Which Charter section protects language rights for Canadian minorities?

Sections 16 to 22 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protect the rights of English- and French-speaking Canadians in their dealings with federal and New Brunswick institutions. Section 16(1) declares that English and French are the official languages of Canada with equality of status and equal rights and privileges as to their use in all institutions of the Parliament and government of Canada. Section 16(2) extends the same equality to New Brunswick, the only officially bilingual province.

Section 17 guarantees the right to use English or French in any debate or other proceedings of Parliament and the New Brunswick legislature. Section 18 requires that statutes, records, and journals be printed and published in both languages. Section 19 gives anyone the right to use English or French in any court of Canada and in New Brunswick courts. Section 20 protects the right to communicate with and receive services from federal institutions in either official language at the head office and at offices where there is significant demand for service in that language or the nature of the office makes service in both languages reasonable.

Section 21 preserves any pre-existing language rights from before the Charter. Section 22 confirms that the Charter does not detract from rights protecting languages other than English or French. The Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism (1963 to 1969) led directly to the Official Languages Act of 1969, which the Charter constitutionalised in 1982. The Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages, an independent agent of Parliament, monitors compliance and investigates complaints.

Section 23 of the Charter is closely related and protects the right of Canadian citizens whose first language learned and still understood is the minority official language of the province (or who have received primary-school education in that minority language) to have their children educated in that language. Section 23 cases including Mahe v. Alberta (1990), Arsenault-Cameron v. Prince Edward Island (2000), and Conseil scolaire francophone de la Colombie-Britannique v. British Columbia (2020) have built minority-language school boards across the country.