Timeline of official languages policy in Canada

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Because the country contains two major language groups and numerous other linguistic minorities, in Canada official languages policy has always been an important and high-profile area of public policy.

In an exhaustive 1971 study of Canadian language law prepared for the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism, Claude-Armand Sheppard offered this definition for the term “official language”: “[An] official language is a language in which all or some of the public affairs of a particular definition are, or can be, conducted, either by law or custom. We take public affairs to comprise the parliamentary and legislative process, administrative regulations, the rendering of justice, all quasi-judicial activities, and the overall day-to-day administration.”[1]

This article lists key events in the evolution of language policy in Canada since 1710, when the French-speaking population of Acadia first came under British administration. The timeline covers the policies of the colonial predecessors to the current Canadian state, and the policies of Canada's provinces and territories. The policies listed include:

  • Legislative changes including constitutional amendments, acts of Parliament, and Orders in Council;
  • Major policy announcements including abortive policy proposals that were never implemented;
  • Key administrative initiatives governing the implementation of major policies;
  • Court decisions relating to Canada's language laws.

These policy changes have been important to the extent that they affected the lives of individual Canadians. Therefore, in order to give some idea of the relative importance of various policies over the centuries, population statistics for Canada's different language groups are included where such information is available.

General themes in official languages policy

Official languages policies, in one form or another, have been in existence since the beginning of the

American Indian Pidgin English, and Pidgin Delaware
were initially important languages of trade and diplomacy, but none of them was ever prestigious enough to be used in any other governmental context.

The need for a considered language policy came with the absorption New France into the British Empire. This began with the

conquest of Canada
in 1759. Britain was then ruling over a large population of non-English speaking white settlers. In what is now the eastern half of the country, some sort of accommodation was made for French during the long period of British colonial rule that followed, but at no point did the language achieve full legal and practical equality with English. The public reaction to this situation was one of the sources of the political instability that led to the adoption of a series of constitutions, culminating in the adoption of a federal structure in 1867 as a way of allowing the two languages to have different levels of official status in different provinces.

Following

Irish, and German were ignored in politics and increasingly suppressed with adoption of universal public education
.

Aboriginal languages, which earlier Christian missionaries had studied and helped to document, came under sustained attack by a system of state-sponsored church-run residential schools beginning in the 1840s in the east and later extending across the country. These schools were part of a deliberate policy to suppress or eliminate indigenous languages in favour of English. Over the course of the Twentieth and early Twenty-first centuries, the two predominant settler languages, English and French, have gradually achieved a greater level of equality in most of Canada's provinces, and full equality at the federal level. The trend has been very different in Quebec, however, where in the 1970s English was formally deprived of its status of full legal equality. Today, French is, both de facto and de jure, the sole official language of Quebec.

Also since the 1960s and the adoption of the policy of Official multiculturalism in Canada, teaching of other languages besides English and French, not only as a separate subject but as the medium of instruction, has expanded dramatically, beginning primarily with European languages, notably Ukrainian, the policy changes at the provincial level have seen a boom in schools catering to a variety of language groups. For example, in Edmonton, Alberta in 2015 the Catholic school board offered full immersion in French, "bilingual programs" (one third to one half time immersion) in Polish, Spanish, and Ukrainian, and part-time language and culture programs in Filipino, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, and Nehiyaw Pimatisiwin (Cree).[2] Likewise, the public school board offered American Sign Language Bilingual, Arabic Bilingual, Chinese (Mandarin) Bilingual, French Immersion, Late French Immersion, German Bilingual, Hebrew Bilingual, International Spanish Academy, Ukrainian International Bilingual, and Awasis (Cree) programs.[3]

Official languages policy and legislation relating to the Province of Canada (1840-1867) and the Dominion of Canada (1867-present)

Official languages policy and legislation relating to the provinces and territories

Laws and policies applicable to all provinces and territories

Alberta

For events prior to the creation of the province 1905, see Northwest Territories

  • 1905: Under the provisions of the Alberta Act, the new province of Alberta is carved out of the Northwest Territories. Section 16 of the Alberta Act calls for the continuation within the new province of all existing Northwest Territories legislation. Therefore, because the Northwest Territories legislature had voted in 1892 to make that English the only official language for that territory, Alberta comes into existence as an officially unilingual jurisdiction.
  • 1988:
    R. v. Mercure
    . The Supreme Court of Canada rules that Saskatchewan is legally obligated to enact all laws in both French and English, but that this obligation may be altered or repealed by a 'clear legislative pronouncement' of the provincial legislature. Because Alberta and Saskatchewan came into being at the same time, and as the result of nearly identical federal laws, this ruling is seen as having equal application to Alberta.
  • 1988: In response to the Supreme Court ruling in R. v. Mercure, the legislature enacts the Languages Act, which provides that any provincial laws or regulations may be enacted in English only.
  • 2009:
    Alberta Court of Appeal
    .

British Columbia

  • 1849: The Crown Colony of Vancouver Island is established by an Act of the Imperial Parliament. As with the prior establishment of colonies in the Maritimes, the domestic laws of England are extended to the new colony. This means that, as in England, English is the only official language of the new colony.[11]
  • 1858: The Crown Colony of British Columbia is established by an Act of the Imperial Parliament. The template provision used for the Vancouver Island colony is again used: domestic English law is applied to the new colony, which therefore has English as its only official language.[12]
  • 1865: British Columbia and Vancouver's Island are merged into a single colony. English remains the only official language.
  • 1871: The Crown Colony of British Columbia becomes a Canadian province. English remains the only official language in matters of provincial jurisdiction.

Manitoba

  • 1845: The Council of Assiniboia agrees to promulgate all laws in both French and English. Given the small size of the colony and the limited literacy of the population, promulgation consists of distributing bilingual copies of all ordinances be put on public display at the courthouse, distributed to all Protestant and Catholic clergy, “and, lastly, that copies, in both languages, be read aloud and explained at meetings of the General Court in November and February of each year....”[13]
  • 1849: The Council of Assiniboia agrees to henceforth conduct all judicial proceedings in both English and French. According to Claude-Armand Sheppard, this event “marked the beginning of bilingualism in the courts of Assiniboia.” .[14]
  • 1869: The provisional government of Louis Riel issues a list of fourteen rights which it regards as necessary for the future permanent government of the region. Items 10 and 11 relate to official languages:
“10. That the English and French languages be common in the Legislature and Courts, and that all public documents and Acts of the Legislature be published in both languages.”
”11. That the Judge of the Supreme Court speak the English and French languages....”[15]
  • 1870: The
    Manitoba Act
     establishes the new province of Manitoba. The Act serves as a de facto provincial constitution. Under section 22 of the Act, denominational schools on the model used in Quebec are to be established in the province. Section 23 of the Act uses the model established in 1867 for Quebec for Manitoba's provincial legislature, which must conduct its debates and enact all laws and journals in both English and French.
  • 1890: The Manitoba Schools Act removes funding for Catholic schools (which in practice meant all French-language schools).
  • 1890: The legislature enacts An Act to Provide that the English Language shall be the Official Language of the Province of Manitoba (better-known as the Official Language Act abolishes French as an official language of the legislature and requires that only English be used in Manitoba courts.
  • 1892: Pellant v. Hebert: The recently enacted law establishing English as the only official language of the province is found to be ultra vires (and therefore unconstitutional) by the St. Boniface County Court. The provincial government simply ignores this decision, as well as a parallel 1909 decision of the same court (Bertrand v. Dussault) which also finds the law to be ultra vires.[16]
  • 1896: The Laurier-Greenway Compromise: Catholic education is permitted in public schools, and French may be used in teaching, but only on a school-by-school basis and only when there is a minimum of 10 French-speaking pupils. A Catholic school board is re-established, but without government funding.
  • 1900: The provincial legislature amends the electoral law to permit qualified electors to vote as long as they are literate in English, French, German, Icelandic or any other Scandinavian language.[17]
  • 1916: The Laurier-Greenway Compromise of 1896 is rescinded by the Liberal government of Tobias Norris and French instruction is abolished.
  • 1916: Dumas v. Baribault: In this case, a court is asked to overturn the decision of a
    writ of mandamus, thereby upholding the province's 1890 Official Language Act.[18]
  • 1955: The provincial government permits instruction in French from grade four to grade 12 in certain schools.
  • 1966: The first of two amendments to the provincial Public Schools Act (the second taking place in 1970) reintroduce French-language instruction.
  • 1979: Manitoba (Attorney General) v. Forest: The Supreme Court of Canada rules that the Official Language Act of 1890 is ultra vires.
  • 1983: On October 5, Parliament unanimously passes a resolution asking the Manitoba legislature to enact a proposed constitutional amendment which would have made French an official language of Manitoba and ensured that under certain circumstances, provincial government services would be offered in French. Another resolution on Manitoba Francophones is passed on Feb. 24, 1984. Ultimately, the legislature fails to enact the proposed amendment, and the federal government responds by referring the question of the constitutional validity of Manitoba's Official Language Act to the Supreme Court of Canada.
  • 1985:
    Reference re Manitoba Language Rights
    : The Supreme Court of Canada rules that the provincial government acted unconstitutionally in enacting its laws in English only from 1890 onwards. The province is given a limited time in which to re-enact its laws in French. At the end of this period, any law that has not been enacted in a French version will be of no force or effect.
  • 1986: Bilodeau v. Attorney General of Manitoba: The Supreme Court of Canada rules that the use of French on government documents such as parking tickets is not mandated by section 133 of the Constitution Act, 1867.
  • 1999: The French Language Services Policy is adopted, with the intention of providing comparable levels of provincial government services in both official languages, including public utilities and health services, official documents such as parking tickets and court summonses, availability of translation at court and commission hearings, and bilingual government web sites.

New Brunswick

For events prior to the creation of the colony in 1784, see Nova Scotia

  • 1784-1867: In 1784 the colony of New Brunswick is created out of territory formerly belonging to Nova Scotia. “By virtue of custom and usage as well as the importation of English law into New Brunswick, English law [becomes] and [remains] the official tongue of that province. Before Confederation there were no legal statutes whatever governing language rights.”[19] However, in practice French is used as a language of schooling in Acadian communities (provided by the Catholic Church), and court cases are conducted in French in certain New Brunswick jurisdictions. When French-language schooling is eventually regulated in the 1870s, the province greatly limits the use of French. But French continues to be used informally in the courts until the practice is formalized in the 1970s.[20]
  • 1871: The legislature enacts the Common Schools Act, ending the province's separate Catholic school system-and therefore limiting the availability of French-language schooling in the province. French language instruction is permitted only until Grade Three.
  • 1875: The provincial government relents slightly, permitting the use of some French translations of English texts in the classroom.
  • 1878: The provincial government allows francophone teachers to be trained at the provincial normal school.
  • 1928: The Conservative government of Premier JBM Baxter proposes Regulation 32, which would have allowed local school boards to adopt a bilingual programme. The proposal meets with strong anglophone opposition, and is withdrawn.[21]
  • 1966: The Liberal government of Louis Robichaud amends the Schools Act to permit all francophone and anglophone primary-school students to receive instruction in their mother tongue.
  • 1967: The New Brunswick Schools Act is enacted by the Liberal government of Louis Robichaud in an "attempt...to equalize francophone and anglophone education by centralizing the administration of the school system.[22] The new law replaces the previous 422 school boards with 33 district school boards, and turned the funding for these schools over to the provincial Department of Education. Under the terms of the 1943 County Schools Finance Act, each school had had its own school board, and funding had come from solely from county governments. The francophone population, which at the time was concentrated in poorer rural areas, had therefore been at a perpetual educational disadvantage.[23]
  • 1968: The opposition Progressive Conservatives, led by future premier Richard Hatfield, propose a motion in the legislature to recognize the equality of the French language. This motion is defeated by Premier Robichaud's Liberal majority.[24]
  • 1968: R. v. Murphy: The New Brunswick Court of Appeal rules that a 1731 statute of the United Kingdom parliament, abolishing the use of French in that country's courts, was incorporated into New Brunswick law at the time that the colony was created, meaning that only English may be used in the province's courts.[25]
  • 1969: The Liberal government of Louis Robichaud enacts the Official Languages of New Brunswick Act.
  • 1973: Release of the report of the Department of Education's Task Force on Social Development (better known at the time as the "MacLeod-Pinet Report", recommending that francophones be given control of their own educational institutions by dividing the Department of Education into two sections along linguistic lines, with a deputy minister for each of the two systems, both of whom would report to the same minister of education. This recommendation is adopted in 1974 by the Conservative government of Richard Hatfield.
  • 1979: Release of the report of the Commission on the Organization and Boundaries of School Districts in New Brunswick (better known at the time as the "Finn-Elliott Report") calling for the abolition of bilingual schools because they lead to the assimilation of francophone students, and their replacement by "homogenous schools" in which all student will be educated in their mother tongue. This becomes the basis upon which the provincial school system is later reorganized, and eventually constitutionally entrenched by means of Section 16.1 of Canada's Charter of Rights.
  • 1981: The Progressive Conservative government of
    An Act Recognizing the Equality of the Two Official Linguistic Communities in New Brunswick
     (better known at the time as "Bill 88").
  • 1982: Release of the "Poirier-Bastarache Report" (officially titled, Towards Equality of Official Languages in New Brunswick). The report, which had been commissioned by Premier Hatfield in 1980 to make suggestions as to how best to update the 1969 Official Languages of New Brunswick Act, sets out 96 recommendations, which turn out to be sufficiently controversial that two years later, a special Advisory Committee is set up to conduct public hearings into the recommendations.
  • 1993: Section 16.1 is added to Canada's Charter of Rights, entrenching "the right to distinct [i.e. separate] educational institutions [for the province's] English-speaking and French-speaking communities] and such distinct cultural institutions as are necessary for the preservation and promotion of those communities."
  • 2001:
    New Brunswick Court of Appeal rules that all municipal laws must be enacted in both official languages in all municipalities in which there is a minority-language population of 20% or more (all such municipalities having been, under the province's language law, designated bilingual).[26]
    The province complies with the ruling by providing financing for all pre-existing statutes to be translated into French.
  • 2002: The legislature enacts the Official Languages Act. This law repeals the 1969 Official Languages of New Brunswick Act, replacing its provisions with more detailed and extensive rights protections.
  • 2005:
    Charlebois v. Saint John (City)
    : The Supreme Court of Canada rules that it is not necessary, under the terms of the province's Official Languages Act, for New Brunswick municipalities which have not been designated bilingual by the provincial government to nevertheless operate in both official languages. Had the court ruled that municipalities were institutions of the province, they would have fallen under the province's legal obligation to operate in both official languages. Instead, the court holds that municipalities are incorporated entities and therefore not “institutions” of the province.

Northwest Territories

  • 1873-1876: In the absence of federal legislation dealing with language, the Territorial Council makes provision for all laws and ordinances to be published in English, French and Cree, and in practice allows the courts to operate in both English and French. Therefore, “in the period prior to the separate political existence of the Northwest Territories [as enacted by Parliament in 1875 and effected in 1876], there was a rudimentary and unofficial bilingualism....”[27]
  • 1875: Parliament enacts the Northwest Territories Act, which goes into effect in 1876. This law creates uncertainty regarding the legal status of languages in the Territorial Council and courts, because it contains no provisions dealing with language.
  • 1877: The Parliament of Canada amends the Northwest Territories Act to include the following provision:

Either the English or the French language may be used by any person in the debates of the said [Territorial] Council, and in the proceedings before the Courts, and both of those languages shall be used in the records and journals of the said Council, and the ordinances of the said Council shall be printed in both those languages.

When legislation is drawn up in 1880 to permit the creation of a Territorial Assembly, Parliament amends the law slightly to permit the use of both languages in the new Assembly as well.
At this time, the Territory includes the landmass that today makes up the provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta, parts of Manitoba, all of what today is the Yukon Territory, and the parts of Nunavut and the present-day Northwest Territories that are part of the North American mainland. In 1877 most of the population of this vast region consists of aboriginals who speak neither English nor French and have little or no contact with the government, but in the settled areas in the south, the Territory has a population of 3,104 English-speakers and 2,896 French-speakers.[28]
  • 1891: Following a high-profile campaign by independent MP D’Alton McCarthy to use federal legislation to abolish the official status of French in the Northwest Territories, a compromise bill, An Act to Amend the Northwest Territories Act, is enacted by Parliament. This Act amends Section 110 of the Northwest Territories Act to state that “Either the English or the French language may be used by any person in the debates of the Legislative Assembly of the Territories and in the proceedings before the courts; and both those languages shall be used in the records and journals of such Assembly” but allows the Assembly itself to make the territories unilingual, providing a specific formula is used:

[The Legislative] Assembly may, by ordinance or otherwise, regulate its proceedings, and the manner of recording and publishing the same; and the regulations so made shall be embodied in a proclamation which shall forthwith be made and published by the Lieutenant Governor in conformity with the law, and therefore shall have full force and effect.[29]

  • 1892: The territorial legislature votes in favour of a resolution “that it is desirable that the proceedings of the Legislative Assembly shall be recorded and published hereafter in the English Language only.” However, the resolution is never proclaimed by the lieutenant governor, as required by the amended wording of Section 110 of the Northwest Territories Act that had been adopted by the Parliament of Canada a year earlier.[30] This is significant because it means that in the Northwest Territories and all of the successor jurisdictions that are carved out of it (Yukon in 1898, Alberta and Saskatchewan in 1905, and Nunavut in 1999), French retains, in theory at least, its legal status as a language of the legislature and courts, even though English is nearly universally assumed to be the only official language. In the 1980s, this will result in Alberta and Saskatchewan being declared officially bilingual by a decision of the Supreme Court of Canada.
  • 1984: The territorial government responds to federal government pressure to make the territory officially bilingual (English and French only) by adopting the Official Languages Act, which English, French, and six aboriginal languages (amended, with the aboriginal languages redefined as nine, in 2003) into official languages of the territorial government. The law permits territorial residents to use any of these languages in territorial courts or in debates of the legislature, but documents are published in the aboriginal languages only when requested by the legislature, and laws are enacted only in English and French.

Nova Scotia

  • 1710-1749: In 1710 Acadia is occupied by the British, and under the terms of Article XII of the
    Treaty of Utrecht, sovereignty is formally transferred from France to Britain in 1713. For the next four decades, the British retain only a limited presence in the colony, consisting of a few soldiers and merchants, and a transient fishing population. Therefore, “[g]overnment was largely a matter of supervising the Acadians who constituted almost the entire population.... [The Acadians] disregarded official regulations and maintained a form of rudimentary self-rule.” This informal arrangement was possible because “[as] early as 1710 the Acadians had sent emissaries to deal with the new masters who, realizing the need for persons to receive and see to the execution of their orders, proceeded to regularize their election and functions.” On this basis, “it might be said that to that extent the French language continued to be recognized under the British.”[31] Population Affected: Between 1710-1749, the French-speaking Acadian population grows from around 1,700 to about 10,000, and the English-speaking population grows from zero to about 2,500.[32]
  • 1749: Nova Scotia receives its first constitution, in the form of a Commission and Instructions to Governor Edward Cornwallis, meaning that the domestic law of England would govern the functioning of the courts. Because the use of all other languages, including French, had been banned in the courts of England in 1731, this means that in Nova Scotia, English becomes the only official language.[33]
  • 1755:
    Mass deportation of the Acadians takes place. Seven thousand Acadians are rounded up and expelled from the colony. Others flee to the woods or make their way overland to New France
    .
  • 1758-1867: In 1758, Nova Scotia's first elections are held and the first Legislative Assembly is convened. No formal provisions exist as to the language of debate and of record, but mot Acadian have already been expelled and the rest are ineligible for office under the provisions of the anti-Catholic
    Test Act, which applies in Nova Scotia by virtue of the 1749 Commission applying English domestic law to Nova Scotia. Therefore, no French-speaking voters participate in the elections, and the question of using a language other than English never arises. “From the time of the first Legislative Assembly in 1758 to Confederation, not a single Nova Scotia statute is to be found conferring any legal recognition whatever on the French language. Only English has legal status.” [34]

Ontario

For events prior to the creation of the

Province of Upper Canada in 1791, see Quebec

Prince Edward Island

  • 1720-1759: The first settlers arrive from France in 1720. Prior to the British conquest of Île Saint-Jean in 1758, the island is home to a homogenous French-speaking population and is administered entirely in French. Following the great Acadian deportation of 1755, the island's Acadian population grows rapidly, to around 3,500 (many of whom were refugees fleeing the deportations in the Acadian heartland on the Bay of Fundy).
  • 1758: British under Colonel Andrew Rollo capture Île Saint-Jean. About 3,500 Acadians are deported shortly thereafter,[39] nearly depopulating the island. Only a few families, amounting to a little over two hundred individuals, are able to hide in cabins in the interior, or are allowed to stay by the British authorities.[40]
  • 1769: The colony of Prince Edward Island is created. The new colony's constitution in the form of a Commission and Instructions to its first Governor. These documents instruct the governor to follow the Nova Scotia model for judicial institutions, meaning that, as in Nova Scotia, the domestic law of England would govern the functioning of the courts. Because the use of all other languages, including French, had been banned in the courts of England in 1731, this means that in Prince Edward Island, English is the only official language. From this starting point, “no provisions governing the status of any language are to be found in the pre-Confederation statutes of Prince Edward Island.” [34]

Quebec

  • 1608-1759: Prior to the British conquest of Quebec in 1759, the European population in the most heavily populated part of what is now Quebec (primarily the St. Lawrence River valley) was a homogenous French-speaking community, and was administered entirely in French.
  • 1760: The Articles of Capitulation, under which French resistance to the British occupiers ceases, are signed in Montreal. These articles provide the legal framework for the administration of the territory while it remains under British military rule (which lasts until 1763). Capitulation article no. 45 contains the first British acknowledgement of a formal role for the French language in its newly conquered territory. The British agree that legal documents of the ancien regime, including deeds, registers, and notarized documents, will retain legal force. Although no mention is made of the French language, "the British ... ensured continuity in the administration of justice by having available for consultation the precedents and records of the previous regime, all of them, of course, entirely in the French language."[41]
  • 1763: On October 7, King George III issues a
    Royal Proclamation establishing a colonial government for Quebec. The Proclamation gives legal expression to assimilationist policies. Although assimilation is primarily focused on replacing Catholicism with Protestantism, it has the practical consequence of denying rights on the basis of language. Since Catholics cannot take the necessary oath, they are excluded from participating in the new assembly of freeholders, from serving as officers of the new courts that are to be established, or even from practicing law. The practical consequence of this is to cause all justice to be administered by English-speakers. However, informal considerations make the restrictions on the use of French much less onerous than the letter of the law would suggest. Eugene Gosselin
    explains:

The British authorities did more than use French in their relations with their new subjects. They also used French as their own language of work and for correspondence. Nothing gave greater satisfaction to British pride than to be able to show a knowledge of French at least equal to what one would find among the best educated people in French Canada. Therefore the problem of language and culture did not constitute and could not constitute a political problem during the first ten or so years of the existence of the colony.[42]

If in any article of this code founded on the laws existing at the time of its promulgation there shall be a difference between the English and French texts, that version shall prevail which is the most consistent with the provisions of the existing laws on which the article is founded; and if there be any such difference in an article changing the existing laws, that version shall prevail which is the most consistent with the intention of the article, and the ordinary rules of legal interpretation shall apply in determining such intention.

Saskatchewan

For events prior to the creation of the province 1905, see Northwest Territories

  • 1905: Under the provisions of the
    Saskatchewan Act
    , the new province of Saskatchewan is carved out of the Northwest Territories. Section 16 of the Saskatchewan Act calls for the continuation within the new province of all existing Northwest Territories legislation. Therefore, because the Northwest Territories legislature had voted in 1892 to make that English the only official language for that territory, Saskatchewan comes into existence as an officially unilingual jurisdiction.
  • 1931: The legislature enacts the School Act, which declares English to be the sole language of instruction in Saskatchewan's public schools.
  • 1967: The first of three amendments to the provincial Education Act (the second and third taking place in 1973 and 1978, respectively) reintroducing French-language instruction. By the end of this decade-long process, French can again be used in Saskatchewan as the principal language of instruction, opening up the possibility of schools specifically for francophone students. As well, immersion schools are now possible.
  • 1988:
    R. v. Mercure
    . The Supreme Court of Canada rules that Saskatchewan is legally obligated to enact all laws in both French and English, but that this obligation may be altered or repealed by a 'clear legislative pronouncement' of the provincial legislature.
  • 1988: In response to the ruling in R. v. Mercure, the provincial legislature enacts the Language Act. This law declares all existing laws valid, even if enacted in English only, but provides that limited French-language rights will apply within the judicial system.
  • 1990: The provincial government establishes the Office of French Language Coordination (later renamed the Francophone Affairs Branch), "to assist provincial government ministries, crown corporations and agencies in providing more services in French to the Francophone community."[1]
  • 1993: The Education Act is amended to permit francophones to manage their own schools.

Yukon

For events prior to the creation of the territory in 1898, see Northwest Territories

  • 1898: By an Act of Parliament, the Yukon Territory is created out of territory formerly under the jurisdiction of the Northwest Territories. Section 9 of the Yukon Territory Act states that “the laws relating to civil and criminal matters and the ordinances as the same exist in the North-west Territories at the time of the passing of this Act, shall be and remain in force in the said Yukon Territory in so far as applicable thereto until amended or repealed....” Therefore, because the Northwest Territories legislature had voted in 1892 to make that English the only official language for that territory, the Yukon comes into existence as an officially unilingual jurisdiction.

See also

References

  1. ^ Sheppard, Claude-Armand, The Law of Languages in Canada. Studies of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism, no. 11. Ottawa: Information Canada, 1971, p. 291.
  2. ^ "Edmonton Catholic Schools".
  3. ^ "Languages - Edmonton Public Schools".
  4. ^ Standing Rules and Regulations of the Legislative Assembly of Canada (Kingston, 1841).
  5. ^ a b It has even been suggested that this section is "best understood as a non-verbal legislative sign that the two texts should be interpreted dialogically." Source: Michel Bastarache, Naiomi Metallic, Regan Morris and Christopher Essert, The Law of Bilingual Interpretation. Toronto: LexisNexis, 2008, p. vi.
  6. ^ a b This definition of the equal authenticity rule is from Michel Bastarache, Naiomi Metallic, Regan Morris and Christopher Essert, The Law of Bilingual Interpretation. Markham, Ontario: LexisNexis, 2008, p. 17.
  7. ^ The full quotation is: The province of Quebec even prints both texts in the same volume opposite each other on the page. This, of course, allows for a first-hand comparison of both texts, something not possible at present with federal statutes." Ironically, these words, which were written before 1968, were not published until 1971, after the problem to which they referred had been corrected. See Claude-Armand Sheppard, The Law of Languages in Canada, p. 68.
  8. ^ Section 10 of the Air Canada Public Participation Act reads, inter alia: "The Official Languages Act applies to the [privatized] corporation."
  9. ^ Desrochers v. Canada (Industry) 2006 [2007] 3 F.C. 3, (C.A.) at paragraph 51, affirmed 2009 SCC 8 (decision confirmed by the Supreme Court of Canada).
  10. ^ R. v. Caron, 2009 ABQB 745, at para. 283.
  11. ^ Sheppard, Claude-Armand, The Law of Languages in Canada. Studies of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism, no. 11. Ottawa: Information Canada, 1971, p. 91.
  12. ^ Sheppard, Claude-Armand, The Law of Languages in Canada. Studies of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism, no. 11. Ottawa: Information Canada, 1971, pp. 91-92.
  13. ^ Quoted in E.H. Oliver, The Canadian North-West: Its Early Development and Legislative Records, Ottawa: Publications of the Canadian Archives, (no. 9, 2 volumes), 1914-15, vol. I, p. 21.
  14. ^ Sheppard, Claude-Armand, The Law of Languages in Canada. Studies of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism, no. 11. Ottawa: Information Canada, 1971, p. 75.
  15. ^ Quoted in L.H. Thomas, The Struggle for Responsible Government in the North-West Territories, 1870-97 Toronto, 1956, p. 36.
  16. ^ For further details, see Warren J. Newman, "Defining the 'Constitution of Canada' since 1982: the Scope of the Legislative Powers of Constitutional Amendment under Sections 44 and 45 of the Constitution Act, 1982," in Supreme Court Law Review, vol. 22 (2003), p. 445.
  17. ^ "An Act respecting the Election of Members of the Legislative Assembly," Statutes of Manitoba 1900, 63-64 Victoria, c.8, s. 2. From one perspective, this can be seen as a positive early example of Canadian multiculturalism. The opposite point of view, however, is expressed by Claude-Armand Sheppard, who writes, “Thus, by 1900, French, which ten years before had still been one of Manitoba’s official languages, was reduced in the eyes of the Manitoba Assembly to the level of German, Icelandic or any Scandinavian language.” See Claude-Armand Sheppard, The Law of Languages in Canada. Studies of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism, no. 11. Ottawa: Information Canada, 1971, p. 82.
  18. ^ For further information see George Weir, “The Evolution of Separate School Law in the Prairie Provinces”, p. 47; and Claude-Armand Sheppard, The Law of Languages in Canada. Studies of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism, no. 11. Ottawa: Information Canada, 1971, p. 80.
  19. ^ Sheppard, Claude-Armand, The Law of Languages in Canada. Studies of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism, no. 11. Ottawa: Information Canada, 1971, pp. 7-8.
  20. ^ Sheppard, Claude-Armand, The Law of Languages in Canada. Studies of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism, no. 11. Ottawa: Information Canada, 1971, p. 8.
  21. ^ Hugh Thorburn, Politics of New Brunswick. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1961, p. 33.
  22. ^ Catherine Steele, Can Bilingualism Work? Attitudes Toward Language Policy in New Brunswick: The 1985 Public Hearings into the Poirier-Bastarache Report. Fredericton: New Ireland Press, 1990, p. 28.
  23. ^ Ibid., p. 27.
  24. ^ This incident is described in Catherine Steele, Can Bilingualism Work? Attitudes Toward Language Policy in New Brunswick: The 1985 Public Hearings Into the Poirier-Bastarache Report. Fredericton: New Ireland Press, 1990, p. 14.
  25. Jones v. Attorney General of New Brunswick
    , that the substantive right in question in the Murphy decision (the right to use French in New Brunswick courts) had been guaranteed by a provincial statute (the Evidence Act.) The lack of a Supreme Court ruling on the subject means that there is an unresolved dispute as to whether the New Brunswick Court of Appeal had wrongly decided the case. The argument that the case was wrongly decided is presented in Robert Kerr, "R. v. Murphy and Language Rights Legislation" (1970), University of New Brunswick Law Journal, vol. 20, at p. 35.
  26. ^ "OCOL | Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages".
  27. ^ Claude-Armand Sheppard, The Law of Languages in Canada. Studies of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism, no. 11. Ottawa: Information Canada, 1971, p. 82.
  28. ^ Claude-Armand Sheppard, The Law of Languages in Canada. Studies of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism, no. 11. Ottawa: Information Canada, 1971, pp. 82-83.
  29. ^ Claude-Armand Sheppard, The Law of Languages in Canada. Studies of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism, no. 11. Ottawa: Information Canada, 1971, pp. 84-85.
  30. ^ In 1965, Claude-Armand Sheppard, a researcher in the employ of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism, made an exhaustive search for documentary evidence that the 1892 resolution had ever been proclaimed by the lieutenant-governor. A search of the Public Archives of Saskatchewan, as well of the Dominion Archives, could produce no record. Sheppard therefore wrote, “[W]e conclude that in the absence of the proclamation required by the 1891 Amendment to the North-West Territories Act, the resolution abolishing French in the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories never acquired ‘full force and effect’ and that not only is it still permissible to use French in the debates but that the records and journals must still be printed in both languages and should have been so printed without interruption since 1892.’ See Claude-Armand Sheppard, The Law of Languages in Canada. Studies of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism, no. 11. Ottawa: Information Canada, 1971, pp. 84-85.
  31. ^ The preceding series of linked quotations are taken from Claude-Armand Sheppard, The Law of Languages in Canada. Studies of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism, no. 11. Ottawa: Information Canada, 1971, pp. 5-6.
  32. ^ The population statistics are taken from Claude-Armand Sheppard, The Law of Languages in Canada. Studies of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism, no. 11. Ottawa: Information Canada, 1971, pp. 5-6.
  33. ^ Sheppard, Claude-Armand, The Law of Languages in Canada. Studies of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism, no. 11. Ottawa: Information Canada, 1971, pp 6-7.
  34. ^ a b Sheppard, Claude-Armand, The Law of Languages in Canada. Studies of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism, no. 11. Ottawa: Information Canada, 1971, p. 7.
  35. ^ Case citation: Ottawa Separate School Trustees v. Mackell A.C. 62, 74–75, 32 D.L.R. 1, 3–4, 6 (P.C.).
  36. ^ Joy, Richard. Canada's Official Languages: The Progress of Bilingualism. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1992, p. xi.
  37. ^ Joy, Richard. Canada's Official Languages: The Progress of Bilingualism. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1992, p. 60.
  38. ^ Wills, Terrance. “English will do: Ontario: Franco-Ontarians’ plight not our problem: Harris.” The Gazette. Montreal, July 16, 2000, p. A1.
  39. ^ Jean Daigle, Robert LeBlanc “Acadian Deportation and Return,” in Historical Atlas of Canada, vol. I, Plate 30.
  40. ^ Georges Arsenault, The Island Acadians, 1987 p. 51.
  41. ^ Sheppard, Claude-Armand, The Law of Languages in Canada. Studies of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism, no. 11. Ottawa: Information Canada, 1971, p. 10.
  42. ^ Eugene Gosselin, “L’administration publique dans un pays bilingue et biculturel”, Canadian Public Administration, Vol. VI (1963), pp. 410-411.
  43. ^ Sheppard, Claude-Armand, The Law of Languages in Canada. Studies of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism, no. 11. Ottawa: Information Canada, 1971, p. 17.
  44. ^ Sheppard, Claude-Armand, The Law of Languages in Canada. Studies of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism, no. 11. Ottawa: Information Canada, 1971, p. 13.
  45. ^ Sheppard, Claude-Armand, The Law of Languages in Canada. Studies of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism, no. 11. Ottawa: Information Canada, 1971, p. 37.
  46. ^ 75. Resolved, That the number of the Inhabitants of the country being about 600,000, those of French origin are about 525,000, and those of British or other origin 75,000; and that the establishment of the civil government of Lower Canada, for the year 1832, accordingly to the yearly returns made by the Provincial Administration, for the information of the British Parliament, contained the names of 157 officers and others receiving salaries, who are apparently of British or foreign origin and the names of 47 who are, apparently, natives of the country, of French origin; that this statement does not exhibit the whole disproportion which exists in the distribution of the public money and power, the latter class being, for the most part, appointed to the inferior and less lucrative offices, and most frequently only obtaining even them, by becoming the dependent of those who hold the higher and the more lucrative offices; that the accumulation of many of the best paid and most influential, and at the same time incompatible, offices in the same person, which is forbidden by the laws and by sound policy, exists especially for the benefit of the former class; and that two-thirds of the persons included in the last commission of the peace issued in the province, are apparently of British or foreign origin, and one-third only of French origin.
  47. ^ 24 mars 1961 - Création de l'Office de la langue française, in Bilan du siècle, Université de Sherbrooke, retrieved on February 18th, 2008
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