Charter of the French Language Charter's provisions expanded upon the 1974 "Official Language Act" (Bill 22), which was enacted by the Lieutenant Governor-in-Parliament during the tenure of Premier Robert Bourassa's Liberal government to make French the official language of Quebec. Prior to 1974, Quebec had no official language and was subject only to the requirements on the use of English and French contained in Article 133 of the British North America Act, 1867. Bill 101 has been amended more than six times since 1977. Each amendment has aroused controversy over such provisions as the use of French on commercial signs or restrictions on enrolment into
Official language to the government in their native languages. In countries that do not formally designate an official language, a "de facto" national language usually evolves. English is the most common official language, with recognized status in 51 countries. Arabic, French, and Spanish are also widely recognized. An official language that is also an indigenous language is called "endoglossic", one that is not indigenous is "exoglossic". An instance is Nigeria which has three endoglossic official languages. By this the country aims to protect the indigenous languages although at the same time recognising the English language as its lingua franca. Around 500 BC,