The consequences of official bilingualism on the status and perception of non-official languages in Canada

Abstract

The year 2011 marked the 40th Anniversary of Canadian Multiculturalism as an official federal policy. It also marked the 42nd anniversary of passage of the Official Languages Act (1969) that gave English and French equal status in the government of Canada. Much has been written, both positive and negative, about the impetus for and subsequent effects of official bilingualism and multiculturalism on Canadian society. More recently, scholars have revisited the history and politics that gave birth to both of these policies and have suggested that today, even more than was the case 40 years ago, the framework of official bilingualism and multiculturalism is inadequate from a practical standpoint and, arguably, at odds with Canada's self-image as a ‘mosaic’ of cultures and languages. In particular, the continued dominance of English and French as the ‘founding races’ of Canada not only tends to marginalize the status of ‘other’ groups and their languages within Canada, but it also presents an image of Canada, to itself and the world, that does not reflect the changing demographics and linguistic complexity of the country.