Languages Canada: The Paradoxes of Linguistic Inclusivity – Colonial/ Founding, Aboriginal and Immigrant language rights

• Published in: London Journal of Canadian Studies
• Main Author: Keith Battarbee
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: UCL Press 2019
• Subjects: America; E11-143; Nunavut; Northwest Territories; Canada; First Nations; inuit
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.14324/111.444.ljcs.2019v34.005; https://doaj.org/article/caa2dbae0e7c4d66bbf8cabf7a8029e1

This article approaches the question of inclusivity in contemporary Canadian society through the lens of official language policy. Although Canada has well-developed bilingual policies for English and French at the federal and provincial levels, the only jurisdictions which (at the time of writing) afford official language status to Aboriginal languages in addition to English and French are the Northwest Territories (nine First Nations and Inuit languages) and Nunavut (the Inuit language/s). The article situates the development of these territorial language policies within the contexts of Canadian history, the emergence of language policy more generally in Western societies, and the human rights revolution, and offers a tentative evaluation of them in terms of inclusivity, noting the paradox that inclusive recognition of the territories’ indigenous languages has not been extended to the immigrant languages, whose speakers partly outnumber the smaller Aboriginal-language communities, as well as the daunting problems faced in turning official recognition into practical implementation.