How did Canada gain 2 official languages?

Answer 1

Canada was founded by two settling colonies. The French colony settled in Lower Canada, in what is now Quebec. The English colony settled in Upper Canada, in what is now Ontario. Those two colonies came together with other surrounding colonies (see: Confederation) to form Canada. Its basis has always been French and English.

Answer 2

A brief synopsis:

In the Canadian history there were two colonies that came to Canada originally, The French and the British. The French spoke French while the British spoke English. After years of fighting for territory and control they hesitantly formed a Confederation. The French (known as Quebec) were reluctant to join because they wanted to protect their slowly dying language from the English speakers in almost every other colonies (or province). So to make an agreement they make both English and French the official Language.

Another big factor was Louis Riel who led the Half English half Natives (or French/Natives) to the rebellion of the red river. When they wrote out their list of rights out for the government it had a lot to do with the lieutenant-gouvernor (probably misspelled) and judge of the supreme court to be able to speak both languages and that they both become the language of use in Canada.