Home > Alliance for the Preservation of English in Canada

The group was formed in 1977 by Irene Hilchie , a government employee who felt that she was being discriminated against in her job because she did not speak French. The group's most famous member, however, was Jock V. Andrew , whose book Bilingual Today, French Tomorrow alleged that bilingualism was part of a government plot to make Canada a unilingually French country.

The group was most influential in the late 1980s, as it engaged in activities which contributed to the defeat of the Meech Lake Accord. In 1989, a small group of APEC members in Brockville trampled the Quebec flag at a protest. As well, the group was involved in a campaign to have Ontario municipalities declare themselves English-only, in response to the Ontario government's French Language Services Act. (The Act quite explicitly did not apply to municipal government services, but APEC deliberately misrepresented this reality in order to convince municipalities to pass English-only resolutions.)

Most famously, the city of Sault Ste. Marie passed such a resolution on January 29, 1990Events January January 3 Former leader of Panama Manuel Noriega surrenders to American forces. January 7 The Leaning Tower of Pisa is closed to the public due to safety concerns. January 9 Lt Gen Bazilio Olara Okello The man who led the coup aginst Dr Apo. Quebec voters perceived the Sault Ste. Marie resolution and the Brockville flag incident as symbols of English Canada's feelings toward Quebec, and the incidents contributed directly to the resurgence of Quebec sovereignism in the 1990sCenturies: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s 2030s 2040s Years: Events and trends Computers, technology Explosive growth of the Internet; decrease in the cost of computers and other techn and thus to the 1995 Quebec referendumThe 1995 Quebec referendum was the second referendum in Quebec (see 1980 Quebec referendum) that put to public vote the role of Quebec within Canada and whether Quebec should pursue a path toward independent statehood ("sovereignty"). The referendum was t.

APEC also worked closely with the Confederation of Regions PartyThe Confederation of Regions Party (CoR) was a right-wing Canadian political party founded in 1984 by Elmer Knutson. It was founded as a successor to the Western Canada Federation (West-Fed), a non-partisan organization, to fight the Liberal Party of Cana and the Reform PartyFor the Reform Party that existed prior to Canadian Confederation see Reform Party (pre-Confederation Reform Party of Canada Founded October 31, 1987 Dissolved March 25, 2000 Into the Canadian Alliance Colours Green The Reform Party of Canada was a conser, two political parties which held similar views about bilingualism and the role of Quebec in ConfederationCanadian Confederation or the Confederation of Canada was the process that ultimately brought together a union among the provinces, colonies and territories of British North America to form a Dominion of the British Empire, which today is a federal nation.

In addition to their anti-bilingualism efforts, APEC has also been involved in the promotion of social conservative causes such as opposition to abortion, immigration and homosexuality. The group was also actively endorsed by the Heritage Front, a Canadian neo-Nazi group.

Although the group is nominally still active, they have attracted little media attention since their role in the Meech Lake debate ended. Only a few references to the group after 1997 can be found on the Internet.