Early Struggles for Bilingual Schools and the French Language in the Windsor Border Region, 1851–1910

Résumé

In 1910, Bishop Michael Fallon of London called for the abolition of the bilingual schools of Ontario because of their inefficiencies. Concerns about the value of a bilingual education and the French language in particular predate Fallon and go back to the 1850s in the Windsor border region. These concerns were voiced by both francophones and Anglophones, and illustrate that the struggle for the survival of the French language in the churches and schools of the area predated the arrival of Fallon and the Ontario government’s imposition of Regulation XVII.