Why bilingualism in canada

A new act was adopted in see Official Languages Act The success of any Canadian policy on bilingualism is closely tied to the co-operation of the provinces.

Provincial powers in the fields of justice, public services and education can be influenced only indirectly by federal policies. To complete the picture, numerous administrative, judicial, social and educational services need to be provided by municipal and provincial authorities in regions where there are large minority-language populations.

New Brunswick passed an Official Languages Act in , giving equal status, rights and privileges to English and French; since the early s, Ontario has increased the use of French in its courts and has passed a bill guaranteeing French services in those areas of the province where the majority of Franco-Ontarians live; and Manitoba , as a result of a Supreme Court ruling, is moving towards the translation of its statutes into French and the transformation of its courts into bilingual institutions see Francophones of Manitoba.

The extent of Manitoba's compliance with its constitutional requirements has become the focus of a heated political debate both inside and outside the province, and in the Supreme Court of Canada gave the province three years to translate its laws.

Quebec has recognized French as its sole official language since All provinces, helped to some extent by the federal Official Languages in Education Program, now have minority-language education programs. Furthermore, second-language instruction has made remarkable gains across Canada, most conspicuously through the expansion of French-immersion programs in primary schools see also Canadian Parents for French.

The Charter reinforced previous constitutional principles regarding language use in federal courts and the courts of Quebec and Manitoba, reaffirmed the availability of bilingual services in the federal administration and confirmed New Brunswick as the only completely bilingual province. It also broke new ground by entrenching minority-language education rights in Canada, guaranteeing the right of children of Canadian citizens who find themselves in an official-language minority situation to an education in their own language wherever numbers warrant it.

This guarantee represents a recognition that minority language education rights may be the key to the survival of minority language communities across the country. The principles of NB law establishing the equality of its two official language communities were enshrined in the Charter in The Charter defined what was possible at the time of its enactment in the realm of institutional bilingualism, but its provisions may be developed and extended. Canadian French 2. Canadianisms 2. The language planning aspect: Governmental legislation on language and language use - English vs.

French 2. The educational situation in Canada. The paper at hand will deal with the bilingual situation in Canada and will try to describe the linguistic development from the first settlements in the 16th century till today. It will soon become clear to what English Canadians have dominated the country despite all rights the Canadian French minority has struggled for over the years. I have chosen this topic because I have always been interested in multilingual societies and the way people live together and communicate in these societies.

Canada is an officially bilingual country where the linguistic rights of the minority group, the French, have always been a subject of controversy. Of the 30 million Canadians, about 67 per cent speak English as a first language and 26 per cent speak French. The rest of the population -Native Americans and European immigrants- such as Germans and Italians in Ontario, Ukrainians in the western provinces- use their native language on a regular basis. The current linguistic situation can best be understood by scanning its history.

There was some intermarriage between the two groups, and hence some settlers were bilingual in English and French. The French moved into towns to form an urban working class. The upper class, educated by the Church, went into liberal professions and became lawyers, doctors, notaries and clergymen.

After Canada became independent in , provincial politics became another attractive sphere for the French 1 which they came to dominate; the English were more concerned with federal politics. The French and the English lived in separate areas, formed different classes, engaged in different economic activities, had different religions, different languages, different schools and other institutions.

Contact between francophones and anglophones was confined to limited interactions in the public arena and to the more prolonged contact between anglophone employer and francophone employee. It was the francophone employees, naturally, who became bilingual, other francophones, and most anglophones, were effectively monolingual.

After World War II economic development caused a series of changes whose immidiate impact was felt in French society. Increased wealth encouraged the rise of a new French middle-class which was involved with the expansion of the provincial government.

As the government grew stronger, it began appropriating control over various domains of social life such as education and health. Institutional divisions between ethnic groups began to crumble and religious divisons began to pale.

Furthermore, increased government contact created a necessity for a larger bureaucracy which absorbed educated francophones until, in the s, it became saturated. They settled in the province of Ontario and - through their speech- laid the foundations for present General Canadian, a term defining urban middle-class speech.

Canadian English can be mainly identified by examining its vocabulary and pronunciation whereas it has no distinctive grammar. Later on, residential school management was passed along to the Christians. Brenhouse, Hilary. The Times, 8 Apr. Government of Canada, n. Canadian Geographics, n.

Michael Valpy and Joe Friesen. The uncomfortable clash between different minority languages is coming to a head with the appointment of Simon. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the English made up the bulk of the governing and merchant class , while the French laboured for the English for instance as coureurs de bois , or unlicensed fur traders , or lived on subsistence farms.

Overall, the French were more populous, but also more rural, less educated and poorer. This set the stage for today, where most Canadians take official bilingualism as a given. In fact, the census reports more than 66, German mother-tongue speakers in Manitoba , compared to 46, French mother-tongue speakers.