A word from the editors

Marked by the increased intensity of transnational migration, the linguistic
reality of many cities and regions in the world today is imprinted by the co-
existence of multiple communities whose members have a variety of linguistic
repertoires. The concepts of plurilingual identities and multicultural citizen-
ship, to borrow the title of the famous book by Will Kymlicka (1995), emerged
in the early '90s and have led us to reflect on the impact of multilingualism on
our societies, whether in linguistic legislation and language planning policies,
in the role of education systems and community institutions for the preserva-
tion, transmission or disappearance of official, native and heritage languages,
or in the plurilingual dynamic in language learning contexts.

In this second issue of the OLBI Working Papers, we have chosen to focus
on the evolution of individual and community plurilingualism along with the
notion of constructing plurilingual identities. This issue presents seven arti-
cles that extend the discussion initiated at the CCERBAL conference, "Individ-
ual Plurilingualism and Multilingual Communities", which took place in April
2010 at the University of Ottawa.

The first article examines the European perspective on language educa-
tion policies. Waldemar Martyniuk presents several resolutions passed in re-
cent years by the European Union and the Council of Europe, as well as sev-
eral tools available to educational institutions, governmental and professional
organizations to encourage and facilitate the development of plurilingual and
intercultural skills of European citizens.

The following four articles explore issues of contact and constructing mul-
tilingual identities, and relate to different contexts of mobility, whether in Eu-
rope or Canada. The text of Danièle Moore introduces this series of articles
and outlines the theoretical, methodological and epistemological frameworks.
Her precise definition of plurilingual and multicultural skills also leads us to
think differently about the educational perspective in its approaches and tools.
Then Gabriele Budach and Donna Patrick present the results of a research on
the processes of social, cultural and linguistic identification within the urban
Inuit community of Ottawa. Through two case studies the authors observe how
the Inuit community appropriates the methodology "Photovoice" for the explo-
ration and the transmission of transboundary and transgenerational knowledge.
Similarly in a Canadian context, Julie Byrd Clark, interested in the voice of
young Italian-Canadians in Toronto, studied through analysis of their life sto-
ries, the impact of the context of official bilingualism on their identity construc-
tion. Finally, Nathalie Thamin studies the life trajectories of forty plurilingual
migrants living and working in France, and the impact that their transnational mobility has on their language practices and identity construction. The analysis of biographical narratives collected in individual interviews reveals, in particular, the important role of information and communication technologies, which redefine professional, social and family spaces "from which emerge original life styles, of a pendular, or even, "triangular" modality"" (Thamin, p. 98).

The sixth article deals with the issue of international languages (heritage languages other than official and native languages) and their teaching in Ontario. Laura Ambrosio describes the "Program of Classical and International Languages" implemented by the Ministry of Education of Ontario, and she is particularly interested in the perspective of the teachers. Using a questionnaire and group interviews, the author examines the pedagogical issues of such educational programs, but also the training needs expressed by teachers, in order to propose some directions towards the improvement and enhancement of these programs.

Finally, in the last article, Claudine Brohy addresses a particular aspect of the plurilingual and multicultural paradigm, related to signage in a bilingual city. In studying the case of two bilingual cities in Switzerland, the author offers a historical and empirical analysis of language management in these two municipalities.

Enjoy your reading!

Aline Germain-Rutherford and Hélène Knoerr

Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute