page_title: Language policies of Canada's provinces and territories
section_title: Nova Scotia
hierarchical_section_title: Language policies of Canada's provinces and territories / Officially English with services in French and other languages / Nova Scotia
caption_attribution_description: Bilingual sign, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, in Scottish GaelicBenacadie Glen
context_page_description: The language policies of Canada's province and territories vary between the provinces and territories of Canada. Although the federal government operates as an officially bilingual institution, providing services in English and French, several provincial governments have also instituted or legislated their own language policies.
  From the 1890s until the 1960s, English was the only language in which most government services were provided outside of Quebec and using French in the courts or in schools was often illegal. These developments led to fears by French-Canadian nationalists that French speakers would be assimilated into the increasingly Anglophone culture of Ontario, leading the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism to recommend that the Government of Canada and all provinces offer more services in French.
  Since that time, Quebec has used provincial law to encourage the use of French ahead of other languages, while the other provinces have begun to offer more and more services in French and in other languages besides English, including aboriginal languages and immigrant languages.
context_section_description: Nova Scotia has no legal requirement to provide any services in a language other than English, which was already well-established as the official language when the province joined Confederation in 1867. However the province has an Office of Gaelic Affairs whose mission is "to work with Nova Scotians in the renewal of Gaelic language and culture in the Province" and an Office of Acadian Affairs: 
  to offer advice and support to provincial government departments, offices, agencies and Crown corporations so that they can develop and adapt policies, programs, and services that reflect the needs of the Acadian and francophone community.
  — Office of Acadian Affairs
   The province also maintains a French-language web portal, gov.ns.ca/bonjour
caption: A bilingual English and Canadian Gaelic road sign in Nova Scotia. The province has attempted to support the language through the Office of Gaelic Affairs.
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