TESL Canada Journal

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This paper compares and contrasts conditions of language in education for Native people, recent immigrants, and other residents of Canada who identify strongly with linguistic roots other than English or French. The relationships among the Native, official, and minority languages and their speakers and learners are explored with respect to: (1) meeting needs for official language learning; (2) accommodating interest in supporting maintenance/revival of minority languages in order to strengthen the ethnic heritage of Canada; and (3) the need in Canada to exploit its linguistic resources. Conditions of language in education are described in terms of linguistic and ethnic contexts, geographic contexts, literacy contexts, and jurisdictional contexts. Implications are drawn regarding areas of potential collaboration among groups as well as areas in which the needs of a particular group must be given individual attention.