|
3 Wisemen | Trudeaumania
| October Crisis |
Bilingualism |
Petro Canada | 72
Super Series |
Wage & Price Controls |
1976 Olympics | PQ
come to Power | Interlude
| Western Alienation
| 1980 Referendum
| The Constitution |
Changing of the
Guard One of
the pieces of Trudeau's vision of a "Just Society" was
equality of language across the country. The Federal
civil service and the government in general had been
English based with little provision for those who spoke
French. One of the actions which would bring Quebec and
French speaking Canadians form across the country into a
closer relationship with the rest of the country would
be to institute a policy which would offer services in
both French and English, or a policy of Bilingualism.
Trudeau asked that legislation be drawn
up and formed into a Bill which would introduce both
French and English as Canada's official languages. He
introduced the Bill in Parliament on October 17, 1668
with the words, "We believe in two official languages
and in a pluralistic society, not merely as a political
necessity but as an enrichment,".
The Official Languages
Bill made French and English equal official languages
for Federal courts, the civil service and Crown
Agencies. Services would be offered in either or both
languages in all areas across the country where the
relate language is spoken by at least 10% of the people.
In 1963 the
Federal Government had asked for a Royal Commission on
Bilingualism and Biculturalism and many of the
components of the Act were drawn from the polished
findings of the Commission. Francophone's constituted
25% of the population in 1963 but held only 9% of the
jobs in the Federal government. The principle of
Bilingualism was later incorporated into Canadian
Charter of Rights and Freedoms. |
