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In:Terminology throughout History: A discipline in the making
Edited by Kara Warburton and John Humbley
[Terminology and Lexicography Research and Practice 24] 2025
► pp. 252–285

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Chapter 12
Terminology in Canada

A language planning journey

 | Université Laval
Published online: 23 May 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1075/tlrp.24.12fra
Abstract
This chapter delineates the emergence of terminology activities in Canada in the early 1900s, and goes on to cover the major turning points in the development of the discipline and profession up to the end of the 1980s. It shows how terminology became a key tool in carrying out Canada’s official bilingualism policy, providing the French terms needed to translate increasingly specialised texts from English to French. It also illustrates the pivotal role terminology played in the extensive campaign led by the Quebec government in the 1970s and 1980s to make French the official language of business, administration, and commerce in the province of Quebec. Lastly, it touches on the francisation of the common law vocabulary, another milestone in the history of terminology in Canada.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Canada’s linguistic landscape
  • 3.Early forays into term compilation: From Quebec City to Ottawa
  • 4.The powerful influence of translation
  • 5.Renewed and strengthened efforts towards francisation
    • 5.1The OQLF: From a symbolic presence to the pivot of language planning
    • 5.2The Société Radio-Canada, another major actor in terminology’s first hour
  • 6.Getting ready for terminology to take off
  • 7.Jean-Claude Corbeil’s influence and legacy
    • 7.1From language planning to terminology planning
    • 7.2Systematic terminology à la Québécoise
  • 8.Terminology enters universities
  • 9.Common law in French: Another Canadian milestone
    • 9.1Bijuralism and bilingualism à la Canadienne
    • 9.2Jurilinguists to the rescue
  • 10.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (74)
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