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Bonjour, My Friend: Understanding Minority Language Rights

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Originally published in TEACH Magazine, 50th Anniversary of the Official Languages Act Special Issue, 2019

By Martha Beach

Head to the grocery store and you’ll see shelves of products with French and English labelling. Fill out a passport application in either language. Type in a federal government URL, and you’ll be asked if you wish to proceed in French or English.

It’s second nature to expect that Canada is—at certain levels—bilingual, but it wasn’t always that way. If you were a member of a minority living in British Columbia in the early 1960s, filling out tax forms or finding schools that taught in your native tongue was unheard of.

The purpose of the Official Languages Act, enacted in September 1969, was to ensure federal services were offered in both French and English. (For that reason, government also sought to increase the number of Francophones working at the federal level.) This led to the establishment of parallel programs, such as French-only education in Anglophone communities, French immersion for English majority groups, and funding for minority representatives who, in turn, were able to advocate for better policy and more funding.

“The Act is fundamentally important, especially for linguistic minorities, whether they be the English speakers of Quebec or French speakers elsewhere, in terms of access to government services,” says Matthew Hayday, professor of Canadian history at the University of Guelph in Ontario. Now, we can all sign up for a new passport or (reluctantly) talk to a Canada Revenue Agency representative in either language.

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Martha Beach lives and works in Toronto as a freelance fact-checker, editor, and writer for a wide variety of publications. When she’s not working, you’ll find Martha on her yoga mat or hanging out with her daughter and husband.

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Martha Beach
Martha Beach
Martha Beach lives and works in Toronto as a freelance fact-checker, editor, and writer for a wide variety of publications. When she’s not working, you’ll find Martha on her yoga mat or hanging out with her daughter and husband.

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