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3 Wisemen | Trudeaumania | October Crisis | Bilingualism | Petro Canada | 72 Super Series | Wage & Price Controls | 1976 Olympics | PQ Comes to Power | Interlude | Western Alienation | 1980 Referendum | The Constitution | Changing of the Guard
One of the pieces of Trudeau's vision of a "Just Society" was equality of language across the country. The Federal civil service and the government in general had been English based with little provision for those who spoke French. One of the actions which would bring Quebec and French speaking Canadians form across the country into a closer relationship with the rest of the country would be to institute a policy which would offer services in both French and English, or a policy of Bilingualism.
Trudeau asked that legislation be drawn up and formed into a Bill which would introduce both French and English as Canada's official languages. He introduced the Bill in Parliament on October 17, 1968 with the words, "We believe in two official languages and in a pluralistic society, not merely as a political necessity but as an enrichment,".
The Official Languages Bill made French and English equal official languages for Federal courts, the civil service and Crown Agencies. Services would be offered in either or both languages in all areas across the country where the relate language is spoken by at least 10% of the people.
In 1963 the Federal Government had asked for a Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism and many of the components of the Act were drawn from the polished findings of the Commission. Francophone's constituted 25% of the population in 1963 but held only 9% of the jobs in the Federal government. The principle of Bilingualism was later incorporated into Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
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