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OTTAWA — The Liberal government has been looking at the possibility of adding a third official language: sign language.

Raising signing to the level of official language would be a major recognition, given that the use of sign language in Canada was “widely discouraged and even forbidden in classrooms” in the not-too-distant past, federal officials wrote in a briefing note to Disabilities Minister Carla Qualtrough.

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Earlier this year, officials in Employment and Social Development Canada looked over sign language legislation in New Zealand, Scotland, Finland and Sweden as part of research about how the government could enact a similar federal law here.

The details are part of a briefing note The Canadian Press obtained under the Access to Information Act.

Such legislation, if enacted, would require federal information and services to be provided in English, French and sign language. In Canada, there are two types of sign language used by people who are medically deaf, hard of hearing, or prefer to sign: American Sign Language and la Langue des Signes Quebecoise.