General Conclusion

• Date: 22 August 2023
• Author: Michel Bastarache

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General Conclusion

How important is the language of the law? How important is the

political compromise at the root of language laws? How import-

ant is access to justice in both ocial languages? e answer is

simple — the language provisions are foundational. Without them

Canada would not exist in its present form. Furthermore, all the

great constitutional confrontations were related to language issues.

Canada has evolved and come to accept that languages are part of

its identity as a nation.

Minority-language communities are facing linguistic and cul-

tural assimilation. is is the reason for their militancy. In 

they believed in the two-nation theory; francophones outside Que-

bec were considered part of the French-Canadian nation. In ,

Parliament passed a motion recognizing Quebec as a distinct soci-

ety. e ties between Quebec and francophones in other provinces

and territories were by then practically non-existent. In a remark-

able decision a year earlier, the New Brunswick Court of Appeal

described the Acadians as forming a distinct society.

Language rights play a major role in def‌ining social and political

entities. Language laws cannot be considered exclusively as creat-

ing personal rights. is was recognized in the  amendment of

the Ocial Languages Act, which obligated the federal government to