(Redirected from Bilingualism in Canada)
Bilingual (French/English) sign for Preston Street (rue Preston) in
Ottawa, placed above a sign marking that the street is in
Little Italy. An example of bilingualism at the municipal government level.
'Official
Bilingualism in
Canada' refers to laws and policies that makes both
English and
French the official languages of Canada.
Official languages are addressed in the ''
Constitution Act, 1867'' (section 133), the ''
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms'' (sections 16 to 23), in the ''
Official Languages Act'', and
Official Language Regulations [1]. These laws establish the equality of status of English and French in federal institutions and guarantee the rights of English or French linguistic minorities in Canada.
At the provincial level, only
New Brunswick is officially bilingual (under
section 16 of the
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms), though all provinces offer some services and education up to high school in both official languages. All three territories are officially bilingual. Several aboriginal languages are also official in
Northwest Territories, and
Inuktitut is an official language in
Nunavut.
Personal Bilingualism in Canada
Main articles: Languages in Canada
According to the 2001 census, only 17.65% of Canadians can speak both English and French, and over 80% of the population is unilingual in one or the other of the two official languages. Language knowledge is largely determined by geography. In Quebec, 95% of the population knows how to speak French, and in the rest of the country, almost 99% of the population is capable of speaking English. This means that less than 2% of the population is unable to use at least one of the two official languages.
[2]
In geographic terms, personal bilingualism is largely limited to Quebec itself, and to a strip of territory sometimes referred to as the “
bilingual belt”, that stretches east from Quebec into northern New Brunswick and west into parts of Ottawa and northeastern Ontario. About 40% of Quebec residents and but only 10% of non-Quebeckers claim to be bilingual. Thus, a majority of bilingual Canadians are themselves Quebeckers, and a high percentage of the bilingual population in the rest of Canada resides in close proximity to the Quebec border.
Federal Legislation on Official Languages
Constitution of Canada
Main articles: Constitution of Canada
English and French have had limited constitutional protection since 1867. Section 133 of the ''
Constitution Act, 1867'' guarantees that both languages may be used in the Parliament of Canada, in its journals and records, and in court proceedings in any court established by the Parliament of Canada. This section also establishes an identical set of linguistic rights for French and English in Quebec--but not in any other province.
The ''
Constitution Act, 1982'' entrenched much stronger and more detailed guarantees for the equal status of the two official languages in sections 16-23 of the ''
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms''. Sections 16-19 guarantee the equal status of both languages in Parliament, in all federal government institutions, and in federal courts. These sections also mandate that all statutes, records and journals of Parliament be published in both languages, with the English and French versions both holding equal status before the courts.
Section 20 guarantees the right of the Canadian public to communicate in English and French with any central government office or with regional offices where there is "a significant demand for communication with and services from that office." Significant demand is not defined in the Charter of Rights. One of the purposes of the Official Languages Act of 1988 was to remedy this omission.
The Charter of Rights includes similar constitutional obligations making
New Brunswick the only officially bilingual province in Canada
[3].
Section 23 guarantees publicly-funded primary and secondary school instruction in their own language to children whose parents meet the following criteria:
★ at least one parent of the child must speak, as his or her "mother tongue", the language in which an education is being sought; and
★ at least one parent must have received his or her primary school instruction in Canada in the same official language in which an education is now being sought for the children.
Educational rights are not absolute. For one thing, the rights attach to the parent, not the child. As well, non-citizens residing in Canada do not have access to this right. If the parents' English-language or French-language education took place outside Canada, this does not enable the child to be educated in that language. Finally, the right to receive public funding can only be exercised in localities where "the number of children of citizens who have such a right is sufficient to warrant the provision to them out of public funds ...."
[4]. Because the key phrase, "where numbers ... warrant" is not defined in the Charter of Rights, and because it has not been possible to create a defintion within a single federal statute, as the Official Languages Act has done for federal services, disputes over the extent of the right to a publicly-funded minority-language education have been the source of much litigation.
Official Languages Act
Main articles: Official Languages Act (Canada)
Canada adopted its first ''Official Languages Act'' in 1969, in response to the recommendations of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism. The current ''Official Languages Act'' was adopted by the
Parliament of Canada in 1988 to improve the 1969 law's efforts to address two basic policy objectives: (1) to specify the powers, duties and functions of federal institutions relevant to official languages; (2) to support the development of linguistic minority communities. As well, following the adoption in 1982 of the Charter of Rights, it was necessary to create a legislative framework within which the Government of Canada could respect its new constitutional obligations regarding the official languages.
[5]
In addition to formalizing Charter provisions in sections I through IV, the Act adopts several specific measures to achieve these objectives.
[6]. For example, Part V specifies that the work environment in federal institutions in the
National Capital Region (Canada) and other prescribed bilingual regions be conducive to accommodating the use of French and English at work
[7]. Part VI mandates that English-speaking Canadians and French-speaking Canadians not be discriminated against based on ethnic origin or first language learned when it comes to employment opportunities and advancement.
[8].
Finally, the Act establishes a Commissioner of Official Languages
[9] and specifies his duties to hear and investigate complaints, make recommendations to Parliament, and delegate authority in matters pertaining to official languages in Canada.
[10]. Canada's current Commissioner of Official Languages is
Graham Fraser.
[11].
Official Languages Regulations
''Official Languages Regulations'' on the use of English and French in communications with the public and the delivery of services to the public were established in 1991. They set out the circumstances in which federal institutions are required to provide services in both official languages
[12].
These regulations define the English or French linguistic minority populations based on census data using population estimates by First Official Language Spoken
[13]. Regulations are complex, but basically an area of the country is served in both languages if it has at least 5,000 persons or 5% of the population belonging to English or French linguistic minority populations.
[14]
Language Policy in Canada's Provinces and Territories
In Canada, education falls under the jurisdiction of the provinces. Historically, provincial governments have had a decidedly mixed record of offering minority-language education. However, since 1982, Section 23 of Canada's ''Charter of Rights'' has obliged all provinces to provide schools in both official languages, up to the high school/secondaire level.
New Brunswick
Of Canada's ten provinces, only one (
New Brunswick) has voluntarily chosen to become officially bilingual. New Brunswick's bilingual status is constitutionally entrenched under the ''
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms''. Sections 16 - 20 of the ''Charter'' include parallel sections guaranteeing the same rights at the federal level and at the provincial level (New Brunswick only).
★ Section 16(2) is a largely symbolic statement that "English and French are the official languages of New Brunswick" with "equality of status";
★ Section 17(2) guarantees the right to use English or French in the New Brunswick legislature;
★ Section 18(2) states that New Brunswick's laws will be bilingual, with both texts being equally authoritative, and that official publications will be bilingual;
★ Section 19(2) guarantees the right to use either official language in all New Brunswick court proceedings;
★ Section 20(2) guarantees the right to receive provincial government services in either official language.
Quebec
French has been the only official language in Quebec since 1974, when the Liberal government of
Robert Bourassa enacted the
''The Official Language Act'' (better-known as "Bill 22"). However, the province's language law does provide for limited services in English. As well, the province is obliged, under Section 133 of the Constitution Act, 1867, to allow the provincial legislature to operate in both French and English, and to allow all Quebec courts to operate in both languages. Section 23 of the Charter applies to Quebec, but to a more limited degree than in other provinces; Quebec is required to provide an education in English to all children whose parents were educated in English in Canada, while all other provinces are required to provide an education in French to all children whose parents were educated in French anywhere in the world.
In
1977,
Quebec introduced its ''
Charter of the French Language'' (better known as "Bill 101") to promote and preserve the French language in the province, indirectly challenging the federal bilingualism policy. Initially, Bill 101 banned the use of all languages but French on commercial signs in the province, but those limitations were later loosened by allowing other languages on signs, as long as the French version is the most dominant. Bill 101 also requires that children of immigrants residing in Quebec attend French-language public schools; The children of Canadian citizens who have received their education in Canada in English may attend English-language public schools, which are operated by English-language school boards throughout the province. The controversy over this part of Quebec's language legislation has lessened in recent years as these laws became more entrenched and the public use of French incerased.
[15]
Quebec's language laws have been the subject of a number of legal challenges. In 1988, the
Supreme Court of Canada ruled in the case of
Ford v. Quebec (A.G.) that the commercial sign law provisions of Quebec' Bill 101, which banned the use of the English language on outdoor signs, were unconstitutional. In
1989, the Quebec National Assembly invoked the
"Notwithstanding Clause" of the Charter of Rights to set aside enforcement of the court ruling for five years. A UN appeal of the 'McIntyre Case' resulted in a condemnation of Quebec's sign law — regardless of the legality of the notwithstanding clause under Canadian law. In response, in
1993 Quebec enacted amendments to the sign law, availing itself of the suggestions proposed in the losing 1988 Supreme Court ruling by allowing other languages on commercial signs, subject to French being ''markedly predominant'' .
On
March 31,
2005, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled unanimously that the interpretation of ''major part requirement'' in Quebec's ''language of instruction'' provisions, limiting access to English-language public education, violated the
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Court did not strike down the law but, as it had done in its 1988 ruling on sign laws, presented the province with a set of criteria for bringing the law into conformity with the ''Charter of Rights''.
Elsewhere in Canada
Although no Canadian province has officially adopted English as its sole official language, English is the ''de facto'' language of government services and internal government operations in Canada's eight remaining provinces. Service levels in French vary greatly from one province to another (and sometimes within different parts of the same province).
For example, under the terms of Ontario's
1986 ''
French Language Services Act'', Francophones in 24 designated areas across the province--but not in other parts of the province--are guaranteed access to provincial government services in French. Similarly, since 2005, the City of Ottawa has been officially designated under Ontario provincial law
(''City of Ottawa Act'') as being to officially bilingual.
French and English are official languages in all three of Canada's territories. As well, several aboriginal languages are also official in
Northwest Territories, and
Inuktitut is an official language in
Nunavut.
History
Official bilingualism in various forms dates back to Canadian Confederation in
1867. Section 133 of the ''
British North America Act'' decreed that "The Acts of the Parliament of Canada and of the Legislature of Quebec shall be printed and published in both those Languages [ie. in both English and French]", and also mandated the use of both French and English for parliamentary debates, parliamentary publications, and federal court cases. An identical set of provisions, regarding the equal status of the two languages in the legislative and court processes, was entrenched for the new province of Quebec, but not for any of the other provinces, which continued to operate in English only.
However, for many decades French was given a ''de facto'' inferior status at the federal level. At the provincial level, the use of French, especially in education, was on several occasions curtailed in English-majority provinces. Notable examples are:
- the
Manitoba Schools Act (1890), which abolished French as an official language of the province and removed funding for Catholic schools (which in practice meant all French-language schools); and
- Ontario's
Regulation 17 (introduced in 1912 and not repealed until 1927), which forbade the use of French as a language of instruction after the first year of school, unless the pupil was unable to speak English because of "defective training", and banned the teaching of French after the fourth year of school.
Bilingualism in its more extensive modern form began with the ''
Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism'', which started work in
1963 and eventually led to the original
Official Languages Act in
1969.
In
1970, the
Federal Identity Program, entailing the equal use of both English and French in all federal applications, was established to standardize a corporate identity for the Canadian government. In the mid 1970s, the
Royal Military College of Canada in
Kingston, Ontario became institutionally bilingual and began to offer many programs in both English and French.
In
1974, the ''Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act'' required the use of both French and English on all consumer packaging across the country; bilingual packaging remains one of the most visible aspects of bilingualism for the Canadian general public resulting in this aspect of bilingualism sometimes being termed "cereal box bilingualism". Furthermore, most highway signs in
Eastern Canada are
bilingual, including all of
New Brunswick's.
Panoramic View of the Royal Military College of Canada.
In
1982, the ''
Constitution Act, 1982'' (which the government of Quebec did not endorse) required provinces and territories, under
section 23, to make education available in both official languages where numbers warrant. It also added the ''Canada Clause'', extending minority language education rights across Canada.
In
1988, a second version of the ''Official Languages Act'' was introduced, taking into account the new requirements of the ''Charter of Rights''. Several minority parents challenged the provincial education authorities at the Supreme Court level over what "where numbers warrant" exactly meant. In most cases if not all, they were successful against the provinces, the most recent case being the one of some
Acadian parents of
Summerside,
Prince Edward Island [16].
Support and opposition
Although over 80% of Canadians support official bilingualism
[17], the bilingual policies of the government are controversial to those who support the
Quebec sovereignty movement and to some
conservatives.
Some, mostly English-speaking Canadians living in provinces with small French populations, resent the federal bilingualism policies as unnecessary and excessive government regulation, and for those opponents, the presence of French on Canadian products and road signs is a constant reminder of the policy. Many French-speaking Canadians in Quebec, though benefiting from the inclusive labeling law, resent the federal bilingualism policies just as strongly, seeing them as an attempt to dilute their language and culture with English. Quebec's
anglophone community, like their Francophone counterparts throughout English Canada, tend to be for rather than against the policy. Support for bilingualism appears to be strongest in the area known as the
bilingual belt, covering parts of Ontario, Manitoba, western Quebec and Montreal, and the areas of the
Maritimes, and weakest in western Canada, though there are supporters and opponents in every part of the country.
In the first decade or so following the enactment of Canada's first
Official Languages Act in 1969, opposition to the new policy sometimes took a radical form that has subsequently disappeared. Groups such as the
Alliance for the Preservation of English in Canada, and books such as
Jock V. Andrew's ''
Bilingual Today, French Tomorrow'', advocated either the repeal of the ''Official Languages Act'' or an end to the policy of official bilingualism.
Leonard Jones, the mayor of
Moncton, New Brunswick, was an aggressive opponent of bilingualism in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Jones challenged the validity of the ''Official Languages Act'' in court, arguing that the submect matter was outside the jurisdiction of the federal government. In 1974, the
Supreme Court of Canada ruled against Jones, and
found the law to be constitutional.
In the 1980s and 1990s, the
Reform Party of Canada advocated the policy's repeal. However, the party's position moderated with time. By 1999, the ''Blue Book'' (the party's declaration of its then-current policies) stated that "The Reform Party supports official bilingualism in key federal institutions, such as Parliament and the Supreme Court, and in critical federal services in parts of the country where need is sufficient to warrant services on a cost-effective basis."
[18] By 2002, the policy declaration of the Reform Party's political successor, the
Canadian Alliance, had been moderated further, and stated that it was "the federal government's responsibility to uphold minority rights" by providing services in both languages in any "rural township or city neighbourhood where at least ten percent of the local population uses either English or French in its daily life."
[19]
French Immersion
French immersion is an optional education program that supports bilingualism
[1]. It is a method of language education where the student is taught all subjects in the French language, not just the language itself. Its popularity is viewed by some as support for bilingualism; others view it as elitism in public education. French immersion enrollment has been increasing significantly in most provinces. A similar program of English immersion is also available for French students in Quebec but these programs are often in conflict with the official language policies of the Quebec government.
[20]
Minority language communities
Although
Quebec is the only province that has a
francophone majority, all provinces and territories have some French speakers. Each of these groups has its own cultural institutions, history and identity. See:
★
Acadian
★
Franco-Ontarian
★
Franco-Manitoban
★
Fransaskois
★
Franco-Albertan
★
Franco-Columbian
★
Franco-Terreneuvians (
Newfoundland and Labrador)
★
Franco-Tenois (
Northwest Territories)
★
Franco-Yukonais
★
Franco-Nunavois
In addition, Quebec has an
English-speaking community.
Although only English and French have official status across Canada, all provinces also have communities of people whose first language is something other than English or French. In the particular context of Quebec, these are referred to as
allophones. These communities frequently use their own languages locally and amongst themselves, although they normally adopt the majority language of their province as a second or third language.
Aboriginal languages, including
Inuktitut,
Inuinnaqtun,
Dene Suline,
Cree and
Slavey, have official status in
Nunavut and the
Northwest Territories.
See also
★
Bilingualism in Ottawa
★
Bilingualism in Hong Kong
★
Language in Canada
★
Language demographics of Quebec
★ ''
★
Spanish in the United States - similar issue in the
United States
Notes
1. Federal Legislation on Official Languages
2. Knowledge of Official Languages (5), Sex (3) and Age Groups (15) for Population, for Canada, Provinces, Territories, Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations, 1996 and 2001 Censuses - 20% Sample Data
3. Canadian charter of rights and freedoms: Official Languages of Canada
4. Canadian charter of rights and freedoms: Minority Language Educational Rights
5. Official Languages Act
6. Official Languages Act
Annotated version - Explanatory notes
7. Official Languages Act - Part V - Language of Work
8. Official Languages Act - Part VI - Participation of English-speaking and French-speaking Canadians
9. Welcome to the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages!
10. Official Languages Act - Part VIII - Commissioner of Official Languages
11. Graham Fraser Appointed Sixth Commissioner of Official Languages
12. Official Languages Regulations
13. Definition of English or French Linguistic Minority
14. Calculation of Population Numbers
15. The Language Laws of Quebec Claude Bélanger, Marianopolis College
16. Supreme Court orders French school in P.E.I. CBC News
17. Plenty of support for bilingualism: poll
18. ''The 'Blue Book': Principles and Policy of the Reform Party of Canada - 1999'', p. 40.
19. ''Canadian Alliance Declaration of Policy'', April 2002, pp. 12-13.
20. Adieu anglais Montreal Mirror
External links
★
Bilingualism at the Quebec history site
★ English-language
Federal bilingualism web site
★ English-language text of the federal
Official Languages Act
★
Maple Leaf Web: Official Bilingualism in Canada
★
The Charter of the French language Government of Quebec
★
Vive a trilingual Quebec! UNESCO Courier
★
Language laws in Quebec CBC News
★
CBS News 60 Minutes reports on Quebec language laws
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