Book notice: Bilingual Today, United Tomorrow

[Harold F. Schiffman]

Bilingual Today, United Tomorrow
Official Languages in Education and Canadian Federalism

Matthew Hayday

An appraisal of official bilingualism four decades after the establishment
of the Royal Commission that created it.

Cloth 0773529608 Release date:  2005-12-20 CA $65.00 | US $65.00 | UK
49.00

 Table of Contents

Forty years after the creation of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and
Biculturalism, Bilingual Today, United Tomorrow examines the responses of
Canada's federal and provincial governments to the Commission's
recommendations on education. In contrast to the many critics of official
bilingualism, Matthew Hayday argues that the educational programs funded
by the government's Official Languages in Education Program, launched in
1970, had a significant impact on how Canadians view their national
identity, encouraging increasing acceptance of official bilingualism and
linguistic duality.

Hayday shows how the language programs and policies initiated by the
Trudeau government supported French-Canadian and Acadian minority
communities, enabling them to develop minority language education systems
and laying the groundwork for the minority language education rights
contained in section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. He
examines how the dynamics of Canadian federalism shaped the implementation
and development of language policy in six Canadian provinces and shows how
advocates of these programs - politicians, bureaucrats, parents,
lobbyists, and teachers - worked to ensure their success. These dynamic
programs not only guaranteed minority language education rights but
dramatically increased access to French second language instruction,
particularly through the innovative new sector of French immersion.

Review quotes

"Bilingual Today, United Tomorrow makes two extremely important
contributions. The first to the history of the French and English
linguistic minorities in Canada and the second to our understanding of the
evolution of the Canadian federal system." Normand Labrie, associate dean,
OISE/UT, University of Toronto

"This work is a major accomplishment and one of the best researched
studies in the field. I have discovered much in reading it and enjoyed
doing so." Michel Bock, post doctoral researcher, Centre
interdisciplinaire de recherche sur la citoyennete et les minorites,
University of Ottawa

Matthew Hayday is a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow in history, Concordia
University.

http://mqup.mcgill.ca/print_book.php?bookid=1886
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