Learn French, Canada, it’s good for you!

Beyond this, scientists have already figured out that bilingualism is actually good for the “little grey cells,” as the famously smart and bilingual Hercule Poirot would say. People who learn two languages tend to have “thicker” brains, which leads to more positive outcomes in healthy aging and cognitive functions. More recently, Canadian neurologists found groundbreaking evidence that bilingualism may even delay the onset of Alzheimer’s.

If bilingualism can improve our brains and keep us lucid longer, why haven’t we been able to harness that opportunity in an officially bilingual country? As English becomes the global language of the 21st century, people all over the world are rapidly becoming bilingual and, presumably, smarter and healthier, boosting their global comparative advantage. Why can’t Canadians do the same, learning both English and French as a matter of course and, at the same time, strengthening our national character?

This is not as much of a pipe dream as it sounds. The real reasons for our blockade against bilingualism in Canada have to do with institutional structures, cultural effects and political choices.