A sharper view : Vue plus claire : évaluer la vitalité des communautés de langue officielle en situation minoritaire

In the context of a reflection on the vitality of OLMCs, it is accordingly fruitful to distinguish between the various meanings given to the concept of community, both in the literature and in the experience of the players involved. [...] In Quebec, Anglophone populations were and still are viewed as divided between two universes (Caldwell and Waddell, 1982): one concentrated in the pluralistic environments of the Island of Montréal, the other dispersed among the towns, villages and rural areas mainly in the Ottawa Valley, the Eastern Townships, Gaspé and the Magdalen Islands, on the north shore of the St. [...] The very idea of the vitality of OLMCs stems from the rights enshrined in the Official Languages Act and in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms with regard to the equality of English and French in Canada. [...] Forgues (2004), who applies the concept of social capital to the study of OLMCs, proposes a number of distinctions to clarify it and avoid turning it into a catch-all: a) it is important not to confuse the networks with the resources and benefits they procure; b) the standards, values and trust which are the basis for social networks are to be kept distinct from the number or diversity of the netw [...] The major pillars are: • the Constitution Act 1982 with its Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, forming the underpinning of these rights; • the Official Languages Act of 1988 and in particular Part VII, amended in 2005 through Bill S-3, which places the vitality and development of the OLMCs at the heart of the government’s obligations with regard to the official languages; and • court decisio