Her responses to my questions are quick, the more angry she gets the more he curly hair bobs around round. She talks so quick that sometimes she slips from English back in to French.

“She said I would never be accepted into that family because I am French,” said Michelle Gallant, about her boyfriend’s mother, Linda.  Michelle and boyfriend Nathan have been dating for over seven months. Michelle is an Acadian from Dieppe, New Brunswick, and Nathan grew up just across the river in Riverview.  Both now live the predominately English Fredericton.

“From the first time we met I could tell she didn’t really like me,” said Michelle. “My mom suggested that maybe it was because I am French. I thought maybe she was right, but hoped she wasn’t.”

Since their first encounter Michelle said Linda has been cold towards her. Their first meeting was not in the most ideal situation. It was in a hospital after Michelle and Nathan had been in a car accident together. That first day Linda told Michelle that she was not welcome in to visit Nick, as per his doctor’s orders. They later learned the doctor had said no such thing.

“After the accident I hoped things would get better, but it just kept getting worse. He [Nick] would have to ask his mom’s permission to visit me when we were home in Moncton over Christmas,” said Michelle. “I never felt welcome at their house either. They would hardly speak to me when I was there.”

What really proved to Michelle that she was not liked by her potential in-laws was the day she saw them in the mall. She wanted to be polite, so she walked over to them and said hello.  She said at that point they simply ignored her and walked away.

“That was my breaking point. I told Nathan we had to talk to his mother about this. We had to find out what was going on,” Michelle said.

So the next time Nathan went home he tried to talk to his mother. It was during this conversation that Nick’s mother told him that she was worried he was losing his culture from hanging around a French girl. She also told him that Michelle would never be accepted in their family because she was French.

“It’s awful, I just don’t understand how she can hate me for that. It’s not my fault I’m French. It’s not some thing I can change,” said Michelle.

It has put a strain on her relationship with Nick. She says its really difficult to be with someone knowing that his family will never like her.

“There are some days where I really wonder if I can be with him. I feel like at some point he is going to have to choose between me and his mom.”

Both French and English are official Languages in New Brunswick. In fact this year makes 40 years since the Official Languages act was passed, which recognized the two languages as equals in New Brunswick society.

Yet it does not seem surprising that Michelle is being discriminated against for her language. The Official Languages Commissioner hosted a one day conference to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the act. At this event he also presented a the results of a poll on New Brunswickers’ views on language in the province.

According to the data in this poll only 38% of Anglophones in New Brunswick support that Official Languages Act. Also 85% of Francophones said they were proud of living in Canada’s only bilingual province, while only 51% of Anglophones felt the same.

Signs of these linguistic divides became more apparent two weeks ago when the President of the University of Moncton, the province’s only French university, said there needs to be either more French healthcare workers, or a second French system. When news stories were published on the issues, there were hundreds of comments by Anglophones calling their linguistic counterparts greedy and saying the should just learn English.

Michelle said before meeting Linda she would have laughed off things like the poll and the news comments, but not any more.

“I used to think the French English divides were only between the older generation, but this has made me see there are still a lot of people in the younger generations that have some how hung on to this hate. It’s really discouraging.”