In English s.v.p. : l’usage du français et la démocratie canadienne

By forbidding Member of the Legislative Assembly Léo Piquette from speaking in French, the Speaker of the Alberta Legislative Assembly sparked a language crisis in Canada in 1987. People asked why an elected official should not be allowed to speak in one of Canada’s official languages since 1867. This article analyses language rights and the evolution of language planning policies from 1867 to 1970. After bitter debates, Canadian politicians laid the foundations for the British North America Act, a law passed by the British Parliament in 1867. This Act propelled Canada into the future. The will to live together and, above all, the how to live together are based on respect for the rights of the two main linguistic communities, English-speaking and French-speaking people. Even though democracies are more respectful of minority rights, the Canadian example shows that these rights have been violated on several occasions. The provinces of Manitoba and Ontario pursued policies of linguistic homogenisation in favour of English at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century. These decisions caused major crises, as francophone minority groups lost access to schools where French was the language of instruction. This explains the inclusion of section 23 in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, adopted in 1982, guaranteeing access to French-language schools in the English-speaking provinces and to English-language schools in Quebec.