On 8/7/07, Daniel J. Matyola <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: <snip>> > I have also noticed that most of Canada has bilingual road signs and > other public signs. In Quebec, however, almost all the signs are in > French only. >
Here, we run into an issue of Federal/Provincial jurisdiction. On a Federal level, Canada is officially bilingual. On a Provincial level, only New Brunswick is officially bilingual. Quebec is officially French, and all other provinces are officially English. ~Most~ roads are a Provincial responsibility, so the Province can choose the language of signs. In Quebec, it's almost all French (although in a very few tourist areas there may be some English). In New Brunswick, all road signs will be bilingual. In the rest of Canada, there may be some French on road signs, at least in francophone areas, but English will predominate. I don't know what part of "most of Canada" you've been in, but here in Toronto (Canada's largest city) there ain't speck of French to be found on road signs; the same can be said of Southern Ontario, except perhaps around Ottawa and near the Quebec border. Okay, I said ~most~ roads are provincial, however, some larger highways (ie: the Trans Canada Highway) are of significant national importance that they're a federal responsibility, and hence signage will bilingual. Beyond roads, basically any Federal installation will be bilingual (gov't buildings, monuments, some museums, etc). Here in Ontario, many such institutions will be bilingual, for instance, the Royal Ontario Museum has bilingual signage, but I'm pretty certain that's not so much a provincial mandate as it is a courtesy to a significant population. Private institutions can be any language they want, except in Quebec, where it's actually illegal to have English signage (due to the infamous Bill 101 - Quebec's "Charter of French Language Rights" instituted by a Separatist government in the 70's - subsequent federalist governments have not revoked the Bill, so as not to stir up separatist sentiment). cheers, frank -- "Sharpness is a bourgeois concept." -Henri Cartier-Bresson -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
