Publisher's Synopsis
The aim of this multidisciplinary book is to present a coherent picture of Quebec's efforts to make French the only official language of Quebec society through the adoption in 1977 of the Charter of the French Language. Also known as Bill 101, the Charter has been well received in francophone Quebec but is still viewed as quite a controversial measure in the anglophone communities of Quebec and Canada. This book provides many answers as to why Bill 101 was implemented by the Quebec Government but it raises numerous questions when it comes time to evaluate the impact of the Charter on different sectors of Quebec society. For instance has Bill 101 achieved its goal of establishing the use of French in Quebec and if so at what cost? Has the Office de la langue francaise, the government body in charge of implementing Bill 101, succeeded in its task of enforcing the Francization of Quebec business firms? Whose interests has the passage of Bill 101 really served in Quebec society and does the Charter promote the cause of Quebec Independence? What have been the effects of Bill 101 on French/English relations in the Province and what strategic options are open to Quebec anglophones faced as they are with a drop from majority to minority status? Finally, how do the education provisions of Bill 101 dealing with Quebec anglophone minorities compare with those found for francophone minorities across Anglo-Canada? Each chapter of this edited book deals with one or more of these questions. As a case study of language planning in a modern society, the issues raised in this volume should be of concern not only to Quebec and Canadian readers but also to all those involved in fields such as political science, sociology, public policy, education, sociolinguistics, language planning and social psychology. If this volume helps readers better appreciate the issues raised by language planning efforts such as Bill 101 in Quebec, then it will have achieved its purpose. Above all, this volume shows that as with other aspects of human activity language too can be planned.
