Official Language Groups French and English are official languages of Canada and citizens have to right to conduct federal affairs in either language New Brunswick is an official bilingual province Section 23, states any minority population of sufficient size has the right to publicly funded schools
Francophones in majority and minority settings 1608: Samuel de Champlain founds the city of Quebec 1774: Britain passes the Quebec Act 1867: Confederation establishes Canada as a bilingual, bicultural nation 1969: The Official Languages Act reasserts the equality of both languages 1982: The Charter confirms bilingualism and establishes minority education rights
Francophone Education The BNA Act guaranteed public schools for the Protestant minority in Quebec and the Catholic minorities in the rest of Canada Religion-based rights corresponded to English-French language divisions
Did You Know? 1890: Manitoba entered Confederation as a bilingual province but the Manitoba Schools Act abolished public funding for Catholic schools making Manitoba officially a English only province
Did You Know? 1892: Before Alberta became a province, it was a part of the NWT which was officially bilingual The Haultain Resolution was proposed and passed calling for proceedings to be English only and all instruction in school was now English