Instruct: Given a question, retrieve documents that can help answer the question.
Query: What is the official language of Ontario?
Ontario has a regionalized language policy, where part of the province is English-only and other areas are bilingual. Province-wide services (such as websites and toll-free telephone numbers) are provided in both English and French. However individuals only have a right to French-language services in certain designated regions of the province under the French Language Services Act (1986). There are 25 regions so designated. These are: areas with 10% or more Francophones; urban centres with 5,000 or more Francophones; and areas previously designated by the Government of Ontario between 1978 and 1985.[7] Notably this includes Toronto, the provincial capital and Canada's largest municipality (although not all of the regional municipalities of the GTA are included), and the National Capital Region including Ottawa, the national capital, as well as many other cities, counties, districts, townships, and towns.[8] For the purposes of the policy, the definition of a "Francophone" was broadened in 2009. Previously it included only mother-tongue speakers, however it now includes allophones (people whose first language is neither French or English) who "have particular knowledge of French as an official language and use French at home, including many recent immigrants to Ontario for whom French is the language of integration".[7]
Historically, the Franco-Ontarian community had been ignored or treated with contempt by the government of Ontario, most notably with the adoption in 1912 of Regulation 17, which forbade the use of French as a language of school instruction in Ontario. Regulation 17 was challenged in court by the activist organization ACFÉO, and was never fully implemented before its repeal in 1927. However, it was not until 1968 that the provincial government amended the "Education Act" to officially recognize the existence of French language schools in the province.
Ontario's official language is English. Numerous French-language services are available under the "French Language Services Act of 1990 in designated areas where sizeable francophone populations exist.
In 1985, the Ontario Ministry of Municipal and Cultural Affairs, together with Communications Canada, approved the creation of an Ontario-based French-language educational television network. At the time, the only portions of Ontario with access to a dedicated francophone educational television service were the National Capital Region and the Ottawa Valley, which were served by Radio-Québec outlet CIVO-TV in Hull. In 1986, the new network received its broadcast licence from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). On January 1, 1987, this network was officially launched by the Ontario Educational Communications Authority under the name La Chaîne Française (primarily known on-air as La Chaîne). In 1995, La Chaîne was renamed TFO (short for Télévision française de l'Ontario). The company would remain a part of TVO until 2007, when it was transferred to the Ontario French-language Educational Communications Authority, a separate crown corporation. It is the only French-language television broadcaster in Canada headquartered outside Quebec.
Before 1987, a few hours of daily French programming was offered by TVOntario. On January 1, 1987, Ontario's educational French-language television channel, called La Chaîne, was officially launched. In 1995, La Chaîne was renamed TFO. TFO was originally created to provide content applicable to the French-language education system in Ontario. Services has since expanded to include EduLulu, a public evaluation service for mobile educational applications, designed for francophones and anglophones from Ontario and elsewhere.
In 2011, the total number of native French speakers in Canada was around 7.3 million (22% of the entire population), while another 2 million spoke it as a second language. At the federal level, it has official status alongside English. At the provincial level, French is the sole official language of Quebec as well as one of two official languages of New Brunswick, and jointly official (derived from its federal legal status) in Nunavut, Yukon, and the Northwest Territories. Government services are offered in French at select localities in Manitoba and Ontario (through the French Language Services Act), and to a lesser extent elsewhere in the country, depending largely on the proximity to Quebec and/or Québécois influence on any given region.
Other provinces have no official languages as such, but French is used as a language of instruction, in courts, and for other government services, in addition to English. Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec allow for both English and French to be spoken in the provincial legislatures, and laws are enacted in both languages. In Ontario, French has some legal status, but is not fully co-official. There are 11 indigenous language groups, composed of more than 65 distinct languages and dialects. Of these, only the Cree, Inuktitut and Ojibway languages have a large enough population of fluent speakers to be considered viable to survive in the long term. Several indigenous languages have official status in the Northwest Territories. Inuktitut is the majority language in Nunavut, and is one of three official languages in the territory.
The province has no official language defined in law, although it is a largely English-speaking province. Ontario law requires that the provincial Legislative Assembly operate in both English and French (individuals can speak in the Assembly in the official language of their choice), and requires that all provincial statutes and bills be made available in both English and French. Furthermore, under the French Language Services Act, individuals are entitled to communicate with the head or central office of any provincial government department or agency in French, as well as to receive all government services in French in 25 designated areas in the province, selected according to minority population criteria. The provincial government of Ontario's website is bilingual. Residents of Ottawa, Toronto, Windsor, Sudbury and Timmins can receive services from their municipal government in the official language of their choice.
Irish became an official language of the EU on 1 January 2007, meaning that MEPs with Irish fluency can now speak the language in the European Parliament and at committees, although in the case of the latter they have to give prior notice to a simultaneous interpreter in order to ensure that what they say can be interpreted into other languages. While an official language of the European Union, only co-decision regulations must be available in Irish for the moment, due to a renewable five-year derogation on what has to be translated, requested by the Irish Government when negotiating the language's new official status. Any expansion in the range of documents to be translated will depend on the results of the first five-year review and on whether the Irish authorities decide to seek an extension. The Irish government has committed itself to train the necessary number of translators and interpreters and to bear the related costs. Derogation is expected to end completely by 2022.
By the Official Languages Act in 1969, Canada recognized English and French as having equal status in the government of Canada.[4] While French, with no specification as to dialect or variety, has the status of one of Canada's two official languages at the federal government level, English is the native language of the majority of Canadians. The federal government provides services and operates in both languages. French is the sole official language[5] in Quebec at the provincial level and is co-official with English in New Brunswick. The provincial governments of Ontario, New Brunswick, and Manitoba are required to provide services in French where justified by the number of francophones (those whose mother tongue is French or who use French on a daily basis). However, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms requires all provinces to provide primary and secondary education to their official-language minorities.
The Government of Ontario created a network of colleges in 1967. Certain colleges, including Algonquin College, in Ottawa, and St. Lawrence College, in Cornwall, offer French-language programs. As early as the 1970s, the possibility of creating a 23rd – French-language – college in Ontario was put forth. In 1987, a working group was given the mandate, by the Government of Ontario, of considering the appropriateness of designating certain colleges as organisations offering services in French under Bill 8, the Ontario law on French-language services. The group concluded that the idea of creating a French college should be given priority over the college designation plan. The Minister of Colleges and Universities and Minister Responsible for Francophone Affairs agreed. In August 1988, the Ontario Cabinet approved, in principle, the creation of a French-language college with an exclusive mandate to deliver services in French. In 1989, the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities and the Department of the Secretary of State of Canada arrived at a cost-sharing agreement relating to the establishment of such a college in Eastern Ontario, a college bearing the official name « Collège d’arts appliqués et de technologie La Cité ».
While English is the predominant language spoken by Torontonians, many other languages have considerable numbers of local speakers. The varieties of Chinese and Italian are the second and third most widely spoken languages at work. Despite Canada's official bilingualism, while 9.7% of Ontario's Francophones live in Toronto, only 0.6% of the population reported French as a singular language spoken most often at home; meanwhile 64% reported speaking predominantly English only and 28.3% primarily used a non-official language; 7.1% reported commonly speaking multiple languages at home. The city's 9-1-1 emergency services are equipped to respond in over 150 languages.
The French language has historically played a significant role in North America and now retains a distinctive presence in some regions. Canada is officially bilingual. French is the official language of the Province of Quebec, where 95% of the people speak it as either their first or second language, and it is co-official with English in the Province of New Brunswick. Other French-speaking locales include the Province of Ontario (the official language is English, but there are an estimated 600,000 Franco-Ontarians), the Province of Manitoba (co-official as "de jure" with English), the French West Indies and Saint-Pierre et Miquelon, as well as the US state of Louisiana, where French is also an official language. Haiti is included with this group based on historical association but Haitians speak both Creole and French. Similarly, French and French Antillean Creole is spoken in Saint Lucia and the Commonwealth of Dominica alongside English.
The United States has never had an official language at the federal level. However, 32 states of the United States, in some cases as part of what has been called the English-only movement, have adopted legislation granting official status to English. Out of 50 states, 30 have established English as the only official language, while Hawaii recognizes both English and Hawaiian as official, and Alaska has made some 20 native languages official, along with English. 
Since 1968, French has been one of Canada's two official languages. It is the sole official language of Quebec and one of the official languages of New Brunswick, Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. The province of Ontario has no official languages defined in law, although the provincial government provides French language services in many parts of the province under the French Language Services Act.
Ontario has no official language, but English is considered the de facto language. Numerous French language services are available under the French Language Services Act of 1990 in designated areas where sizable francophone populations exist.
The Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute (OLBI) (French: Institut des langues officielles et du bilinguisme) is a language institution affiliated with the University of Ottawa, in Ottawa, Canada. Its mission is to promote excellence and innovation in the fields of bilingualism and language acquisition, thus helping the University fulfill its role to ""further bilingualism and biculturalism and preserve and develop French culture in Ontario".
LSQ is recognized as an official language in Ontario only in domains of education, legislation and judicial activities after the passing of Bill 213 within the Ontario Legislative Assembly. Across the rest of Canada, there is no protection or oversight for the language as neither federal, provincial nor territorial governments recognize LSQ as a language other than Ontario.
In order for an area to obtain designation, Francophones must make up at least 10% of its population, and urban centres must have at least 5,000 francophones. Previous to 2009, the definition of a francophone in Ontario included only native French speakers. This definition was broadened by the Government of Ontario in June 2009 "to better reflect the changing face and diversity of Ontario's Francophone communities." The new Inclusive Definition of Francophones (IDF) now includes allophones, "those whose mother tongue is neither French nor English but have particular knowledge of French as an official language and use French at home, including many recent immigrants to Ontario for whom French is the language of integration."
Brampton was designated as the province's 24th bilingual service centre in 2004, and the designation officially came into effect in March 2007. Kingston was designated as the 25th bilingual service centre in May 2006, and French services officially came into effect in 2009.
At the provincial level, New Brunswick officially recognizes the equal status of French and English. While French has equal legal status in Manitoba restored due to a court ruling that struck down seventy-year-old English-only laws in 1985, in practice, French language services are only provided in some regions of the province. Quebec has declared itself officially unilingual (French only). Alberta and Saskatchewan are also considered unilingual (English only). In practice, all provinces, including Quebec, offer some services in both English and French and some publicly funded education in both official languages up to the high school level (English language postsecondary education institutions are also present in Quebec, as are French language postsecondary institutions in other provinces, in particular in Manitoba, Ontario and New Brunswick). English and French are official languages in all three territories. In addition, Inuktitut is also an official language in Nunavut, and nine aboriginal languages have official status in the Northwest Territories.
In November 2017, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau nominated Raymond Théberge, the President and Vice-Chancellor of Université de Moncton, as the commissioner replacing Fraser. The nomination was approved in December 2017, and Théberge is the first Commissioner from Western Canada and from outside Ontario and Quebec.In 2009, Commissionner Graham Fraser created the Award of Excellence – Promotion of Linguistic Duality. The prise is given annually by the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages to an individual or organization in Canada that is not subject to the federal "Official Languages Act" but that makes a difference by promoting linguistic duality in Canada or abroad, or by contributing to the development of official language minority communities.
This protest is said to have "inspired people across Ontario to fight for French-language education". Canadian archivist Michel Prévost suggested that this protest represented "a movement dominated by women" which was rare given their marginalization at the time, as well as "part of a constant struggle for recognition faced by Ottawa’s Francophones". As a result of the Battle of the Hatpins, the government abandoned efforts to prevent French-language teaching at Guigues. Bilingual schooling in Ontario was officially reinstated in 1927. On 22 February 2016, the Ontario government issued an official apology for its actions against French-language education. France Gélinas put forward a private member's bill in the provincial legislature to officially proclaim 29 January as "Battle of the Hatpins Day".
In 2011 in Edwardsburgh/Cardinal, 92.0% of the population spoke only English as a mother tongue; 4.5% of the population reported French, and 2.9% a non-official language, as a mother tongue. 97.6% of the population reportedly spoke mostly English while at home. The most common non-official language mother-tongue was Dutch, which accounted for 27.9% of the non-official language speaking population. In comparison, the most commonly reported non-official mother-tongue in Ontario was reportedly Italian.
Upon the Loyalists first arrival in 1784, there was already two missionaries belonging to the Roman Catholic church in what would later be Upper Canada. Shortly after settlement, the British appointed chaplains to attend to the needs of both Anglican and Presbyterian Loyalists. Later on, Methodism was introduced to the area by ancestral German Protestants. These four religious denominations maintained strong influence in Edwardsburgh/Cardinal into the modern age.
In 2011, 81.5% of the population of Edwardsburgh/Cardinal associated themselves with a religion, according to NHS data. The most common religion stated was Roman Catholic.
French is the second most common language in Canada, after English, and both are official languages at the federal level. It is the first language of 9.5 million people or 29% and the second language for 2.07 million or 6% of the entire population of Canada. French is the sole official language in the province of Quebec, being the mother tongue for some 7 million people, or almost 80% (2006 Census) of the province. About 95% of the people of Quebec speak French as either their first or second language, and for some as their third language. Quebec is also home to the city of Montreal, which is the world's 4th-largest French-speaking city, by number of first language speakers. New Brunswick and Manitoba are the only officially bilingual provinces, though full bilingualism is enacted only in New Brunswick, where about one third of the population is Francophone. French is also an official language of all of the territories (Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon). Out of the three, Yukon has the most French speakers, comprising just under 4% of the population. Furthermore, while French is not an official language in Ontario, the French Language Services Act ensures that provincial services are to be available in the language. The Act applies to areas of the province where there are significant Francophone communities, namely Eastern Ontario and Northern Ontario. Elsewhere, sizable French-speaking minorities are found in southern Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and the Port au Port Peninsula in Newfoundland and Labrador, where the unique Newfoundland French dialect was historically spoken. Smaller pockets of French speakers exist in all other provinces. The city of Ottawa, the Canadian capital, is also effectively bilingual, as it is on the other side of a river from Quebec, opposite the major city of Gatineau, and is required to offer governmental services in French as well as English.
McConnell has held numerous leadership positions in Modern Languages at the provincial, national, and international levels. 
• President of the Canadian Association of Second Language Teachers
• President of the Ontario Modern Language Teachers’ Association
• Founding President of the Ontario Council of French Second Language Consultants
• Director of the Ontario Education Association
• Chairman of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education Advisory Board to the Modern Language Centre
• Chairman of the Ontario Teachers’ Federation Education Committee
• Editorial Director of the Canadian Modern Language Review
• Chairman of the Ontario Association of Teachers of German