Bilingualism at Fifty

Since the beginning, we have had a language debate in Canada. Although there are 7.2 million francophones in this country (roughly 20 percent of the population), the stakes of this perennial debate can seem rather insignificant for anyone living in a predominantly anglophone region. In such a place, the issue can seem rather one-sided, centred on shallow complaints of underrepresentation. Cue the eye roll.

As a translator for the federal public service, I am no stranger to this eye roll. It usually comes from unilingual English speakers who gripe about the difficulties of working in a “bilingual” environment, the strains of language training, and the infamous language evaluations that most public servants must endure. Of course, a bilingual public service was not always a reality. With her new book, Canada’s Official Languages, Helaina Gaspard, co-­founder of the Institute of Fiscal Studies and Democracy at the University of Ottawa, delves...