Language policies of Canada's provinces and territories

From the 1890s until the 1960s, English was the only language in which most government services were provided outside of Quebec (which was functionally bilingual) and using French in the courts or in schools was often illegal.

[1] The 1982 amendments to the Constitution of Canada included a right of minority-language education that has resulted in policy changes in all of the provinces.

No specific policies were enacted for the other provinces, and no provisions were made for the official languages to be used in other elements of the government such the courts, schools, post offices, and so on.

Language policies in all provinces have evolved over time in response to changing demographics, public attitudes, and legal rulings.

One of the outcomes of the Red River Rebellion of 1870 was the creation of Manitoba as an officially bilingual province, to protect the French-speaking Métis from being overpowered by the incoming English-speaking settlers.

This guarantee failed, however, and in the aftermath of the Manitoba Schools Question, that province was allowed to become officially English-only, until these policies were declared unconstitutional in 1985.

Court cases such as Doucet-Boudreau v Nova Scotia (Minister of Education) have indicated that this is a positive right that demands timely and sufficient action from the provincial governments.

In addition to the federal government, English and French are formally the official languages of the provinces of Manitoba and New Brunswick, and in all three territories.

However, New Brunswick remains the only province whose provincial government is able to provide equal access to services for either official languages.

In 1999 the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in Moncton (City) v. Charlebois that New Brunswick's official bilingualism also applied to municipalities in the province.

[7] Nearly a century later, the Supreme Court of Canada held, in Reference Re Manitoba Language Rights, that this legislation was unconstitutional.

[13] French-language access within Ontario's judicial administrative offices is also required in designated communities under the French Language Services Act.

This was considered too weak by many Quebec nationalists, leading to the creation of the Mouvement Québec français and increased support for the new Parti Québécois.

Its recommendations led to the passage of the Official Language Act or "Bill 22" in 1974 by the Quebec Liberal Party government of Robert Bourassa.

In 1988, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in Ford v Quebec (AG) that the ban on outdoor signs in languages other than French was unconstitutional.

The Languages Act (1988), reaffirmed the unilingual English nature of the province,[15][full citation needed] while recognizing a right to use French in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta and before certain courts.

[16] The Language Policy in Education (1978) requires school boards to establish French programs at the request of a local advisory committee.

[16] There is no requirement that social services be provided in French and this is left up to individual NGOs and charities that work with the provincial government.

[19] The government publishes an educational curriculum to assists teachers of Chinese, German, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Punjabi, Spanish, and Ukrainian,[20] as well as of Cree and Blackfoot.

The province also maintains a French-language web portal, gov.ns.ca/bonjour[25] During the first half of the 20th century, there were 60 French language schools in Prince Edward Island.

In 2010, the Government of Saskatchewan launched a bilingual website that indexes all the services it provides in French: bonjour.gov.sk.ca[31] Access to French-language education in British Columbia is determined not only by Charter rights under Section 23, but also by a provincial policy decision to extend French-language schooling to francophone non-citizens living in British Columbia.

However, Britain eventually gained firm and unchallenged control of the island and adjacent coast following the French defeat in the Seven Years' War, and English then became the language of administration and commerce, as in most of the British Empire.

[33] The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador has no statutory language policy, simply having inherited English from colonial times.

In its January 2012 report on the costs and benefits of official bilingualism at the provincial level in Canada, the think tank, Fraser Institute, identified several potential methods for classifying the provinces based on language circumstances and policies (territories were not included).