LANGUAGE SITUATION AND LANGUAGE POLICY IN THE CANADIAN PROVINCE OF QUEBEC

Abstract

The article analyzes the language situation and language policy in the Canadian province of Quebec. The Federal and provincial laws on the language adopted in the second half of the XX century are analyzed and the situation in which the French language was in the province of Quebec is indicated. The sixties of the last century in Quebec is called the "quiet revolution", it was a period of profound social and political changes. The quiet revolution was peaceful, evolutionary, but it involved the entire population of the province. The "revolution" was accompanied by a change in the ethnic imbalance in the society, in which the both political and economic powers were in the hands of the English-speaking minority. Another important aspect was the modernization and secularization of the Franco-Canadian community and the rise of its standard of living up to the average level of Anglo-Canadians one. French-speaking Canadians who were at a lower stage of economic development, was on the edge of loosing their native language, which caused a strong rise of the nationalist movement in Quebec, which was directed by provincial authorities to rescue the Quebec version of the French language and improving socio-economic situation of the French speaking community.