

           British Columbians must rise to accept this challenge. I believe that we already have the advantage of a large multilingual population. All we need to do is expand on this advantage by implementing a strong second-language program in our school system as well as supporting the community-based language education programs.