Language has become a central feature of the debate surrounding Canadian
identity. The Canadian project is an example of a state struggling to find a means of
accommodating linguistic difference. This struggle is epitomized by the language
legislation in Quebec as well as by federal bilingualism. Language legislation is
ultimately aimed at promoting and protecting identity.
An examination of language legislation as promoted by Quebec and the federal
government reveals a different orientation toward the concept of equality. Language
policy thus presents both a vision of community and a political argument. Federal
language policy promotes a vision of Canada in which English and French are juridically
equal. Politically, this vision of community denies Quebec is distinct.
Quebec's language policy, on the other hand, asserts the importance of protecting
Quebecois culture against the majoritarian impulses of a larger Canadian identity. As a
result, Quebec's language legislation incorporates Quebec's different position in Canada
into a definition of equality. Recognition that Quebec has a right to protect its language
is tantamount to an acknowledgement that Quebec is a distinct society in Canada. The
language debate thus embodies competing visions of equality that relate to a specific
identity.
The national unity issue plaguing Canada cannot be resolved through a
commitment to equality as similar treatment. The problem of language planning, in
Canada, revolves around finding a way to acknowledge and promote the local aspirations
of the Quebecois, without creating an inequitable language environment for the English
linguistic minority in Quebec.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/10741 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Patel, Nazeer |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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