Everything about The Royal Commission On Bilingualism And Biculturalism totally explained
The
Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism was a
Canadian royal commission established on
July 19,
1963, by the government of
Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson to "inquire into and report upon the existing state of bilingualism and biculturalism in Canada and to recommend what steps should be taken to develop the
Canadian Confederation on the basis of an equal partnership between the two founding races, taking into account the contribution made by the other ethnic groups to the cultural enrichment of Canada and the measures that should be taken to safeguard that contribution".
Throughout the
1960s, Canada saw the rise of modern
Quebec nationalism as the federation-wide French Canadian nationalism became less and less supported by the younger Francophone generations of this province. The perceived failure of Canada to establish the equality of the
English and
French languages within governmental institutions is one of main reasons for the rise of the Quebec secessionist movement.
The Commission was jointly chaired by
André Laurendeau, publisher of
Le Devoir, and
Davidson Dunton, president of
Carleton University. As a result it was sometimes known as the Laurendeau-Dunton commission.
Ten commissioners representing each of the provinces were also included in the commission as areas such as education were provincial responsibilities.
The Commission recommended sweeping changes when its final report was published in
1969, some 4 years after the publication of its preliminary report in February of
1965. Among other things, it reported that Francophones were underrepresented in the nation's political and business communities. 1961 statistics of the salaries of Quebec men based on ethnic origin revealed that French Canadians were only better paid than
Italian Canadians and Native Americans, behind all other ethnic groups.
Recommendations:
Included the following:
- That Ontario and New Brunswick become officially bilingual.
- That Bilingual districts be created in regions of Canada where French speakers made up more than 10% of the population.
- That parents be able to have their children attend schools in the language of their choice in regions where there's sufficient demand.
- That Ottawa become a bilingual city.
- That English and French be declared official languages of Canada.
Incoming Prime Minister
Pierre Trudeau made it one of his highest priorities to implement the Commission's recommendations to solve these problems. The most important of these was making Canada an
officially bilingual nation. This was introduced in
1969 in the
Official Languages Act. The provinces were also recommended to make reforms, and many did. Canada's education system was overhauled and school children across the country were made to learn both languages.
The Commission and its recommendations were supported by both the
Progressive Conservative Party and the
New Democratic Party, but the Tories did have concerns with the costly implementation of the reforms. Regional parties like the
Social Credit Party, the
Confederation of Regions Party and later on, the
Reform Party would object strongly to these changes.
In his later years Trudeau, made a major parting from the Commission's findings. While Canada would remain a bilingual nation, it would pursue a policy of
multiculturalism rather than biculturalism.
In the
Constitution Act, 1982, Trudeau ensured that many of the Commission's recommendations were permanently included in the
Constitution of Canada, as
sections 16 through
section 23 of the
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms included several language rights.
While in some circles the Commission's legacy is controversial, others view it as a success. The under representation of French-Canadians in positions of power is less of a problem and French-Canadians have access to government services in their own language.
Further Information
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