Official Languages Act

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.