Canada debate online: ‘Should I stop learning French for Punjabi?’ netizens react

Canada debate online: ‘Should I stop learning French for Punjabi?’ netizens react

Toronto: The ‘Canada Craze’ among Indians continues due to liberal immigration policies. Natives debate learning Punjabi over French, one of Canada’s official languages. The ‘Canada Craze’ among Indians is not hidden from anyone. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s policy supporting a liberalised immigration regime has led to a large influx of people from several countries, including India (especially Punjab).

As a result, the country’s natives are left wondering whether it is the right time to learn Punjabi instead of French, one of Canada’s official languages. A recent post on Reddit drew attention to the problem with a satirical question: “Should I stop learning French to learn Punjabi?”

Despite the government’s reversal of its stance on Canada’s immigration policy, the country continues to attract a significant number of Indians.

The post generated hilarious reactions on the forum, with many declaring that Indians are taking the jobs of Canadian citizens. A Reddit user mentioned that English and French are Canada’s official languages and suggested that people avoid such opinions.

“English and French are the official languages of Canada. Punjabi is not. Let’s keep it that way,” commented a Reddit user on the post.

“I remember how US citizens would go on about “dem Mexicans are takin oour jobbs” and I’d just laugh. But now the Indians TRULY are taking our jobs AND our homes and won’t assimilate to a degree canadian born citizens are worried about getting a job because they aren’t Indian..,” wrote another user on the post.

Another user explained the utility of learning Punjabi language for people living in Ontario, Canada.

“If you’re in Southern Ontario, French is completely useless unless you want to be a French teacher, work for Service Canada, work at a call centre (which is nobody’s career goal), or mayyyyybe if you want to work at an airport (if one is even available where you live). Punjabi is indeed much more useful, and so would Hindi, Mandarin, and a few other languages,” read a comment on the post.

“Of those, Hindi is probably the least hard to learn, however since there are already so many people who speak Hindi and Punjabi natively, the odds that a white person will learn it fluently enough to compete with the hordes of people who speak it natively are slim,” the user added.

Canada immigration strategy

Immigration was seen as a solution to Canada’s ageing population and economic woes. However, a massive surge in the number of immigrants has proved to be counterproductive for the nation. According to Canada’s statistics agency, immigration in Canada accounted for 90% of Canada’s labour force growth in 2021.