The Heritage Languages Program in Ontario, 1977–1986: Origins, Conflicts, and Consequences for Diverse Democracies

• In Event: Roundtable Session 57
  In Roundtable Session: Diverse Democracies, Democratic Diversities: International Studies on Identities, Multilingualism, and Language Rights and Ideologies

Abstract

This paper reports an interpretive policy analysis of the Heritage Languages Program in Ontario, Canada, with a specific focus on Toronto in the years 1977-1986. The study has two goals. First, as a historiography, it documents how policy-relevant actors understood the Heritage Languages Program during an era of explosive conflicts over democracy and diversity in Canada. Second, as an interpretive policy analysis, it leverages the lessons from this historical period to inform current debates over the role of language rights and language education in the Canadian state.

Authors

• Jeff Bale, University of Toronto - OISE

• Jeanne Sinclair, University of Toronto - OISE