Is public health policy based on scholarly evidence? With the manifold variables that policy makers must consider, is evidence-based policy even realistic? While strategies exist to translate research into policy, a need to understand better how that can play out in real-life remains. Using interviews from informants occupying a range of positions, and considering the atmosphere created by media reports, this study examines the case of smoking privileges at East Coast Forensic Hospital. After a patient committed murder while on leave, apparently to smoke, public pressure over public safety, a relative lack of relevant scholarship, ethical considerations, and the divergent voices of stakeholders created challenging circumstances for policy makers. Through the use of case study methodology, this project identifies the kinds of information that are employed in the creation or modification of policy and offers insights concerning how the influences exerted on policy makers determine how information is employed.

Researchers are increasingly drawn to the study of societal bilingualism (or multilingualism), which is the study of the specific nature of bilingualism practiced by a nation, state, province or territory. Such studies seek to identify the institutions and legal frameworks put in place to regulate and reproduce bilingualism, as well as to understand groups which practice bilingualism. Drawing on a descriptive approach that flows from a sociological model of critical theory and conflict theory, this study is based on societal bilingualism in Cameroon, the only other country in the world, apart from Canada, that has both English and French as its only official languages. Cameroon is also one of the few African countries that do not have a local language as an official language. Acknowledging the central role of texts and their analysis in understanding social practices, this case study is carried out using critical document analysis to examine previous research, mass media products, government reports, historical data and information, laws, orders, press releases and speeches to uncover the precise nature of official language bilingualism in Cameroon. The study offers insights into the relevant historical and language background against which a critical discussion on official language bilingualism and an analysis of the legal frameworks and institutions set up to regulate and reproduce this bilingualism can be carried out. Attention is given to translation policies and to the most recent measures taken to foster State bilingualism in Cameroon. Indeed, official language bilingualism has been heavily predicated on translation, its institutions and legal framework. This timely case study traces the nation’s failure, as witnessed by the current situation of unrest, to successfully implement, mainly through translation, an official language bilingualism policy that grants equal status to English and French across the national territory. This research concludes that an alternative solution would be to introduce bilingual education as well, particularly from the nursery and elementary school levels, given that, for a long time now, Cameroon has had early simultaneous bilinguals who speak both English and French before they attain school age. A brief comparison between the context of official language bilingualism within the educational system in Cameroon and in Canada highlights the fact that Cameroon has the potential to establish one of the strongest forms of bilingual education in the world.

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