Canada and linguistic policies of Non-Intervention

Politics in Canada in 1867

Despite its vast stretches of wilderness, Canada was no longer an "archipelago of British colonies." It was turning into a country, but as yet only in the east; 76% of Canadians lived in Ontario or Quebec, and the rest in the Maritimes.

Canada's population broke down as follows according to the 1871 census data:

Province	Population	Percentage
Ontario	1,620,851	46.4%
Quebec	1,191,516	34.1%
New Brunswick	285,594	8.1%
Nova Scotia	387,800	11.1%
Total	3,485,761	100.0%

map of Canada in 1867 — ©Jacques Leclerc 2018

Of course, the Canada of 1867 bore little resemblance to the Canada of today, because it was much smaller. However other British colonies existed in the rest of the area covered by Canada today: Newfoundland (146,536) and Prince Edward Island (94,021) in the east, British Columbia (10,586) in the far west, and Rupert's Land (undetermined population) in the vast region between B.C. and Ontario that extended across present-day Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut, as well as part of Ontario and Quebec.

Terminology – Confederation or Federation?

Since 1867, people have often used Canadian Confederation as the long name for Canada. Officially, however, Dominion of Canada was the name chosen in 1867, but it fell out of use. Later the "Federal Union" came to be known simply as the Confederation, a word still used today to designate the country. Nevertheless the term Confederation has no official or legal status and is found nowhere in the Canadian Constitution of 1867. In the 19th century, the terms federation and confederation were employed as synonyms.

For simplicity's sake, one could say that the Dominion of Canada came into being on July 1, 1867, with the confederation of four provinces (Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick) of British North America into a Federal Union. In 1867, Canada was still a British colony, and would stay one until 1931 with the proclamation of the Statute of Westminster (London).

In actual fact, contemporary Canada is a federation, not a confederation. The latter term is used today to designate a union of independent states having delegated by treaty certain government jurisdictions to a central government. That is why we speak of the Helvetian Confederation (the cantons have retained their political sovereignty), or Swiss Confederation as it became on April 18, 1999. The term federation refers to a union of associated states into a single federal state with two levels of government. There are numerous examples of federations around the world: the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Belgium, Russia, South Africa, etc.

From Confederation on, the Anglophone inhabitants of Canada began to call themselves Canadians, rendering the French word Canadiens (which designated French-speaking Canadians) obsolete. French-speaking Canadians came to be systematically known as French Canadians (Canadiens français) as opposed to English Canadians (Canadiens anglais).

For more information, please consult the section Foundations of this site

At the time of Canada's creation in 1867, the system was set up as a federal one, with powers divided up between the centre (federal authorities) and the provinces (provincial powers with a government in each province). Sections 91 and 92 of the Constitution of 1867 set out their respective areas of jurisdiction:

Federal jurisdiction

Trade
Taxes
Mail
Militia and defence
Currency and banks
Indian policies
Criminal law
Residual powers (fields not mentioned in the British North America Act)
Right of disallowance over the provinces
Provincial jurisdiction
Public lands and forests
Health system
Municipal institutions
Marriage
Property and civil laws
Education
Commercial licensing
Provincial constitutions
Shared jurisdiction
Agriculture
Companies and economic development
Prisons and justice systems
Fisheries
Public works
Transportations and communications
Immigration

Source: "Acte de l'Amérique du Nord britannique," in Gérald-A. Beaudoin, La Constitution du Canada, Montréal, Wilson et Lafleur, 1990, p. 849-902.

Although generally speaking federal authorities are responsible for matters of general and national interest, and provincial governments for regional matters, the defining line between the jurisdictions of the two levels is not quite clear. It is not easy to determine what constitute "general affairs" (federal government) and "local affairs" (provincial governments), given that both levels of government are at once independent and complementary. This has led to regular jurisdictional spats in the course of Canada's history, notably on language matters.

British North America Act of 1867 and linguistic question

The 1867 Constitution was officially adopted on March 29, 1867, under the name British North America Act 1867, 30–31 Victoria, c. 3 (U.K.) by the Parliament of Westminster. It came into force at noon on July 1, 1867, turning Canada into the Dominion of Canada. In 1982, the British North America Act was renamed the Constitution Act, 1867. Interestingly enough, Canada does not possess a constitution, i.e., a single document, but some thirty constitutional texts (for details, see the Legislative Framework section of this website). The constitutional text of 1867 is still in effect today and is an integral part of what is called the Canadian Constitution. On July 1, 1867, Toronto's Globe saluted the birth of a new white, English, Protestant Canada in these terms:

John Alexender Macdonald, George-Etienne Cartier, Geroge Brown

We salute the birth of a new nation. A united English America four million inhabitants strong takes its place today among the great nations of the world.

John Alexander Macdonald, the first prime minister of Canada, expressed his notions of equality between the two languages joined together in the Confederation thus:

I disagree with the viewpoint expressed in certain quarters that we must somehow attempt to suppress one language or place it in an inferior position with regard to the other; any such attempt is doomed to failure, and even were it possible, would be foolish and petty.

In George-Étienne Cartier's opinion, the Constitution of 1867 needed to accord Quebec sufficient autonomy to protect its language, religion, and tradition of civil law. For George Brown, 1867 marked the end of French domination over Canada and the advent of a new British nationality; at the Quebec Conference in 1864, he exclaimed, "Is it not wonderful? French Canadianism entirely extinguished!" But nothing happened as planned, with hard reality having a tendency to intervene.

The Constitution Act, 1867, which is still in effect today, contains only a single section on language, section 133. It stipulates that members have the right to use English or French in the Parliament of Canada and the Legislature of the Province of Quebec, as do citizens in any proceedings before a federal court of Canada or a court of Quebec. It is worded thus:

Section 133

Either the English or the French Language may be used by any Person in the Debates of the Houses of the Parliament of Canada and of the Houses of the Legislature of Quebec; and both those Languages shall be used in the respective Records and Journals of those Houses; and either of those Languages may be used by any Person or in any Pleading or Process in or issuing from any Court of Canada established under this Act, and in or from all or any of the Courts of Quebec.
The Acts of the Parliament of Canada and of the Legislature of Quebec shall be printed and published in both those Languages.

It is important to understand that section 133 did not institute official bilingualism in Canada as a whole; it simply permitted the use of English and French in the Federal Parliament, the Quebec Legislature, and the courts of the province of Quebec and those still to be created by the federal government. It could even be said that English and French were not recognized at all as official languages.

In the 19^th century, the notion of a bilingual country had scarcely taken root and flew in the face of the notion of the nation state, i.e., a country perceived as having a single language and a single "race" (a very popular term at the time). English Canadians could not even conceive of a nation with two official languages, although examples did exist (e.g., Switzerland). That's why there was no talk of institutional bilingualism, let alone official bilingualism. Although recognition of the two languages was limited to two precise areas (legislation and federal courts), English and French did achieve real legal status, although without being enshrined per se as official languages. Of the four original provinces, only Quebec was required under the 1867 Constitution to be bilingual, but there, too, without the languages being declared official.

In actual fact, the Constitution Act, 1867, did not commit the federal government, the federal civil service, or Quebec to bilingualism. All it did was create what Franco-Ontarian legal scholar Gérald-Armand Beaudoin (1929 – 2008) called "an embryo of official bilingualism." The purpose of Section 133 had never been to impose an institutional framework on language. Today one might say the law had loose ends, but institutional bilingualism was a rare commodity in 1867, even non-existent. Only the Swiss Federation had any such system, but it is unlikely the drafters of the Constitution—essentially John A. Macdonald—consulted the Swiss constitution of the day (which was written in German and French). At most, they looked at existing statutes in the British colonies, none of which was bilingual. So this "embryo of bilingualism" was no cause for surprise. It wasn't common practice at the time. In fact, some viewed it as excessively tolerant!

Examples of bilingualism could be found in the administrative, judicial, school, and other systems of certain countries (Switzerland, Belgium, Finland, Italy, etc.), but few bilingualism provisions enshrined in legal texts, i.e., a constitution or statute. It also needs to be remembered that those who negotiated the Constitution, the "Fathers of Confederation" as they are known, had only a single model to guide them—that of the United Kingdom, which had chased all the minority languages (Welsh, Gaelic, Irish, Manks) from its midst in favour of the unifying power of English. In the case of Canada, the embryo of legislative and judicial bilingualism was probably perceived as an almost revolutionary advance.

How an Englishman develops an idea, for instance, bears little resemblance to how a Frenchman would do the same. The mentality, the way of thinking, the method is different. We can grasp the idea of a law in one language and express it but poorly in another. Unless the two tongues share a same spirit and the two peoples an identical intellectual process, any attempt at translation will be vain unless one first completely assimilates the legal notion to be transplanted, which in itself alters the essence, introduces new viewpoints, reorders both the details and the whole according to a new economy, and in the end presents a new conception of the law, with all the attendant changes to make it fit another manner of thinking, doing, and speaking. Any other method of borrowing shall assuredly lead to deplorable consequences.

In the 1980s, the federal government would find solutions to these problems by calling on two drafting committees, one English and the other French, and a third to reconcile the two versions.

In practice, the two languages could never be equal in Parliament because anyone speaking in French was not understood by the English majority, and vice versa. Simultaneous interpretation was not introduced until 1969. This meant that Francophones members and senators generally had to be bilingual, particularly if they wanted to occupy important posts. Debates in English would have seemed excruciatingly long to unilingual Francophones. So English became the language of communication in Parliament. When a member wanted to be understood, he had to use English or risk seeing two-thirds of the assembly get up and leave.

The rules at the time called for motions to be read in both languages and bills to be printed in English and French. However, working documents and briefs to parliamentary committees were generally in English only. Most regulations were issued in English, except for those intended for the whole country or Quebec. In all other cases, written materials were prepared and released in English only, including Cabinet orders in council. Although certain texts in the Official Gazette had to be translated, only the English version was official. In other words, if English was the working language, French could only be a language of translation. Putting the two on an equal footing wasby no means an easy task.

There was also the problem of drafting and translating laws. To be valid, the English and French versions had to be enacted together. But in the decades after 1867 it became obvious that the laws of Parliament were always drafted in English and only translated into French. The French version was often very poor and required a knowledge of English to understand the real meaning of the law. Sometimes identical passages had different meanings in English and French, and in the worst cases could contradict each other. Obviously this could have dangerous consequences, since both versions had force of law. When problems cropped up due to contradictory versions, a bilingual amendment had to be passed to change the version that was wrong (generally the French). Some legal scholars held that it was simply impossible to reconcile two different legal systems (common law and French law) that had different writing styles. In 1922, Judge Adjutor Rivard (18678 – 1945) of the Court of Queen's Bench had this to say:

How an Englishman develops an idea, for instance, bears little resemblance to how a Frenchman would do the same. The mentality, the way of thinking, the method is different. We can grasp the idea of a law in one language and express it but poorly in another. Unless the two tongues share a same spirit and the two peoples an identical intellectual process, any attempt at translation will be vain unless one first completely assimilates the legal notion to be transplanted, which in itself alters the essence, introduces new viewpoints, reorders both the details and the whole according to a new economy, and in the end presents a new conception of the law, with all the attendant changes to make it fit another manner of thinking, doing, and speaking. Any other method of borrowing shall assuredly lead to deplorable consequences.

In the 1980s, the federal government would find solutions to these problems by calling on two drafting committees, one English and the other French, and a third to reconcile the two versions.

Territorial Expansion (1867–1949) and Its linguistic consequences

The four founding provinces—Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, and Quebec—became the heart of federal Canada in 1867. Then a few years later, then prime minister Sir John Alexander Macdonald bought Rupert's Land and negotiated the entry of three other provinces (Manitoba in 1870, British Columbia in 1871, and Prince Edward Island in 1873) and created two territories (the Northwest Territories in 1870 and the Yukon Territory in 1898). At the turn of the century (1905), Alberta and Saskatchewan were carved out of the Northwest Territories. The inhabitants of Newfoundland had the opportunity to become part of Canada in 1869 and in 1896, but rejected the offer until 1949, when they finally joined the Confederation, which, it should be remembered, has always been a federation

map showing the date of admission to the federation for each province

This territorial expansion in Canada was fueled by the fear of U.S. expansionism. In the year of Confederation (1867), the United States had just bought Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million, and it was thought this would encourage the Americans to connect the north and south through British Columbia. The Union Pacific Railway was completed in 1864, boosting the population in the northwestern United States. American merchants and colonists began to see opportunities for expansion into the vast, practically uninhabited Canadian plains. Since 1863, nine new states had been created, a number of which hugged the Canadian border: Minnesota in 1858, Wisconsin in 1863, Montana and Washington in 1889, and Idaho in 1890. All of these events made the Americans look very suspicious in the eyes of Canadians, who feared a new rise in expansionism in the West. Canada needed to outstrip the Americans and open up new land for colonization.

The territorial expansion of Canada after 1867 also had major linguistic consequences. It ensured the spread of the English language across the continent, reducing, and even eliminating, some rights of French speakers despite the enshrinement of these rights in the Constitution of Canada. One thing is certain—although the federal language policy was one of non-intervention (i.e., doing no more than what the Constitution required), certain provinces actively sought to restrict francophone rights, and in many cases managed to eliminate them altogether for a time. In short, policies ranged from non-intervention to outright prohibition, except in the Parliament of Canada.

It is important to remember that in 1900, Canada had a population of 5.4 million. In the years that followed, Canada experienced the highest immigration rates of the century. For example, between 1896 and 1914, some 1.1 million Europeans settled in Canada, with two-thirds from Great Britain. More than half of these immigrants (618,000) settled in the West, and were joined by 172,000 Americans. Such a wave of immigration dramatically altered the ethnic makeup of the Canadian population. Descendants of the British, French, and aboriginal populations saw their proportions decline.

So it comes as little surprise that in the late 19^th century and early 20^th century, English Canadians were very concerned about assimilating the new ethnic groups flooding into the country and, as a result, denied French Canadians—who they viewed as just another group of non-Anglophones—the right to separate schools. In other words, French Canadians—and Amerindians—were lumped in the same group as the throngs of immigrants. Canada remained an English-speaking country in which bilingualism was tolerated in Federal Parliament and Quebec, but not in the other provinces. In 1911, some 22% of the population of Canada was foreign born, which meant the country was no longer massively of British descent, but rather multiethnic. However, mentalities did not change until much later.

The Hudson's Bay Company was experiencing financial difficulties and, despite its merger in 1821 with the Northwest Company, was no longer able to turn a profit in the fur trade. The Hudson's Bay Company monopoly was broken up in 1859, thus opening up the market in this vast region to all entrepreneurs. In 1867, Rupert's Land was still a "private colony" (since 1670), and spanned all lands in the Hudson Bay watershed, which included part of western Quebec, the bulk of northwestern Ontario, all of Manitoba, nearly all of Saskatchewan and Alberta, and the eastern edge of the Northwest Territories.

The Hudson's Bay Company estimated its land to be worth $400 million, considering that the Americans had just purchased Alaska, a much smaller territory, for $7.2 million. Following pressure by the British government on company officials, Canada struck a very good deal indeed in 1869. For a mere $1.5 million, Canada signed the largest real estate transaction in its history to purchase this immense territory stretching across seven million square kilometres. The Hudson's Bay Company kept its forts and counters, but abandoned all privileges as a monopoly in the fur trade. All of these new territories were christened the Northwest Territories in 1870. However, this acquisition had some major human and territorial impacts that were unexpected by the Canadian government.

In their haste to populate the country and open up new regions to colonization, John A. Macdonald and his negotiators (George-Étienne Cartier and William McDougall) had neglected to consider the major issues that annexation would raise with the people who had long inhabited these regions—some 100,000 people, the bulk of whom were Inuit, Amerindian (Cree, Tchippewayan, Yellowknife, Slave, Dogrib, Hare, and Kaska), and Métis. Negotiations on the purchase of the territories were held between Canada, the United Kingdom, and the Hudson's Bay Company, but excluded the people living on the land in question. The Métis of the Northwest Territories, also called "half-breeds," were the most vocal in their claims and consisted of three linguistic groups: French-speaking Métis (the majority); English-speaking Métis of Scottish descent, said to be "from the Hudson Bay"; and the Métis assimilated by the Amerindians and who spoke a native language.

However, it was the Métis from the Red River (in the Winnipeg area) who felt most despoiled by the purchase of the Northwest Territories. They had a population of some 12,000 inhabitants, including 5,757 French-speaking Métis, 4,083 English-speaking Métis, 1,500 Canadians (fur traders and land speculators), and 558 Amerindians. In the ten years that followed, some 4,000 French-speaking Canadians from Quebec came to settle in Manitoba. Ten thousand Métis had been living on this land for 200 years; they hunted bison, ran farms (divided into rows as under the French regime), and traded with the Americans. Government surveyors arrived on the scene as owners. And while threatening to strip the Métis of their land, they kept the best land for themselves without offering any kind of compromise.

The Métis decided to fight the federal surveyors and, under the leadership of Louis Riel (1844-1885), created a provisional government. They then demanded that the federal government grant them ownership of their land and recognize their religious rights. But one of the surveyors, an anti-Catholic Orangeman named Thomas Scott (1842-1870), rebelled against Louis Riel's "government" and after a summary trial was executed. This unfortunate incident sparked a national crisis. While Francophones saw Riel as a defender of Catholicism and the French language in the West, Anglophones from Ontario considered Scott a martyr who needed avenging. Riel was viewed as the main instigator of the anti-government rebellion.

Language rights recognized by the province

Franco-Manitobans represented a considerable percentage of the population (over 40%) at this time. The census of 1871 showed 5,700 French-speaking Métis, 4,000 English-speaking Métis, and 1,600 representatives of the white population (Scottish and French Canadians). The French speakers, therefore, had a right to expect a certain degree of language protection, and they were given the same language and religious rights as English speakers for as long as they remained a sizeable minority.

Section 22 of the Manitoba Act of 1870, a constitutional statute, provided for a system of public denominational schools subsidized by the province:

Section 22

In and for the Province, the said Legislature may exclusively make Laws in relation to Education, subject and according to the following provisions:

Nothing in any such Law shall prejudicially affect any right or privilege with respect to Denominational Schools which any class of persons have by Law or practice in the Province at the Union:
An appeal shall lie to the Governor General in Council from any Act or decision of the Legislature of the Province, or of any Provincial Authority, affecting any right or privilege of the Protestant or Roman Catholic minority of the Queen's subjects in relation to Education.
Legislation touching schools subject to certain provisions.
In case any such Provincial Law, as from time to time seems to the Governor General in Council requisite for the due execution of the provisions of this section, is not made, or in case any decision of the Governor General in Council on any appeal under this section is not duly executed by the proper Provincial Authority in that behalf, then, and in every such case, and as far only as the circumstances of each case require, the Parliament of Canada may make remedial Laws for the due execution of the provisions of this section, and of any decision of the Governor General in Council under this section. Power reserved to Parliament.

What is more, the Manitoba School Act of 1871 (or Education Act) stipulated that the Board of Education had to offer French-language schools all the necessary educational materials (books, maps, etc.) in French. In 1878, the Catholic section of the Board of Education adopted regulations on the language of instruction in Manitoba Catholic schools; it stipulated that the language spoken by the majority of taxpayers in a district would be the language of instruction in school.

Section 2 of the 1873 Act concerning Municipalities stipulated that any applications to create a municipality had to be made in French and English in the Manitoba Gazette. Another 1875 act, the Act respecting County Municipalities, set out that municipal bylaws and notices be published in both languages. The 1875 Elections Act of Manitoba stipulated that English and French be used in voter instructions, election proclamations, and voter lists. Lastly, the 1876 Act respecting Jurors and Juries set out that in a trial conducted in French, the court could order the jury to be composed of an equal number of French and English-speaking jurors. In 1879, the English Party caucus suggested that official documents no longer be printed in French; the issue was debated and adopted in the House, but the lieutenant-governor, Joseph Cauchon, refused to sign the bill. These protection measures would not last, and after the death of Riel, Franco-Manitobans began to see their language prohibited in various ways. It is important to note that the arrival of many English-speaking colonists from Ontario had shifted demographics in favour of the English-speaking majority.

The numerical inferiority of Francophones was enough in the eyes of Manitoban leaders to justify abolishing language and religious rights. While Francophones represented about half of the overall population in 1871, they accounted for only 15.9% in 1881 (9,950 out of 62,260) and 7.2% in 1891 (11,102 out of 152,506). A sea change occurred in 1889 with the adoption of the notorious Official Language Act, which made English the sole language used by the Manitoba government in records, journals, and laws. The act came into force on May 1, 1890, and contained only two sections. Section 1 stipulated the following:

Manitoba adapted English as the official language used by the Manitoba government

Section 1

English language be official language

Any statute or law to the contrary notwithstanding, the English language only shall be used in the records and journals of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba, and in any pleadings or process in or issuing from any court in the province of Manitoba.

Statutes

The Acts of the Legislature of Manitoba need be printed and publishing only in the English Language.

Once the act was adopted, the Official Manitoba Gazette was published in English only. Francophones lost the advantage of legal equality and the institutions that came with bilingual public services, bilingual government publications, and bilingual provincial courts, which included Francophones’ right to a French-speaking jury.

On March 20, 1889, the Legislative Assembly adopted a bill amending the Administration of Justice Act of 1885 and providing for the abolition of Francophone juries. Another bill adopted two days later stipulated that a French-speaking lawyer pleading before a French-speaking judge in a court in which the parties and witnesses are French Canadian could not, by law, use the French language. On March 28, the members finally decided "that the journals and statutes would be printed in English only." English thus became the only language permitted in all legislative and judiciary activities.

This trend spread to the schools. The Manitoba Legislature adopted a law abolishing the Catholic and Protestant sections in order to give control over education to a "Department of Education." A second bill was introduced and adopted with regard to public schools that abolished Catholic schools and made provisions for Catholics to be taxed for public schools. The Manitoba government of Premier Thomas Greenway (in power from 1880-1900) received numerous petitions calling for the appeal of the school acts, but did not alter its decision. The Manitoba Legislature rescinded the following rights and privileges the Catholic minority had thus far enjoyed:

a) The right to build, maintain, furnish, manage, operate, and support Roman Catholic schools in the manner stipulated by the laws in force

b) The right to a share of all subsidies from public funds for public instruction needs

c) The right, for Roman Catholics making contributions to support Roman Catholic schools, to be exempt from all contribution payments for the maintenance of other schools

Petitions—including one from the entire Canadian Catholic episcopate—were sent to the federal authorities asking them to revoke the law as permitted under the Canadian Constitution in 1867. On the recommendation of the federal justice minister, Sir John Thompson, a trial was held in Winnipeg, but the efforts by Catholics were fruitless. Manitoba Protestants maintained that the majority had the right to revoke a constitutional decision and do away with the rights granted the minority in 1870. As for the minority, it sought the revocation of a provincial law unilaterally repealing constitutional rights. This crisis sparked a nationwide debate. The prime minister of Canada, John A. Macdonald, referred the issue to the courts. The Court of Queen's Bench of Winnipeg declared the laws constitutional and the Court of Appeal for Manitoba upheld the verdict in February 1891. In October, the Supreme Court of Canada reversed the ruling of the Court of Appeal for Manitoba by declaring the laws unconstitutional. But on July 30, 1892, the London Privy Council—then the highest judicial authority in the land—rendered a judgment declaring the Manitoba laws constitutional. The London Privy Council upheld both the validity of the Manitoba provincial law and the power of the federal government to restore the education rights Franco-Manitobans had lost. It was an unusual decision that further heightened the conflict between the federal government and the province!

Far from improving, the condition of Catholic Franco-Manitobans further deteriorated with a new law in 1894 that stipulated that no municipality, even an exclusively Catholic one, had the right to impose taxes for Catholic schools established in the municipality; this same law also called for the confiscation of all school properties in districts not subject to the new legislation. That said, it is interesting to note that the Official Language Act of Manitoba would be declared unconstitutional some 90 years later, in 1979, when the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in favour of Georges Forest, a businessman from Saint-Boniface, who had contested its constitutionality.

Yukon Territory (1898)

The Yukon Territory was separated from the Northwest Territories in 1898 in response to the enormous population increase in the region during the Klondike gold rush. However, a large portion of this population left the territory once gold supplies ran out.

Yukon was originally an Amerindian name first used to refer to the river. The term Yukon comes from Yu-kun-ah, which means "big river." The name was first noted in 1846 by John Bell (1799–1868), an employee of the Hudson's Bay Company. In 1886, Dawson City was the site of an Indian fishing camp; by four years later, it had transformed into the largest urban centre in Canada west of Winnipeg, with a population of 40,000, primarily made up of itinerant prospectors.

Section 110 of the Northwest Territories Act was little enforced in the Yukon. As a result, Francophones lost most of their language rights.

Canada had the power to create provinces in the Northwest Territories, but did not do so at first because it seemed too difficult for colonists to reach this remote region. The situation started to change when the Canadian Pacific Railway was completed in 1885.

Immigration

The Canadian government sought to encourage intensive immigration after 1896, especially in the West. Many Americans sold their farms to purchase inexpensive land for themselves and their children. It is believed that one-third of immigrants in the West came from the United States.

Many immigrants settled in the Prairies (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta). Between 1901 and 1911, the population of Canada increased by more than one-third, rising from 5.3 million to 7.2 million. It is estimated that nearly half of this demographic growth was attributable to the sharp population increase in the Prairie Provinces. Throughout the first decade of the 20^th century, the population of Saskatchewan quintupled, reaching 400,000; Alberta's population rose from 73,000 to 374,000 inhabitants, and that of Manitoba increased from 255,000 to 461,000.

The English, Germans, Scandinavians, Austrians, and the odd francophone from France or Belgium continued to arrive. The most famous groups are still the Slavs, particularly the Ruthenians (known as the "immigrants in the sheepskin coats") and Ukrainians. The name Ruthians comes from the Greek word Roussynreferring to someone living in Rous, or Ruthenia, later known as Russia (or the lands ruled by the Prince of Kiev in the Middle Ages); the Ruthenians were called Rusyns and then Russians. As for the Ukrainians, they were called "Little Russians" (as opposed to the "Great Russians" from Russia), a name given all Ukrainians insinuating that they had forgotten their language and culture in the Czarist era. Today, Ruthenia is a region of Ukraine known as Subcarpathian Ukraine (near the border with Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania) whose name has changed on a number of occasions throughout history.

Integration Policy

This mixing of cultures together with certain language policies tended to favour the exclusive use of English, especially in schools where English instruction was mandatory. What was viewed as normal for Anglophones and immigrants was less so for Francophones. In 1908, the Methodist journal Missionary Outlook expressed an opinion that was no doubt widespread among Anglo-Canadian Protestants:

If we wish to create a superior race on the North American continent, a race that God will especially commit to his works, what is our duty toward those who today are our fellow citizens? Many of them are Christians in name only; they belong to the Roman or Greek Catholic Church, but their moral standards are much inferior to those of the Christians of the Dominion. They have to come to this young and free country to find a home for themselves and their children. We are duty-bound to welcome them with the Bible in hand, and to cultivate in their minds the principles and ideals of Anglo-Saxon civilization.

Everywhere—in every group, city, and region—the task of the English majority was to rapidly "Canadianize" newcomers by impressing upon them the values and language of English civilization. But it was not easy to culturally and linguistically assimilate the thousands of immigrants arriving every year in Canada. The creation of the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan led Wilfrid Laurier to advocate Manitoba's solution regarding separate denominational schools; this stance proved pivotal, and signed a death warrant for bilingualism and cultural duality in Canada for years to come.

Creation of Alberta and Saskatchewan

The provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan were carved out of the Northwest Territories in 1905. The name of Alberta was suggested by the Marquis de Lorne, Governor General of Canada from 1878 to 1883, in honour of his wife, Princess Louise Caroline Alberta Wettin (1848–1939), the fourth daughter of Queen Victoria. The name was first given to the "district of Alberta" in 1882, and was then used again when the eighth province of the Dominion of Canada was created on September 1, 1905.

As for Saskatchewan, it was named after the Saskatchewan River, which the Cree called Kisiskatchewani Sipi or "swift-flowing river." The explorer Anthony Henday's spelling was Keiskatchewan, but the modern rendering Saskatchewan was the one officially adopted in 1882 when a portion of the present-day province was designated a "provisional district of the Northwest Territories." Saskatchewan earned the status of province on September 1, 1905, thus becoming the ninth province of Canada.

Language Disputes

The provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan were subject to the provisions of the Northwest Territories Act. Section 110, it should be recalled, stipulated that French and English could be used at the Legislative Assembly, in texts of law, and in the courts, and that both English and French had to be used in court rulings, laws, minutes, and archives of the Territorial Assembly. Alberta and Saskatchewan were part of the Northwest Territories before they became Canadian provinces in 1905, but authorities "overlooked" the fact that this constitutional act still applied to both provinces. Moreover, neither the Act to establish and provide for the Government of the Province of Alberta (1905) nor the Act to establish and provide for the Government of the Province of Saskatchewan (1905) made any reference to language. That is why neither of the provinces enforced the provisions of Section 110 of the Northwest Territories Act, which stipulated that the Legislative Assembly use French and English in laws and in courts. As a result, French was excluded from legislation and the courts.

A new language dispute erupted in determining whether the acts creating Alberta and Saskatchewan should guarantee the rights of Catholics and Francophones. The Alberta School Act, adopted in 1905, designated English as the sole language of instruction, but allowed a certain degree of French to be used in primary schools.

In Saskatchewan, the School Act of 1909 made English the only language of instruction, but also allowed a certain degree of French to be used in primary schools. On February 22, 1918, members of the Saskatchewan school board adopted a series of resolutions that ended bilingualism in schools:

No person shall be elected as commissioner unless he is a British subject able to read and write the English language; this agreement immediately requires the provincial government to take the necessary measures to ensure that all children in the province receive proper instruction, adapted to their individual needs, in the English language; English shall be the sole language of instruction in all schools in the province; no language other than English shall be taught during school hours at any school subject to the provisions of the School Act.

In 1929, a third act abolished French in schools once more; this act reinforced and clarified the 1918 act. In 1931, an amendment to the School Act imposed English as the sole language of instruction in the province's public schools. French was prohibited during normal school hours, but French courses could be given after school. Despite the shortage of teachers, the government prohibited the hiring of teachers who were trained in Quebec or who held teaching certificates from that province; it ruled illegal any teaching certificates not obtained in Saskatchewan.

As Francophones in the two new provinces won only minimal protection, Canadian Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier lost the support of numerous citizens, both French and English speaking. The Canadian prime minister knew that in order to stay in power, he needed to avoid conflicts between Francophones and Anglophones and try to reconcile the two sides. A skilled politician, he nevertheless had to govern in a period of sharp tensions when French Canadians were fearful of being assimilated and English Canadians wished to strengthen their ties with the British Empire.

His patience sorely tried, Laurier came to fill his speeches with vague generalities. Quebec nationalist Henri Bourassa nicknamed Wilfrid Laurier "Waffley Wilfy," but English-speaking Canadians felt that the moniker "Sir Won'tfrid" was more fitting. In general, Anglophones believed Laurier to be too French, while Francophones thought him too English! This was the era where French-speaking members of parliament in the House were told to "speak white!" When MP Henri Bourassa spoke out against the ideas of some of his Anglophone colleagues, he was booed and told to "speak white" as he explained his positions in French. Aside from the other Francophones, nobody understood him! Obviously, it was not respectful and we could have said "Speak English instead" It should be noted that simultaneous interpretation was not introduced until 1969.

It was not until 1968 that the Saskatchewan government allowed French to be taught for one hour a day in certain designated schools.

Linguistic Policies of the founding provinces

Protecting minority language rights was not a consideration at the time of Confederation. At best, minorities were left to fend for themselves; at worst, they were banned or assimilated. The Western world offered few examples other than non-intervention or assimilation. For the British Empire and Canadian politicians to have a more generous outlook would have been surprising indeed.

In 1871, the population of Nova Scotia was 387,800. In January 1881, the City of Halifax was designated the official point of entry for immigrants (Pier 21 starting in 1924). In language matters, Nova Scotia was not subject to section 133 of the Constitution Act, 1867, which meant neither the Legislature nor the judiciary was bilingual. Before Confederation, the Parliament had passed the Education Act in 1864, called the Tupper Law, which declared English the sole language of instruction. The act made the schools unilingual English and non-confessional. For the Acadians, this was tantamount to cultural, religious, and linguistic assimilation.

After years of struggle, the Acadians obtained authorization from the Council of Public Instruction to teach the first four years of primary school in French. Given the dearth of qualified francophone teachers, the government issued "permissive" licences, i.e., licences for people with no diplomas, until enough trained teachers could be recruited. A training program was set up at the Provincial Normal School to meet the need for Acadian teachers, but which in addition to providing instruction in French, sought to improve fluency in English among applicants who spoke "Acadian French." More schoolbooks became available in French starting in 1902 and were authorized for the first five years of primary school, after which all teaching was in English except at private schools and classical colleges. By 1908, there was still just a single Acadian school inspector for all of Nova Scotia.