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Dr. Anthony Di Mascio Awarded SSHRC Grant for Groundbreaking Study on Italian Canadians and Quebec Language Politics

Congratulations to Dr. Anthony Di Mascio on receiving funding from SSHRC-CRSH-Insight Grant for the project called “Reading, Writing, and Riots: Italian Canadians and the Politics of School Language Laws in Quebec, 1960-1982”.

Characteristically, the language debate in Quebec is portrayed as a political, economic, and social struggle for power between French and English Canadians.

Less attention is paid to other ethnic groups, such as Italian Canadians, who contributed to the language debates, especially after large waves of immigration in the post-World War II era changed the demographic face of the province. This project offers to break away from the overwhelmingly binary French and English Canadian analysis in the existing literature and attempts to broaden our understanding of the school language debates through an exploration of Italian Canadian reactions to school language laws as they emerged in Quebec during and after the province’s Quiet Revolution.

While existing research has examined isolated events involving Italian Canadians and school language conflict in Quebec, this study attempts to offer a comprehensive history that analyzes the impact of this community on the political decisions leading up to both Bill 101 in Quebec (1977) and the minority language rights clauses of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (1982), with particular attention paid to the ways in which public opinion among Italian Canadians contributed to and influenced the evolution of school language laws in Quebec and Canada.

The findings from this study can also shed light on contemporary language debates in the province of Quebec through an historical lens. The school language debates of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s were shaped not only by politicians, but also through public discourse and debates among a broader citizenry. This study can offer historical insight that may inform discourse surrounding challenges and opportunities facing policy makers and the Quebec public today.

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Joannie St-Germain M.Sc. (she/her/elle)
RESEARCH OFFICER
OFFICE OF RESEARCH AND GRADUATE STUDIES
819-822-9600 x 2242

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