Official Language Groups

• French and English are official languages of Canada and citizens have to right to conduct federal affairs in either language

• New Brunswick is an official bilingual province

• Section 23, states any minority population of sufficient size has the right to publicly funded schools

Francophones in majority and minority

settings• 1608: Samuel de Champlain founds the

city of Quebec• 1774: Britain passes the Quebec Act• 1867: Confederation establishes Canada

as a bilingual, bicultural nation• 1969: The Official Languages Act

reasserts the equality of both languages• 1982: The Charter confirms bilingualism

and establishes minority education rights

FrancophoneEducation

• The BNA Act guaranteed public schools for the Protestant minority in Quebec and the Catholic minorities in the rest of Canada

• Religion-based rights corresponded to English-French language divisions

Did You Know?• 1890: Manitoba entered

Confederation as a bilingual province but the Manitoba Schools Act abolished public funding for Catholic schools making Manitoba officially a English only province

Did You Know?• 1892: Before Alberta became a

province, it was a part of the NWT which was officially bilingual

• The Haultain Resolution was proposed and passed calling for proceedings to be English only and all instruction in school was now English