Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

[passpatoo]

Anyone out there familiar enough with The Charter to tell me why under the section of "Official Languages of Canada", that essentially every point is repeated but "Canada" is removed and replaced with "New Brunswick"?

eg.

16. (1) English and French are the official languages of Canada and have equality of status and equal rights and privileges as to their use in all institutions of the Parliament and government of Canada.
Official languages of New Brunswick

(2) English and French are the official languages of New Brunswick and have equality of status and equal rights and privileges as to their use in all institutions of the legislature and government of New Brunswick.

What am I forgeting about Canadian history?

full document: http://canada.justice.gc.ca/Loireg/charte/const_en.html#langues

 

[Jay]

"Yes, New Brunswick is Canada's only officially bilingual province. The reason for this is that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms specifically recognizes that anglophones and francophones in New Brunswick have equality of status and equal rights and privileges. New Brunswick has a rich heritage and a unique obligation as Canada's only officially bilingual province. New Brunswick first declared English and French to be the province's official languages in 1969 and renewed its commitment in 2002 by adopting a new Official Languages Act (OLA). The OLA imposes on the provincial government the obligation to serve members of the public in the official language of their choice."

http://www.officiallanguages.nb.ca/faqs.asp



I hope this helps.

 

[Vanni Fucci]

I believe that was an amendment to the Charter, which ensure that the anglophone and francophone population of New Brunswick would be acknowledged as distinct societies.

Canada may be a bilingual country, but New Brunswick is the only truly bilingual province because of that amendment...

 

[The Philosopher]

When Newfoundland first joined Confederation they attempted to make Newfoundland an officially bilingual community so that the West Coast would be protected (and TV programs would be in French). 50 years later the French area of St. George-Stephenville is completely English and only Grand Terre remains French, as it slowly converts into English.

But the Canadian government did not want to open up constitutional amendments as it may lead to other amendments to it.

 

[passpatoo]

Thanks folks. But I'm not sure that I'm following. If it states that canadians have freedom X, then, given that New Brunswicker's are Canadian, wouldn't freedom X also apply to them as well.

The way the Charter is written now, in my mind, it sounds as if New Brunswick is a protectorate of Canada's, or in some sort of "sovereignty association"?

 

[FiveParadox]

Perhaps this response is coming a bit late, but to clarify, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees that English and French are equal in the Parliament of Canada, and in national governance—this is not so with the Provinces of Canada. For example, while I have the right to complete any federal tax form in English or French, if I were completing a provincial tax form in the Province of British Columbia, they would not be required to give both options.

Citizens of the Province of New Brunswick are the only Canadian citizens guaranteed equal rights of French and English at both a federal, and provincial, level.