The examination of a mid-18th-century biography about a significant developer of Ojibwe and Cree-based syllabics is the starting point for an interrogation of socio-historical cultural cohesion in Canada. The textual creole of syllabics, used widely in business and commerce, provides clues to the dynamics of cross-cultural linguistics. In this…

Indigenous peoples have rightful aspirations for their languages and cultures, supported under international conventions, jurisdictional treaties, laws, policies and enquiry recommendations. Additionally, the inclusion of Indigenous languages in education can impact positively on Indigenous students' learning, engagement, identity and well-being,…

Language planning and policy (LPP), as a field of research, emerged to solve the "problem" of multilingualism in newly independent nation-states. LPP's principal emphasis was the reproduction of one-state, one-language policies. Indigenous languages were systematically erased through top-down, colonial medium-of-instruction policies,…

Indigenous languages are struggling for breath in the Global North. In Canada, Indigenous language medium schools and early childhood programs remain independent and marginalized. Despite government commitments, there is little support for Indigenous language-in-education policy and initiatives. This article describes an inaugural, countrywide,…

This study responds to scholarship that has examined "folk concepts" of (non)nativeness through the lens of imagined ideals of the native speaker, by proposing a framework that integrates both ideals and habits. We operationalize these concepts by drawing from the theoretical notions of chronotope, scale, and habitus. Using data from…

This article analyses how language laws favouring French improved the vitality of the Francophone majority relative to the declining Anglophone minority of Quebec. Part one provides a review of Canadian Government efforts to provide federal bilingual services to Francophones and Anglophones across Canada. Using the ethnolinguistic vitality…

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) began in June, 2008 as a response to the Indian Residential School legacy. The commission concluded with a 2015 report which includes 94 calls to action. Some of these calls pertain to higher education including the following example "We call upon post-secondary institutions to create…

For many decades, Francophone regions in Canada have provided language study exchanges for French as a second language (FSL) learners within their own country. At the same time, FSL students and teachers in Canada continue to orient to a native speaker standard associated with European French. This Eurocentric orientation manifested itself in a…

This study explores early francization models for a linguistic minority currently struggling to preserve its language. The French Acadians of New Brunswick, Canada, represent 30% of the province's total population, yet their numbers and their linguistic vitality are decreasing. New Brunswick has two public school systems: the English language…

The vitality of most Indigenous languages in North America, like minority languages in many parts of the world, is at risk due to the pressures of majority languages and cultures. The transmission of Indigenous languages through school-based programs is a wide-spread approach to maintaining and revitalizing threatened languages in Canada and the…

This guidebook is intended for parents of French-speaking students in Alberta. It describes French-as-a-first-language education in Alberta and provides information to help parents, in collaboration with school personnel and the wider francophone community in Alberta, to preserve and develop their children's identity as speakers of French and as…

The Supreme Court of Canada has ensured that provincial legislatures are under a compulsory obligation to take measures to provide whatever type and level of rights and services are appropriate for minority-language education for the particular number of pupils involved. (MLF)

Describes recent developments in heritage language education in British Columbia, Canada, discussing issues a heritage language advisory committee encountered in creating such policy, defining heritage language and the clientele for heritage language education, reviewing appropriate curricula, encouraging program development, and arranging…

Patterns of French acquisition, use, and proficiency among Ontario anglophones are examined, and their implications for changes in both French native language instruction and French second language instruction to support the maintenance and use of French are examined. (MSE)

This booklet presents a clear and succinct description of the educational needs of francophone students, families, and communities, and how this all fits into the constitutional requirements of Canada as directed by the 1982 Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and all subsequent amendments and Canadian Supreme Court rulings. It identifies the…