C'est l'temps was a Franco-Ontarian civil disobedience movement in the mid-to-late-1970s over the lack of Ontario government services in French. Over two dozen people were arrested, as activists monopolised police time on trivial traffic infractions, refused to pay fines, and sabotaged computer systems.

The movement led to a significant increase in French-language service accessibility and the Ontario justice system becoming officially bilingual in 1984 and then the French Language Services Act in 1986.

C'est l'temps

Background

In 1967, Ontario Premier John Robarts pledged to offer services in French following the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism, however, by the early 70s, and despite Robarts' successor Bill Davis, almost no progress had been made on the issue.

C'est l'temps

At the same time, the separatist movement was gaining momentum in Québec, and regional French-Canadian identities began to assert their individuality.

C'est l'temps

Goals

The movement made six key demands:

An end to unilingual arrests and fines

An end to unilingual licence plates

Bilingual judicial forms

Bilingual driver's licences

Bilingual trials

Bilingual municipal regulations

References

Archives

Centre de recherche en civilisation canadienne-française

Political movements in Canada

Franco-Ontarian organizations

Bilingualism in Canada

Protests in Canada

Franco-Ontarian history