1.- English and French were first established as official languages of Canada in 1867 when the British North America Act was passed. In 1969, the Official Languages Act was passed, giving English and French Official status at a federal level and requiring that all federal institutions in Canada provide services in any of those languages on request. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms recognize the importance of the language rights in our society.
2.- Canada is a bilingual country at a federal level. However, the Official Languages Act is only applicable to federal institutions. It does not apply to Provinces nor to municipal institutions. In fact, out of 10 provinces that are part of Canada, only one of them, New Brunswick, is officially bilingual. This regulation does not apply to private businesses and it does not require Canadians to be bilingual. In fact, the last census in 2016 revealed that approx 17.9% of the population of Canada declared to be bilinguals.
3.- In 2016, approx 6.2 million people in Canada declared to be bilinguals English – French. Most of them, approx 57.7% of bilingual people live in the Province of Quebec. It is interesting to point out that 53.2% of Bilinguals declared French as their mother tongue.
4.- In terms of the official bilingualism, Montreal is the most Bilingual city of Canada. Approx 59% of its population can speak English and French. But some reports based on last census 2016, have found that Montreal is also the most trilingual city of Canada. More than 21% of Montrealers can speak English, French and an immigrant language.
5.- Many people think that Ottawa, our capital city, is a bilingual city. Ottawa has a bilingual policy, but is not officially bilingual. Most people still live and work speaking English. But Ottawa is the city where the federal government is centred, being also one of the most important employers in this city. To work for any of the different areas of the federal government, to be bilingual is a plus.
6.- Not all the federal offices are required to provide services in both official languages. The Official Languages Act sets the criteria to determine which offices must provide services in English and French. Based on this criteria, the federal government of Canada has established a list of bilingual regions where all the provisions of this Act apply. . This list includes the city of Ottawa, the city of Montreal, the whole province of New Brunswick, certain bilingual areas of the Province of Quebec (like the city of Sherbrooke and areas surrounding it), the bilingual area of Eastern Ontario (Basically areas that are east of Ottawa), and Northern Ontario (Cities like Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury, North Bay and surrounding areas are included). You can read the full list of regions here
7.- Canada is member state of the Francophonie since 1970. But there are 3 provinces that also enjoy their own membership in this organization: The provinces of Quebec and New Brunswick, both have the status of government member. The province of Ontario has membership under the status of an observer government.
8.- Although every public holiday in Canada has its correspondent name in English and French, it usually happens that one is not the translation of the other. Here are some examples: New Year’s day is called in French « le jour de l’An » (The day of the year). Good Friday is called « le Vendredi saint » (The Holy Friday). Victoria Day is called « la fête de la Reine » (or Feast of the Queen. In the province of Quebec this day is celebrated as « la journée nationale des patriotes » or National Patriots’ Day). Labour Day is called « la fête du Travail » and Boxing Day is called « Lendemain de Noël » (Day after Christmas).
Another interesting fact is the way the holidays of Easter and Passover are named in French. The word « Pâques » (With P upper case, final S and no article) is to denominate Easter. If we read « la pâque » (With p lower case, without final S and using the feminine article la), it refers to Passover (Today, many people prefer to write with P upper case to show respect to Judaism). But if you see the word « Pâque » (without final S) it refers to the Orthodox Easter.
9.- Canada has one of the largest terminology and linguistic data banks of the world, with millions of terms in English and French: Termiun Plus. This is an excellent tool that language professionals can use free of charge for translation, teaching or research. It has a section of Linguistic recommendations to help standardize texts in both languages.
As an example, I consulted the section dedicated to the Canadian dollar. In English, when you need to represent an amount in Canadian dollars, you need to write the country symbol, followed by the dollar sign and the figure, all together:
Ex: Can$4.99 or CAN$4.99
But if you need to write the same amount in French, you need to start with the figure, followed by a space and the dollar sign, then another space and the country symbol.
Ex: 4.99 $ CA
10.- Since 2009, Canada celebrates the Linguistic Duality Day every year on the second Thursday of September. Different activities are programmed to promote linguistic duality and to celebrate Canadian heritage as a bilingual country.
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