In 1969, following the recommendations of the Royal
commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism, the Liberal
government of Trudeau, following up on electoral promises passed
the Official Languages Act, making French and English the
official languages of Canada. The law was intended to rectify
existing injustices to the founding peoples. In this way the
French-speaking Canadians were put on equal footing to the
English-speaking Canadians. Leading the way, the federal
government made all of its departments bilingual, giving
French-Canadians more opportunities as public servants, as the
doors were practically closed before this time. All institutions
pertaining to the federal government are obliged to deliver a
service in both languages if requested, and all documents are
published in both languages. Air traffic for instance must be
provided in both official languages, a law which requires
airline companies to have bilingual personnel on board instead
of unilingual as before. The Act was updated in 1988. As well,
to ensure the respect of this law, a Commissioner of the
Official Languages was appointed.
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