Many of these countries were colonies of the imperial powers: England, France, Spain, Portugal and Holland, whose languages have remained even after they granted independence to their colonies. However, languages and language speakers do not remain in isolation: they undergo change due to historical, political and economic factors. For example, the Dutch language of the colonial masters has all but disappeared from Indonesia and has been replaced by English. Similarly, French has given way to the all-pervasive English in Cambodia and Vietnam. But Portuguese has been able to survive in Brazil despite the influence of Spanish all around.

Most of these countries have learnt to live in relative harmony and cooperation on the language front, although there are occasional complaints of oppression (or at least marginalization) by minority language speakers. This is not only because of language, but also because of the associated cultures and distinctive modes of perceiving the world. Those countries that did not allow different language nationalisms to co-exist found separatist tendencies hard to control and ultimately led to their break-up. This happened in the erstwhile Soviet Union and in Pakistan. Although there are several reasons for the break-up of Soviet Union, one principal reason was the language and cultural nationalisms of the different republics which felt threatened by the policies of the central government. The same reason led to the rupture of Pakistan in 1972 and is creating conflict in Sri Lanka today.

Countries like Canada and New Zealand have two major language groups, although English language speakers form the dominant group. These nations showed acuity and foresight by accommodative and inclusive policies and have made issues arising from linguistic tensions and separatism redundant. Belgium also followed a policy of accommodation for its two major language groups. India, of course, has a rich diversity of languages which were recognized in the framing of the Constitution of India and was reiterated in the States Reorganization Commission’s recommendations to divide India into linguistic states. It was premised on the belief that language policies cannot be resolved on singular solutions emanating from the Centre or that all the citizens must speak a single language.

Of course language does not exist in isolation – it is associated with culture and economic opportunities. Even while sharing the same or similar culture or religion, as happens in India, affinity to a particular language may still be strong enough for people to demand a separate regional entity for themselves. Language is also associated with religion. After Independence in 1947, Urdu in India came to be associated with the Muslims and consequently suffered a distinctive decline. In Punjab, many Hindus declare their mother language to be Hindi although they usually speak Punjabi at home, again because of the association of Punjabi with Sikhism.

In addition to the two main languages in Canada, there are other smaller languages associated with the indigenous peoples and immigrants which also need to be counted. Both Canada and India have shown maturity and resilience in dealing with the multilingual peoples of their countries, as a result of which they have remained united and voices of linguistic separatism have almost completely disappeared, except in certain fringe pockets in the two countries.

This paper is confined to the status of multilingualism in Canada and India only. It is instructive to consider the language policies of these two countries because both are federal countries with a parliamentary form of government, both were ruled by the British and both have shown political maturity and have suitably amended their Constitutions to follow more accommodative policies on the language front. Despite this, many difficulties remain, but these are related to administrative and economic issues—finding adequate number of teachers or of funding etc. Linguistic tensions or divisiveness have been reduced but do manifest themselves occasionally, as in Québec.

In this article, we discuss the linguistic diversity of the two countries and present some statistical information about the various language speakers. There are common as well as distinctive characteristics in these countries. For example, Canada has only two main languages whereas India has 22 officially recognized languages in addition to English. We trace the historical evolution of language policies and highlight the role of the Parliament and the governments in adopting broad-based and inclusive policies in these countries. We highlight the policies of the governments -- both federal as well as provincial, in helping the aboriginal languages to survive and even flourish in Canada.

We also briefly consider the importance of English and its special role in India due to globalization and other factors. Many people feel that English is a means of empowerment and also plays a cementing role in India by keeping language chauvinism in check. The status of Hindi as the language of the largest number of speakers and its usefulness in many areas in India is also highlighted.

The importance of multilingualism and its benefits to society in general and individuals are also briefly touched upon.

It has been well established through extensive research on pedagogy and cognitive development that multilingualism is an asset for the society and the individual. Rather than discouraging it or forcing people to give up on speaking their own languages and focusing on one or at most two languages, policy makers must appreciate the association of people with their languages and come up with suitable educational policies. In fact, it is well recognized that language is not just a means of communication, but also a marker of identity and the medium through which we acquire knowledge. It is also a means through which we dream and give shape to our innermost thoughts.

Recently a group of experts in the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), New Delhi, in a position paper on language (1), have recommended that:

There are efforts at the government level, both Central and State, to implement these guidelines, especially the use of the mother tongue at the primary stage of learning. Similarly, in Canada the Federal and Provincial governments are encouraging teaching in the children’s own languages in regions where there are large number of non-English and non-French speakers.

Diversity of Languages in India

India has a rich diversity of languages -- 114 according to the 1991 Census. In addition, there are hundreds of dialects which are currently being spoken and which are subsumed by one of these languages. These languages belong to four main language groups:
Indo Aryan, Dravidian, Austro-Asiatic and Tibeto-Burman. The Indo-Aryan group constitutes about 74% and the Dravidian group about 24% of the speakers in India. Of these 114 languages, 22 are the official or scheduled languages and the remaining 92 are not scheduled or not specified in the eighth schedule of the Constitution of India.

Ramakant Agnihotri (2) gives a detailed account of the debates in the Constituent Assembly that was set up to draft a Constitution for Independent India and how Hindi became the official language and English the associate official language of India. He relates how many nationalist leaders like Gandhi, Nehru, Patel and others were in favour of Hindustani (which was an organic mélange of Hindi and Urdu) rather than Hindi as the official language, but after Pakistan was created and Urdu came to be associated with Muslims, the protagonists of Hindi were successful in having the Constituent Assembly vote in favour of Hindi written in Devnagari script as the official language, as opposed to Hindustani.

The largest language group in the 1991 Census was that of Hindi speakers, more than 337 million. And the smallest number was that of Sanskrit speakers -- only about 50,000. Telegu enjoyed the second highest number with about 66 million speakers. Many languages, like Awadhi, Bagheli, Bhojpuri, Bundeli, Mewari, Marwari, Rajasthani, which are spoken in the states of Uttar Pradesh (UP), Bihar, Haryana, and Rajasthan, are subsumed under Hindi. In the 1991 Census, Bhojpuri, a language spoken mainly in Bihar, was claimed as mother tongue by about 23 million people. The Census also revealed that about 19.4% Indians were bilingual and 7.2% were trilingual.

In the northern part of the country from Jammu & Kashmir to Punjab, Haryana, UP, Bihar, Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, and even in Assam, Manipur, Bengal and Orissa, most people either speak some form of Hindi or Urdu (which in spoken form is almost undistinguishable from Hindi) or understand it. Even in states like Maharashtra, Goa and Gujarat, many people are quite comfortable with Hindi. There are not many Hindi speaking people in Southern States of Andhra, Karnataka, Kerala or Tamil Nadu but even in these states many people living in big cities are familiar with the language. Of course, Hyderabad and Secunderabad cities used to be dominated by the Muslim nobility and so Urdu or Hindustani is the mother tongue of many people in these cities.

Most people now realize that just as English is essential as a global language (3), Hindi is useful in many arenas in India, like the railways, armed forces, travel, media and the popular and widespread film industry. Hindi is also the language through which most of our political communication takes place.

India has had a difficult and sometimes violent history caused by the primordial affinity of Indians based on language and culture. When the British agreed to partition India in 1947 into Pakistan and India, the latter was divided into States which had existed when the British were in power.

But soon afterwards, there were protests and demonstrations by different groups to rationalize this division on the basis of language, or what was called linguistic division. There were demands from various language groups to divide States on the basis of language. Marathi and Kannada speakers resorted to vigorous movements to have their own linguistic states. Similarly, Telegu speakers who were placed along with Tamil speakers in the Madras Presidency at the time of partition of India, lead a concerted and violent protest to have their own Telegu speaking State in 1953. The agitation was so intense that the government was forced to concede to the demand for a separate state of Andhra Pradesh. It also led to the constitution of a States Reorganization Commission (SRC) in 1956 whose recommendations resulted in the re-organization of the country on a linguistic basis. The present states of Gujarat, Kerala and Karnataka were constituted in 1956. Similarly, the state of Punjab which had already suffered a division in 1947 when Pakistan came into being, was further partitioned into the states of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh on the basis of language.

Jawaharlal Nehru and some prominent Congress leaders were opposed to the creation of linguistic states. They were fearful that it would lead to the weakening of the unity and balkanization of the country. But as Ramchandra Guha has argued recently (4) “far from undermining Indian unity, linguistic states have helped strengthen it.”

On the other hand, Guha asserts that when Sri Lanka proclaimed Sinhala as the sole official language, it led to divisive tensions between the Tamils and Sinhalese, which coupled with other factors, has resulted in hostility and violence that shows no signs of diminishing. A Sinhalese MP has said “One language, two nations. Two languages, one nation.” Erstwhile Pakistan was also split into two because of several factors, an important one being the cultural and linguistic differences existing between its two parts. Guha argues that had India not been reorganized on linguistic bases, we may well have had one language, fourteen or fifteen nations!

When there were fierce protests in Tamil Nadu against the so called imposition of Hindi in the state, the Indian government wisely allowed the use of English to continue as an additional official language beyond 1965 as stipulated in the Constitution. This and other measures have led to peace on the language front in Tamil Nadu and other states. Now except for a rare incident, there are virtually no language disturbances in the country. Of course, there are other problems related to the study of different languages or the mother tongue at the primary school stage. The status of English and its removal from the syllabus of primary government schools and exclusive use of regional languages in West Bengal, Karnataka, Gujarat and elsewhere has also led to avoidable confrontation. However due to persistent demands from parents and educationists in these states for the teaching of English, the earlier decisions have been reversed and English is taught from Class I onwards in these states.

In India, English has largely become an indispensable language – it is the language of business, trade, higher education, science, Information Technology, international relations, etc, in addition to its status as the language of High Courts and the Supreme Court of India. There are well known reasons for the dominance of English, for example, globalization and the status of the U.S. as the sole superpower in terms of its military, economic and political might. American English and culture rule the roost worldwide and this language is gaining strength, with no other language to provide even a semblance of challenge to its supremacy.

The power of English in India is reflected in its unquestioned status and its general perception as an accepted means of empowerment. These signs are visible everywhere, but nowhere is it more apparent than in the clamour for ‘English Medium’ schools and the incessant demand for teaching English from the primary stages of education. Another manifestation of this power is the assertion by some Dalit (socially and economically backward) leaders that if Dalits adopt English, their social and economic conditions would improve. In fact, some of them have gone to the extent of saying that English is like a goddess to whom the Dalits should pray for salvation and amelioration of their condition.

However, the proponents of English teaching in India ignore other questions like the quality of teaching, conditions of schools, motivation of teachers, and other socio- economic factors which are responsible for the abysmal conditions in the education of poor children – Dalits, Other Backward Classes (OBC), Muslim or otherwise. As a matter of fact, English has divided the country into elite and downtrodden sections of society – the English knowing, globalized, rich, influential sections and the poor, marginalized, semi-literate or illiterate sections which are deprived of basic necessities including education, health services and housing.

Multilingualism in Canada

In Canada, English and French are the two dominant languages with French as the dominant language in Québec. In the rest of Canada, except New Brunswick, it is rare to see any government employee able to speak in French. Language had been a contentious issue between the majority Anglophones and the minority Francophones. As a matter of fact, some years ago there was a distinct possibility that French-speaking Quebec would secede from the Canadian union to become a separate country on the issue of the language and culture. Even the tall, stately and domineering first President of the French Fifth Republic, Charles de Gaulle had raised the slogan of “Vive le Québec libre!” during his controversial visit to Canada in 1967. However, former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, whose mother language was French but who was equally proficient in English, was able to initiate policies which would dampen the separatist views and was largely instrumental in lessening the divide between the two communities. The talk of separation is now confined, if at all, to fringe communities who have no real voice in the politics of Canada. However, due to its strong emotional overtones, policy makers have to be particularly sensitive to language, especially in Québec.

But tensions on the language front do exist especially in Québec. For the people of this province, French was not just a language to be used for communication, it was a symbol of their identity, distinct from the majority English speaking people. It was also a symbol of their predominantly Catholic faith and served to sharply separate French Canadians from the rest of the continent. In the 19th century, Abbé Groulx, when asked what the people of Québec were, replied that they were ‘Catholique d’abord’ (Catholics, first and foremost).

In order to protect its identity and language, Québec passed a series of laws – Bill 63 in 1969, Bill 22 in 1974 and Bill 10, the ‘Chartre de la langue francaise,’ in 1977. These Bills were aimed at promoting the use of French in education, business, advertising and public institutions like the judiciary, etc. Although the contents of these Bills, initially created suspicion in the minds of the English-speaking people of Québec that their language would be endangered and that they would be put to severe disadvantage, these have, over a period of time, resulted in a better understanding of each others’ points of views and the initial fears have largely withered.

Claude Belanger (5) has written “I am struck by the vast changes that have taken place in Québec as a result of Bill 101. Except for a few irredentist opponents, the pre-eminence of French is now unchallenged in the province. The French language has now become the public language of communication of virtually the entire population of the province. The rate of bilingualism among the Anglophones and the Allophones, indeed among the Francophones as well has soared since 1970s and made it possible for all to participate fully in the public affairs of the province …”
The Bills have brought about a significant change in the attitudes of the Francophones as well. He further writes “Francophones now display an openness to others that is probably greater than at any other time of history. As they felt increasingly secured in their language and culture, they were ready and willing to learn the English language; they do not anymore see it primarily as a threat that must be thwarted.”

As a result of these changes, mutual understanding and respect have come about. The study of English has become compulsory in French colleges and it will be compulsorily studied, with obvious benefits, in schools as well.. With these legislative initiatives backed by mutual trust and magnanimity by both sections of the population of Québec, peace and harmony on the language and culture front have emerged, perhaps for the first time in the province.

In addition to English and French, there are many aboriginal languages spoken by the indigenous peoples of Canada. Numbers vary, because it is difficult to differentiate some languages from their dialects, but it is generally agreed that there are at least 53 such languages divided into three broad groupings: First Nations, Inuit and Metis. Again, the numbers of people who speak or know these languages are not accurate because many aboriginals do not take part in the Census or other surveys. According to the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (6) (RCAP, 1996) there are about 190,000 people who reported that an aborignal language was their mother tongue but a lesser number (138,000) said that they use it in their homes.

The main languages are Cree, Ojibwe and Inuktitut and their numbers are approximately 80,000, 45,000 and 29,000 speakers respectively. There are also some speakers of these languages in USA and in Greenland and Denmark.
In addition to English, French and the aboriginal languages, there are significant number of speakers of other languages – Chinese, Italian, German, Punjabi, Spanish and Hindi/Urdu and their combined percentage in relation to the total population is growing. The last Census in 2001 reported more than 100 mother tongues spoken in Canada. The census gave the following data for the speakers of different languages:

English speakers (Anglophones): 59.1%
French speakers (Francophones): 22.9%
Other language speakers (Allophones): 18%.

Of the non-official languages, Chinese and Italian with 2.9% and 1.6% respectively formed the largest number of speakers. Because of large immigration of people from non-English and non-French speaking countries, the percentage of English and French speaking people has declined by approximately 0.7 % and 0.6% respectively since 1996. This trend is likely to continue in the foreseeable future also.

Statistics also reveal that about 57% of Canadians are not bilingual at all, with only 12 % perfectly bilingual and 31% able to get by in the other language.

Bilingualism in Canada has been officially recognized since 1867 by the Constitution Act (originally called the British North American Act), according to which various steps to make Canada bilingual have been implemented from time to time. For example, in 1927 postage stamps became bilingual. In 1967, the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism was established to promote language and culture of the two peoples. In 1969, the Canadian Parliament adopted the first Official Languages Act (OLA) which recognized English and French as the two official languages of all federal institutions in Canada. The same year, the province of New Brunswick enacted the first Official Languages Act making it Canada’s first officially bilingual province. The Act has been updated in 1988 (7) and again in 2002 to make it applicable to municipal byelaws also. There are, of course, practical difficulties in providing educational facilities as well as job opportunities to minority language speakers (English in Québec and French in the rest of Canada).

The government spends a lot of money promoting bilingualism. A survey made recently (8) by Leger Marketing reported in March 2003 that overall 63 % Canadians were in favour of bilingualism, 27 % against and 10 % had no opinion. Of these, 91 % French speaking people were for bilingualism, but among the English speakers only 54% supported bilingualism. The survey also showed that 74% of Francophones were bilingual, but among Anglophones, only 32 % were bilingual. The need felt by the Francophone community, especially youth, to learn English is greater than the corresponding need felt by the Anglophones to learn French.

The federal government has set an ambitious goal doubling the number of bilingual high school graduates within ten years. However, experts feel it is unrealistic. Education is a key part of the plan, but without provincial cooperation, it will be difficult for the Federal government to meet its goal since Provincial governments have already started redirecting money earmarked for second language instruction to other areas. Moreover, support for the concept of bilingualism varies regionally. For example, outside of Québec, French-speaking Canadians are clustered primarily in New Brunswick and parts of Ontario. This makes it hard to persuade the public to promote bilingualism throughout the country. Canada’s multicultural character affects attitudes as well. Many people would argue that, in certain regions, it makes more sense for students to learn Chinese, Spanish, or another language instead of one of Canada’s two official languages.

Although federal language programs have promoted the learning of the two official languages, provincial governments have been reluctant in their co-operation. For example, Québec has focused its efforts in promoting French in the province but has done little for the French speaking Canadians outside. Similarly, other provinces have shown little interest in providing French education immersion programs for the citizens who want to learn French. To take the example of Manitoba, enrolment numbers in French immersion programs have declined from 19,096 in 1995/96 to 17,392 in 1999/2000. (Source: Manitoba Education and Youth Website). In contrast, New Brunswick, Canada’s only officially bilingual province has a strong French immersion program for Canadians who want to learn the French language.

It is generally seen that support for bilingualism drops from Eastern to Western provinces. This is mainly because English remains the preferred language of business; second there are not enough teachers to teach French in these provinces for lack of demand and lack of funding. Despite these problems, Canada has, by suitable legislation and provision of funding, shown the way for a healthy co-existence between the two principal languages as well as those spoken by indigenous peoples.

There are other difficulties which have been expressed by non English and non-French speaking immigrants. For example, Vancouver’s Lower Mainland's largest Chinese organization feels that schools are not doing enough to help young immigrants adapt to life in Canada. In a meeting held in June 2005, it was reported that language was a major barrier. While the Vancouver School Board had multicultural liaison workers, few school counsellors spoke anything other than English. It was emphasised that it was very important that one should be able to express clearly in one’s own language which the current system was unable to provide for.

However, counsellors question whether it is realistic to provide front-line help in all the languages and dialects spoken in Vancouver. They have their practical limitations.

Language is one of the most tangible symbols of culture and group identity. It is not only a means of communication, but a link which connects people with their past and grounds their social, emotional and spiritual vitality. Although loss of language does not necessarily lead to the death of a culture, it can severely handicap transmission of that culture. Aboriginal peoples have already suffered immensely in terms of languages lost. During the past 100 years or more, nearly ten once flourishing languages have become extinct; at least a dozen are on the brink of extinction. When these languages vanish, they take with them unique ways of looking at the world, explaining the unknown and making sense of life.

Unfortunately, there is no legislated protection for Aboriginal languages. The Official Languages Act of Canada (1969) as also the Constitution of Canada (1982) recognized French and English as the official languages of Canada. Aboriginal languages are referred to in neither the Canadian Constitution nor federal legislation and thus receive funding only from secondary government sources such as the present cooperation agreements between the federal government and the territories for Aboriginal and minority languages.

Only five of the thirteen provincial and territorial governments have developed policies and programs in support of Aboriginal languages. Most of these support community-based projects; in the Territories, funding is provided through federal-territorial agreements for official languages.

Professor Kymlicka (9) of Queens University in Ontario points out that the world is currently witnessing the global diffusion of multiculturalism, both as a political discourse and as a set of international legal norms. States today are under increasing international scrutiny regarding their treatment of ethno-cultural groups, and are expected to meet evolving international standards regarding the rights of indigenous peoples, national minorities, and immigrants. The phenomenon of multilingualism is subsumed under the issue of multiculturalism.

Conclusions

We have compared the language diversities in the two countries, the nature of the problems and how each country has tried to evolve various policies to deal with this diversity. Both the countries have officially recognized the presence of different languages and implemented policies and provided funding that are necessary to ensure development of and provision of education in these languages.

There are similarities and contrasts. Canada has mainly two languages – English and French with a small percentage of allophone speakers. However the dominance of English in all of Canada (except Québec and to an extent in New Brunswick), with its attendant consequences is quite apparent.

India has 22 scheduled languages in addition to 94 other non-scheduled languages. But here, the status of all Indian languages, including that of Hindi, is dwarfed by of the dominance of English and the perception that English is the main instrument of empowerment for marginalized groups. Even middle class people clamour for English medium education since it has become a passport to higher education and the window to the world. However, due to its utility, Hindi has also gained in acceptance and is much more widespread than the language speakers in the Census show. There are now few voices that assert that Hindi is being imposed on them. This has happened because of the wise decision of the state governments to support all Indian languages and not to impose any Central directives on the states. But the problem of Indian languages vis-à-vis English remains complex and in a state of flux.

Both Canada and India have shown understanding and foresight on the language front through suitable legislation, official policies and action including adequate funding towards promotion of several languages. In the past few years, India has included several additional languages as regional languages in the eighth schedule of the Constitution to promote the welfare of the speakers of these languages and has continued the use of English as an additional official language. It has encouraged teaching in regional languages or the mother tongues wherever feasible in order to promote cognitive growth and scholastic achievement among children. For Canada, the concept of language rights is related to the issue of collective rights of minorities. The government has recognized these collective rights as part of the principles of diversity and pluralism of Canadian society. The governments, both federal and provincial, (especially Québec) have legislated appropriately keeping these principles in mind.

It may be said with a certain degree of truth that these policies have helped to protect the unity and harmony in these countries. Otherwise, Canada might well have been divided into two and India into several fragments!

References

(1) Position Paper on Languages, NCERT, New Delhi, 2005
(2) Agnihotri R.K., Identity and Multilinguality: The case of India in Tsui, Amy B.M. and Tollefson, James, W. ed. Language Policy, Culture, and Identity in Asian Contexts. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2006, 185-204).
(3) Agnihotri R.K., “English in Indian Education” in ed J Daswani, Multilingual India, UNESCO publication, 2001.
(4) Ramchandra Guha, Speaking Many Tongues, Times of India, 1st Nov 2006
(5) Claude Belanger, The Language Laws of Quebec Department of History, Marianopolis College, Montreal, Québec, Canada, 1998
(6) Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP, Ottawa, 1996)
(7) The Official Languages Act (OLA), Library of Parliament, Ottawa, 2001
(8) Report by Leger Marketing, Montreal, March 2003
(9) Will Kymlicka, Multicultural Odysseys: Navigating the New International Politics of Diversity, Oxford University Press, August 2007

* I would like to thank Professor Kiran Chaudhary of Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, who read the first draft of this article and offered critical comments.

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Ravi P. Bhatia obtained his Ph.D. in Physics from the U.S.A. and taught Physics, Mathematics and Statistics at Hans Raj College, Delhi University, Panjab University, Chandigarh, and at NCERT. Currently he’s retired but engaged as an Educationist & Peace Researcher, and is an executive member of the International Peace Research Association (IPRA), whose current headquarters are in Leuven, Belgium.