Official languages and Parliament : Langues officielles et le Parlement

L I B R A R Y. O F. P A R L I A M E N T B I B L I O T H È Q U E. D U. P A R L E M E N T 2 Either the English or the French Language may be used by any Person in the Debates of the Houses of the Parliament of Canada and of the Houses of the Legislature of Quebec; and both those Languages shall be used in the respective Records and Journals of those Houses; and either of those Languages may be used [...] The Acts of the Parliament of Canada and of the Legislature of Quebec shall be printed and published in both those Languages. [...] This provision thus sets out three types of legislative guarantees: • the right to use English and French in legislative debates; • the use of English and French in the official records and journals of the houses of Parliament; • the use of English and French in printing and publishing Acts. [...] Second, the “journals” are the Minutes of Proceedings and Journals as such, that is to say the official minutes of the votes and proceedings of the houses.(12) Prior to 1976, the Journals were printed in separate English and French versions. [...] The Supreme Court also considered the issue of the application of the bilingualism rule in the case of documents incorporated by reference.