El contexto institucional de las reformas presupuestarias

The linguistic tensions in Canada date back to the British Conquest of 1760. From this date forward, the usage of French language was constantly in question. Initially, its use was severely limited due to the Royal Proclamation of 1763 which confirmed British victory in the French speaking lands, and then gained status through the Quebec Act of 1774 and the Constitutional Act of 1791 (Hayday, 2005, p. 16). The Quebec Act of 1774 is crucial in understanding the history of Canadian language policy. Mackey (2010) explains,

It [The Quebec Act of 1774] has been interpreted as being essentially an

ethnogenic treaty – a pact between peoples- one whose leitmotif would colour the course of Canadian history, since it implicitly seemed to accept the French

Canadian population and their descendants as a distinct people (race or nation) – distinct by their origins, religion, land, and language. (p. 33) The conflicts between the French speaking and English speaking people did not end after the Quebec Act. Even though French speaking Lower Canada and English speaking Upper Canada joined together to form a single province in 1837, the conflicts continued to persist. In fact, the rebellions of 1837-38 caused Lord Durham to conclude that the

fundamental problem in Canada was a conflict of the races that could only be resolved by assimilation. However, this did not rest well with Georges Cartier who vehemently opposed this argument (Mackey, 2010).

The union of Upper and Lower Canada did not result in the assimilation suggested by Lord Durham; however, through further rebellions both Canadas had achieved a representative government. According to Mackey (2010), this union with two representative governments had several challenges including: dual premierships, double two-party systems, as well as rotating capitals (p. 35). A solution to these challenges was to create a federation which occurred in 1867. Of the provinces, Manitoba was first to join the Confederation in 1870, followed by British Columbia in 1871, Prince Edward Island in 1873, and finally Saskatchewan and Alberta in 1905. The result was a large country which stretched between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The constitution of this country remained The British North America Act and was drafted mostly by

representatives from French Lower Canada and English Upper Canada. This Act was perceived by the French of Lower Canada as “an assurance of diversity and cooperation” while the English of Upper Canada saw the Act as “an instrument of unity and fusion” (Mackey, 2010, p. 35).

The French had hoped that the Confederation would maximize their position within the larger country since the vision for Canada was two founding peoples (the English and the French) with two equal languages. This vision did not seem to ring true with the English population considering that bilingualism was achieved by the French as

a first language population while the English as a first language population resisted learning French.

Maintaining the French population proved to be a difficult task. The immigration of French speakers from Europe had stalled during the first and second world wars and the birth rate was at an all time low. Additionally, original French speakers outside of Quebec and Acadia were no longer speaking French at home (Mackey, 2010). The decline in spoken French catalyzed a change in Quebec’s ideology. The belief that it was time to move away from the idea of bilingualism in Canada to French in Quebec was growing in popularity. In 1959, the changing policy in Quebec was evident in the slogans of the political parties that came to power, Maître chez nous, Égalité où

indépendence, Un Québec souverain, (Mackey, 2010).

In the 1960s Quebec’s Quiet Revolution began, whereby the role of French Canadians in Canada was called into question. Bélanger (2000) illustrates, “demand for change was heard everywhere: for bilingualism, for biculturalism, for the respect of the autonomy of Quebec, for equal status in Confederation” (p. 1). The call for change “ushered in dramatic changes to the political organization of Quebec, with a massive expansion of the role of the provincial government into areas previously controlled by the Church” (Haque, 2012, p. 46). The main concern of the new regime was the survival of the French language in Quebec. In 1961 the French Language Bureau (L’Office de la langue Française) was created which led to Bill 63 (Loi pour promouvoir la langue française au Québec) which was a language-promotion act targeting the immigrant and English speaking population.

Despite the call for change in Quebec, it was not until 1963 when attention to language issues in Canada was given serious consideration. Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson set up the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism (henceforth the B and B Commission). Haque (2012) describes, “From the beginning, the B and B Commission was conceived by the government as a way of responding to the national unity crisis triggered by French-Canadian demands for full equality in Confederation” (p. 51). Thus the B and B Commission’s goals were to address the long standing linguistic tensions in Quebec and also the long standing tensions between Quebec and the rest of Canada. According to the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism 1967, the mandate of the B and B Commission was to:

…inquire 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. (p. 25)

Also known as the Laurendeau-Dunton Commission, the commission had three main focuses. The first purpose was to investigate the situation and practice of bilingualism within the federal administration and to make recommendations to facilitate the practice of bilingualism and to promote biculturalism. According to McRae (1998, p. 62), the second focus entails that, “the commission was to report and make recommendations…on the role of ‘public and private organizations’ including mass media, in promoting

bilingualism and better intercultural understanding. Finally, the B and B Commission was to liaise with the provincial governments in order to create opportunities for Canadians to become bilingual in French and English (Hayday, 2005, p. 29).

After consulting a number of international models including South Africa, Switzerland, and Belgium the commissioners decided to craft their model after the one used in Finland which offered governmental services in Swedish for the Swedes living in bilingual districts (Hayday, 2005, p. 38). The first report brought forth by the B and B Commission called for an official languages act and states that the main aims of an official languages act would be:

a) to ensure that Canadian citizens can deal with federal administrative and judicial bodies in the two official languages;

b) to provide for the appointment of a high state official, independent of the government, with responsibility for inquiring into and reporting upon the implementation of the federal Official Languages Act;

c) to give the Governor in Council the necessary authority for negotiating with the provincial and local authorities involved – in the latter case with consent of the province concerned – to widen the opportunities for Canadian citizens to deal with the branches of government in both official languages (Royal Commission on Bilingualism and

Biculturalism (RCBB), Report, Book 1, Official Languages, p. 86). As evidenced by the recommendations, the B and B Commission was crucial in the development and implementation of a language policy in Canada. The commission’s efforts gave rise to the reinforcement of linguistic duality since it specified only two official languages (assumed to be English and French) and laid the foundation for the first Official Languages Act of 1969.