ABSTRACT
This chapter starts with a survey of the status and dynamics of Russian as a minority (heritage) language in Canada. The historic roots of the spread of Russian in Canada are shown to include the immigration of Russian-speaking Doukhobors (a religious minority) in 1899, the wave of Russian immigrants after the revolution of 1917–1918, and a more recent post-perestroika inflow of economic and political immigrants from the countries that had split from the former Soviet Union. Current data about the use of Russian in Canada are provided. According to the 2011 Census, Russian is the 14th language of Canada (besides the two official languages of English and French) spoken by 169,950 Canadians, and the tenth – by growth rate. Geographical distribution of the language across Canada is described. The introduction further examines the specific features of Russian language teaching in Canada at the secondary and post-secondary levels. It demonstrates that Russian is poorly represented overall, and particularly at the secondary level. The recent shifts in Russian language teaching from “foreign” to “foreign or heritage”, from a predominantly literature model to multiple modalities and from a parochial practice to a global discipline are identified.
The second part of the chapter focuses on the description of the linguistics features, maintenance and the teaching of Canadian Doukhobor Russian, a unique language variety present only in Canada. The variety is described as being strongly endangered in one province of its use (British Columbia) and near-extinct in the other (Saskatchewan). The specific features of Doukhobor Russian are outlined at the phonetic, lexical and grammatical levels.
The conclusion summarizes the dynamics of Russian and Doukhobor Russian and their teaching in Canada.
