Language Rights Issues Today

• Date: 22 August 2023
• Author: Michel Bastarache

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 

Language Rights Issues Today

ere have been many changes in Canadian society since the adop-

tion of the f‌irst federal language act in . e composition of the

population of Canada, the level of bilingualism of Canadians, and

the attitude of Canadians toward bilingualism and minority lan-

guage rights have all drastically changed over the past half-century.

Likewise, while minority-language communities have achieved

many legal and political victories in the past few decades, they

still face many challenges. Access to minority-language education

equivalent to that of the majority and access to government services

in the ocial language of one’s choice remain contentious and the

subject of frequent litigation. It is still dicult for ocial-language

communities to convince the executive branches of some govern-

ments to implement the rights and obligations recognized by the

legislative and judicial branches. While this reticence usually stems

from the perceived administrative or f‌inancial burden involved in

enacting language rights, the Supreme Court has ruled time and

time again that these are not, by themselves, sucient justif‌ications

for not respecting language rights.

is chapter will explore some of the main issues faced by o-

cial minority-language communities, particularly francophone com-

munities outside of Quebec. e aim of this chapter is to educate

THE RECOGNITION OF TWO OFFICIAL LANGUAGES IN CANADA

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readers on the challenges faced by these communities, and to present

possible solutions. Lastly, this chapter will conclude with a sum-

mary and commentary on the White Paper on the Modernization

of the Ocial Languages Act, and the changes that the government

needs to make to address some of the issues outlined.

Statistics on Bilingualism

To fully understand the profound impact that language policies

have had in shaping the modern Canadian identity, it is necessary

to look at the evolution of demographics over the past f‌ifty years.

Population Statistics

To understand the following tables, it is important to def‌ine three

key concepts: “mother tongue,” “f‌irst ocial language spoken,” and

“knowledge of ocial language.” e “mother tongue” refers to the

f‌irst language an individual learns, regardless of whether it is an

ocial language. e “f‌irst ocial language spoken” refers to the f‌irst

ocial language learned by an individual, regardless of their mother

tongue. is means that someone whose mother tongue is not an

ocial language but who learned English f‌irst would have English

as their “f‌irst ocial language spoken.” Finally, “knowledge of o-

cial language” refers to whether an individual has a self- reported

knowledge of one or both ocial languages, regardless of their

mother tongue or which ocial language was learned f‌irst.

By looking at the census data from  to , it is possible to

see that, while the population of Canadians with French as their

mother tongue has increased, their proportional weight has substan-

tially decreased.

Table . shows that between  and , the percentage

of Canadians with French as their mother tongue has decreased

by  percent, while the percentage of Canadians with English as

their mother tongue has decreased by . percent. Meanwhile, the

percentage of Canadians with neither English nor French as their

mother tongue has almost doubled.

Language Rights Issues Today

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TABLE 5.1. | POPULATION BY MOTHER TONGUE, CANADA3

Year French English Non-ocial languages

1951 4,068,850 29.0% 8,280,809 59.1% 1,659,770 11.8%

1961 5,123,151 28.1% 10,660,534 58.5% 2,454,562 13.5%

1971 5,792,710 26.9% 12,967,445 60.1% 2,808,155 13.0%

1981 6,177,795 25.7% 14,784,810 61.4% 3,120,900 13.0%

1991 6,562,065 24.3% 16,311,210 60.4% 4,120,770 15.3%

1996 6,711,644 23.5% 17,072,432 59.8% 4,744,059 16.6%

2001 6,782,294 22.9% 17,521,897 59.1% 5,334,849 18.0%

2006 6,892,230 22.1% 18,055,685 57.8% 6,293,110 20.1%

2001 7,172,560 21.7% 19,137,520 57.8% 6,811,095 20.6%

2016 7,303,740 21.0% 19,821,440 57.0% 7,642,070 22.0%

e data on f‌irst ocial language spoken shows the same

alarming trend for French speakers; their relative percentage of

the population has been on a steady decline, with a f‌ive-point loss

between  and . Table . also shows that only . percent

of Canadians either learned French as their f‌irst ocial language

or learned both ocial languages simultaneously. Meanwhile, out

of the number of Canadians whose mother tongue is not an o-

cial language, around  percent will learn English f‌irst, while only

approximately  percent learn French f‌irst and another  percent

will learn both languages simultaneously.

TABLE 5.2 | POPULATION BY FIRST OFFICIAL LANGUAGE

SPOKEN CANADA4

Year French English English and French

1971 5,873,364 27.2% 15,266,964 70.8% 108,622 0.5%

1981 6,232,190 25.9% 17,359,200 72.1% 213,357 0.9%

1991 6,704,675 24.8% 19,709,370 73.0% 217,080 0.8%

1996 6,890,880 24.2% 20,921,770 73.3% 254,350 0.9%

2001 6,995,465 23.6% 21,927,040 74.0% 283,065 1.0%

2006 7,204,390 23.1% 23,197,090 74.3% 331,925 1.1%

2011 7,507,890 22.7% 24,662,895 74.5% 367,635 1.1%

2016 7,705,755 22.2% 26,007,500 74.8% 417,485 1.2%