The government of Lester B. Pearson established the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism in 1963.

Its mandate: To recommend measures to be taken to ensure that the Canadian Confederation develops in accordance with the principle of equality between the two majority linguistic communities.

The Commission was co-chaired by André Laurendeau (editor of the newspaper Le Devoir) and Davidson Dunton, President of Carleton University.