Earlier this week Bishop’s University was host to the third of five forums being held across the country by the department of Canadian Heritage as a part of an initiative to modernize the 50-year-old Official Languages Act. The Act, which came into effect in 1969 under Pierre Elliot Trudeau, is the Canadian law that established both French and English as official languages of Canada and guarantees, among other things, the right to receive services from federal departments in either language, and helps to preserve and support minority official language communities across the country. In 2018, Official Languages Commissioner Raymond Théberge identified the modernization of the act as his top priority and Mélanie Joly, Canada’s Minister of Tourism, Offical Languages, and La Francophonie was present for the first half of the forum on Monday to underline the significance of this national conversation. See full story in the Thursday, April 18 edition of The Record.
