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Bilingualism Official Languages Act
PAGE DEVELOPED BY: Miss Chong 2006

Summary

Bilingualism means to have the ability to use two languages, to speak them, understand them and write them. In Canada, and in Quebec, it means particularly to know English and French. Thus, if one is asked: “Are you bilingual?”, one answers yes only if one speaks English and French. Currently, the Canadian census considers ability to hold a conversation in the other official language as proof of bilingualism. While many Canadians are not bilingual, few would deny that bilingualism, along with multiculturalism, is fundamental to Canada. At the level of principle, it is so universally supported in Canada as to constitute an element of the ethic of Canadianism.

Historical Importance

There is a view that the language laws have resulted in the erosion of bilingualism, and of the English language in Quebec. Such a view is not founded upon facts. As the data provided below demonstrates, the people of Quebec are now more bilingual than they have ever been before. English continues, along with French, to be mandatory in the schools of the province and has just been introduced as a compulsory subject in the Colleges of the province. French speaking Quebecers visit other parts of the continent in greater numbers than they have ever done before, listen to English television and consume American cultural products in increasing numbers, and interact with their anglophone counterparts in the province more than at any other time of their history. This is why bilingualism is on the rise in Quebec. However, while bilingualism is increasingly important among francophones, to the point where some are worried about the place of English, it is among anglophone Quebecers that bilingualism has made the greatest gains in the past generation.

Criteria

REVIEW QUESTIONS

What does it mean to say Canada is a "bilingual country" when most Canadians aren't bilingual?
1. It is the recognition that most Canadians speak either English or Chinese in their daily lives.
2. It is the recognition that most Canadians speak either English or French in their daily lives.
3. It is the recognition that most Canadians speak either Chinese or French in their daily lives.
4. It is the recognition that most Canadians speak either Chinese or Japenese in their daily lives.
What do you really mean by saying that English and French are the "official languages" of Canada?
1. Everyone has the right to use English or French in Parliament
2. Parliament makes Canada's laws in both English and Chinese.
3. It means Canadians can't deal with their federal government in either English or French.
4. Parliament makes Canada's laws in English, Chinese and French.
Isn't bilingualism a failure since it hasn't solved our national unity problems?
1. The federal official languages policy is not, and was not intended to be, a national unity cure-all. Such an emphasis on language oversimplifies other complex issues.The federal official languages policy is not, and was not intended to be, a national unity cure-all. Such an emphasis on language oversimplifies other complex issues.
2. It is the normal state of affairs, not a special favour.
3. Federal government service in the official language of your choice is something you should be able to take for granted.
4. The policy seeks to ensure that Canadians feel at home with their government.
Does the Official Languages Act protect my rights as a unilingual Canadian?
1. Yes. This is one of the major improvements in the 1988
2. Yes, it makes clear your right to receive services in the official language of your choice.It also sets out clearly the rights of federal employees.
3. The obligation that staffing be consistent with the principle of selection of personnel according to merit.
4. It provides a process for dealing with any problems that might arise. Those who feel their personal rights have been infringed by a federal institution may bring a complaint to the Commissioner of Official Languages
5. What is the status of English in Quebec?
1. English and French have had, and continue to have, equal status in the courts and legislature of Quebec since Confederation. All acts of the provincial legislature are enacted in both languages
2. The Government of Quebec provides a wide range of government services in English and has passed a law guaranteeing the right to English-language health and social services
3. Quebec's minority-language education system remains one of the best in the country, providing schooling from kindergarten to university
4. Quebec is Canada's most bilingual province. This means that in the private sector English- language services are far more available than they are in French elsewhere in Canada.