Standing Committee on Official Languages

Comité permanent des langues officielles

For immediate release

Ottawa, February 23, 2016 -

Today, 22 February 2016, marks a historic day. The members of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Official Languages are very pleased that the Government of Ontario has made a formal apology to the Franco-Ontarian community for Regulation 17, which was passed in 1912 to ban French-language education in schools in Ontario. The members of the Committee acknowledged this historic occasion by unanimously adopting the following motion: That the Committee congratulate the Government of Ontario for apologizing to the Franco-Ontarian community for Regulation 17, which prohibited the use of French as a language of instruction or communication in Ontarian schools, and for recognizing the detrimental effect it had on generations of Ontarian francophones. The Committee would like to emphasize that this apology contributes to ensuring the vitality, growth and development of official language minority communities.