The Impact of the 1977 Linguistic Reform on Chinese Montrealers’ Integration into Quebec’s French-Language Education System

Abstract

This article examines how Quebec’s provincial education rules, especially the requirement introduced in 1977 under the Charter of the French Language (Bill 101), have shaped the integration of Chinese Canadians who settled in Montreal. It highlights two complementary dynamics. First, French-language primary and secondary schooling is presented as a driver of French acquisition and as a pathway toward broader access to school networks, higher education, and employment. Second, everyday school attendance and related extracurricular spaces are presented as contexts that foster intercommunity socialization in multilingual settings. The article also emphasizes the persistence of Chinese languages in household and inside the community life and it notes that attitudes toward Bill 101 vary within the community.