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Constitutional Proposals: Not Enough Guarantees For Acadians of P.E.I.
Publisher: La Societé Saint-Thomas d'AquinYear Published: 1981 Pages: 3pp Resource Type: Article Cx Number: CX2376 The St. Thomas Aquinas Society (S.T.A.S.) is an organization struggling to obtain equal rights for French speaking Prince Edward Islanders (Acadians). Abstract: The St. Thomas Aquinas Society (S.T.A.S.) is an organization struggling to obtain equal rights for French speaking Prince Edward Islanders (Acadians). Its most recent efforts have been directed at influencing the government of P.E.I. to modify its constitutional position on the rights of all French Canadians outside of Quebec, including fifty Acadians. The Society, in demanding the entrenchment of the right to French language instruction as a must for Acadians, stands in opposition to the provincial government's constitutional position on this question. A recent provincial amendment to The School Act was described by the Society as "Not typical of how legislation can and should protect the rights of its minorities." The amendment did not deal explicitly with the need for French schools and present legislation pertains to elementary and intermediate grades only. The S.T.A.S. deplores the fact that the present federal constitutional proposal does not recognize the basic principle of equality of the two founding peoples - French and English. It strongly recommends that the principle of equality of the two languages as expressed in article 133 of the British North America Act be applied to all provinces. |