The 60ᵗʰ Anniversary of the OQLF1 in Canada: Reflection on Its Activities

The 60ᵗʰ Anniversary of the OQLF1 in Canada: Reflection on Its Activities

The 60ᵗʰ Anniversary of the OQLF in Canada: Reflection on Its Activities, Asian Journal of Canadian Studies, 27(2), 5-28. The Office Québécois de la Langue Française has had to adapt its actions to the various mandates entrusted to it under the language laws put forward by successive governments since its founding. The initial mandate given to it by the Lesage government in 1961 focused on the quality of the language. The Office was tasked with some promoting of French. In this context, it has sought to lay the foundations for a standard for written and spoken French in Quebec aligned with international French and has counted on the collaboration of public authorities to implement this standard. It has also adopted a proactive intervention strategy: it calls for the responsibility of the individual speaker, whom it addresses through campaigns promoting French and various advertisements posters. It has also undertaken lexicographical and terminological work which it distributes in the form of linguistic bulletins and lexicon. To what extent have these actions carried out by the Office borne fruit? This is the main question we wanted to answer by carrying out this research. In other words, we have given ourselves the mandate to take stock of the actions of the Office at the end of its first 60 years of existence.