English, French, and many peoples

Harpreet is forty-seven. He came from India and drives a delivery truck in Brampton. At home, his family speaks Punjabi. Today a letter arrives from the federal government. One side is in English. The other side is in French. His daughter laughs and says, Dad, you got two letters in one. Harpreet smiles, but he wonders, why two languages?

So here's the question. Who are Canada's founding peoples, and why does the government speak both English and French? Remember, this is a free, independent course. It is not a government course.

The official study guide, Discover Canada, has a chapter called Who We Are. It says Canada has three founding peoples. They are the Aboriginal peoples, the French, and the British. Last time, we met the first peoples. Today we look at the French and the British, and at the many peoples who came later.

English and French are Canada's two official languages. An Anglophone is a person whose first language is English. A Francophone is a person whose first language is French. The guide says there are eighteen million Anglophones and seven million Francophones. By law, the federal government must serve people in English and in French. That is why Harpreet's letter has two sides.

The guide says about one million Francophones live in Ontario, New Brunswick and Manitoba. New Brunswick is the only province that is officially bilingual. Bilingual means using two languages. In nineteen sixty-nine, Parliament passed the Official Languages Act. One of its aims is equal status for English and French in Parliament and in the government of Canada.

The guide describes two French-speaking peoples. The first is the Acadians. Their families came from French settlers who arrived in the Maritimes, starting in sixteen oh-four. Between seventeen fifty-five and seventeen sixty-three, during a war between Britain and France, more than two-thirds of the Acadians were deported. Deported means forced to leave their homeland. This is called the Great Upheaval. The Acadians survived.

The second is the Quebecers. The guide says most are descendants of eight thousand five hundred French settlers from the sixteen hundreds and seventeen hundreds. They keep their own culture and language. In two thousand six, the House of Commons recognized that the Québécois form a nation within a united Canada.

Canada is also a country of many peoples. The guide says most Canadians were born here. But since the nineteen seventies, most newcomers have come from Asian countries. In Vancouver and Toronto, Chinese languages are the most spoken at home after English. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms calls multiculturalism a basic part of Canada's heritage and identity. Harpreet's Punjabi is part of that story.

Let's make it stick. Picture a table with three legs. One leg is the Aboriginal peoples. One leg is the French. One leg is the British. Now picture many chairs pulled up around that table. Those are the peoples who came later, and there is a chair for you too. Three legs, two languages, many chairs.

Here's a common confusion. Many people guess that Quebec is the only bilingual province. It isn't. The only officially bilingual province is New Brunswick. Say it slowly. New Brunswick, two languages, by law.

The mistake people make is naming only two founding peoples. They say English and French, and they stop. The guide names three. Aboriginal, French and British. Don't leave out the first peoples. They were here first.

Here's the one thing to remember. Canada has three founding peoples, Aboriginal, French and British, and two official languages, English and French.

This week, read the Who We Are chapter of Discover Canada, or listen to its free audio. Then say the three founding peoples out loud, twice. Next time, we begin Canada's history, with the first peoples, the explorers, and New France.