The celts are not one group

[Liam]

I find this an interesting assertion.
I confess that I don't know a lot of geneticists, or persons directly involved in the field of genetics (only two), but it has not been my impression that geneticists, as such, have a tendency to blur the line between culture (which is a social construct) and heredity (which is a genetic link). I confess here that I am not really referring to "genealogists", as a practice or trade.

Rather, I would expect (and my own, perhaps limited or biased, experiences may play a role here) that geneticists would be fairly stringent in separating culture from heredity in their own conclusions, just as the most effective physicist might make a clear distinction between observed facts and any philosophical/religious speculation of the meaning of those facts.

Perhaps we have an issue of mismatched nomenclature; where one group of observers uses a word, such as "celtic", to explicitly refer to an hereditary (genetic) link, whilst another group uses the same word to refer to a cultural (social) link, resulting in some ambiguity about the meaning of such proclamations as this "headline" we're discussing now.

Exactly.....

[The Wizard of BC]

Exactly.....

Exactly - And this is why I was so specific that "Celtic" is a linguistic thing. It is not cultural nor is it genetic. You are not Celtic unless you speak one of the Celtic Languages. Your ancestors may have spoken one and therefore may have been Celtic.

You can't find language in a Genome nor can you see it from space. Language and Culture are intertwined only so far as it is hard to have a culture if you can't communicate.

[Father Bill]

For those who for whatever reason are interested, here is the Canadian Multiculturalism Act - Canadian law: http://www.solon.org/Statutes/Canada/English/C/CMA.html

[The Q]

It was interesting to see the way this thread developed, I would point out the headline of the thread was the BBC's headline to the piece on our National 18:00 news.

My own interest is one of history, the fact that regional population groups could still be recognised as agreeing with those from between the post Roman and pre Norman periods.
However how long this will go on I don't know, Even in the Outer Hebrides the number of Native speakers of the Gaelic has fallen by 20% since I lived there. Whether this is because of Incomers, or because Secondary education was taught in English, with many being sent off of the Islands to Inverness or Oban for schooling where Gaelic use was much less common I don't know.

I do know, that when I first went to Benbecula in 1971 there was one channel of very poor 405 Line TV (BBC1) and their view of the outside world was limited, when I returned in 1983 they had just got 4 full colour TV channels all in English, whether this is partly responsible for the change is debatable. Since then we have had another TV revolution as they, like everywhere else in Britain can get many Digital channels including a BBC Scotland Gaelic channel, which, if I choose I can watch Here in deepest Norfolk (off of FreeSat).
I have feeling that Gaelic will still continue to slowly lose out.

If Scotland were to introduce formal Gaelic language teaching for all as in Ireland (or Welsh in Wales) this may slow the decline. but I believe there would be resistance from the lowlands and quite rightly those living in the Kingdom of Strathclyde area could appeal for Welsh to be taught.
As to the rest of Gaelic culture the kids have been following popstars for years and generally have no interest in the "old peoples" way of life until they get much older (like me).