Language Rights In Canada PDF Download

Language rights have emerged as an issue within the study of general human rights among modern normative theorists, but the complexity of the relationship between languages and societies makes them extraordinarily complex. Against this background, this paper will address efforts to reach a workable equilibrium between the ideals and implementation of language rights in Canada, treating language rights as a problem in policy implementation. Our research draws on extensive administrative reports and evaluations, media coverage, and the limited existing academic literature on the subject, as well as qualitative interviews with administrative officials. Canada's language policies are wide-ranging and complex -- covering issues such as preservation and development of minority language communities, societal respect for languages, and language rights in courts and in the work place. Our paper will focus primarily on the two official languages, English and French, and the effort to implement official languages policy at the federal level in the areas of service to the public and language of work following the enactment of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in 1982 and passage of the revised and expanded Official Languages Act in 1988. While the concept of official languages has extensive historical roots, it has been elevated from the realm of political strategy to that of an individual right. An institutional framework and a committed bureaucracy are in place to implement the official languages policy, represented in responsibilities assigned to the Commissioner of Official Languages, the Treasury Board Secretariat, and Canadian Heritage, headed by the Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages. Although polling data and anecdotal evidence suggests a broad acceptance of language rights by Canadians and by the federal public service, support for language rights has also been described as fragile and in constant need of refurbishing. The Commissioner of Official Languages recently expressed concern that support for the official languages policy had begun to plateau, and our research suggests that a fragile equilibrium may be emerging between the policy and its idealized goals on one hand and practical constraints posed by countervailing social and political interests as well as technical issues in implementation. At the same time, Canadian society is showing signs of generally embracing official bilingualism in practice.