Bilingual Today, French Tomorrow.

This book, written by Jock Andrews in the mid-1970s, expresses deep concerns for the English language after Pierre Trudeau’s vision of a bilingual country would be realized.

Mathew Glenn read the book in 1982 and took it with a grain of salt. But today, as the president of the Anglo Society of New Brunswick, he says its message about English being relegated to second-class status is coming to fruition.

“When I read that book, I thought it was a bunch of baloney,” he said. “But I’ve read it several times since and every word that man wrote is coming true.”

The Anglo Society was established in 1992 with a mission statement centered on the protection of the culture and heritage of English-speaking people in the province. Glenn says the group is no different than other cultural groups such as the Scottish, Irish or Acadian Society.

“Our goal is to preserve our language and culture as the others do,” he said.

The ASNB says it has no political affiliations but has tried to talk with government officials from all three levels about its concerns, with very limited success.

“None of them want to touch it,” Glenn said. “They more or less say it’s a non-issue, that’s they’re favorite word when it’s brought up.”

Dr. Richard Myers is a political science professor at St. Thomas University. He says the ASNB may not be getting the attention or explanation it deserves, but it’s because the problem is now a non-issue.

“When the (bilingualism) regime was first introduced there were hardships and problems and the government’s attempt to address those was the best they could do, but not fully satisfactory,” Myers said. “Consequently in the eighties it was an issue people could legitimately squabble about.”

“But the Anglo Society is really digging up an issue that was settled many years ago. There isn’t much of a case to be made today.”