First Congress on the French Language in Canada

The First Congress on the French Language in Canada (French: Premier Congrès de la langue française au Canada) was held in Quebec City from June 24 to June 30, 1912. Its stated objective was to "examine the questions raised by the defence, the culture and the development of the French language and literature in Canada."

On February 14, 1911, the executive office of the Société du parler français au Canada (SPFC) resolved to organize and convoke a Congress on the French Language in Canada to be held in the course of 1912, in Quebec City, under the patronage of Université Laval. The SPFC set up an organizing committee composed of ten of its members, under the presidency of Mgr Paul-Eugène Roy, in order to set the date of the congress and see to the preparation of the event.

Some two months later, on April 10, while the organizing was in progress, the committee sent a message "to all the French Canadians and to all the Acadians who have at heart the conservation of their language and their nationality" to invite them to take part to this first congress from Monday June 24 to Sunday June 30. While the Congress's name mentions the French language "in Canada", the organizers explicitly addressed their invitation to all the French speakers of America. Regional committees were formed by the general organizing committee to recruit members as much in Quebec as in Ontario, Western Canada, in the Atlantic provinces or the United States.

The organizing committee, wanting to make the congress a milestone event, sought the participation of civil society and the representatives of political and religious powers. The Quebec government, headed by Liberal premier Lomer Gouin was very favourable to holding the Congress in the historical capital of Quebec. In addition to the rooms of the Université Laval, the congress members were granted access to the rooms of the provincial Parliament Building.

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