When was the Official Languages Act passed?

Discover Canada records this in one direct sentence. The guide writes: Parliament passed the Official Languages Act in 1969. It has three main objectives: Establish equality between French and English in Parliament, the Government of Canada and institutions subject to the Act. The year the test wants is therefore 1969.

The Act formalised English-French equality. Discover Canada writes that "English and French are the two official languages and are important symbols of identity," and that "English speakers (Anglophones) and French speakers (Francophones) have lived together in partnership and creative tension for more than 300 years." So the 1969 Act sat on top of a centuries-old bilingual reality — the Act gave the existing two-language status formal legal force.

One named objective sets the tone. Discover Canada commits to one of the three main goals: "Establish equality between French and English in Parliament, the Government of Canada and institutions subject to the Act." So a key target was equal status for both languages in federal institutions — Parliament, government departments, and federally regulated bodies.

1969 also fits the broader Canadian liberalisation period. Discover Canada writes that "as social values changed over more than 50 years, Canada became a more flexible and open society." The Official Languages Act was part of that wider modernisation. New Brunswick — described in the guide as "the only officially bilingual province" — has its own provincial framework alongside the federal Act, with about one-third of its population living and working in French. The 1969 federal Act remains the foundational law for English-French equality in Canada.

The question is testing whether new citizens know when Parliament passed the Official Languages Act. Discover Canada commits to one year: 1969. The right test answer matches that.

The wrong answer choices each pick a different year. 1957 is too early — the Act came in the late 1960s, not the late 1950s. 1973 is too late by a few years. 1980 is the year the national anthem (O Canada) was proclaimed in Discover Canada, not the year of the Official Languages Act. Only 1969 matches.