Canada’s Official Languages Commissioner, Raymond Théberge, blames federal institutions deemed uncooperative in serving users in the official language of their choice and allowing civil servants to work in French or English.
The language of service is a recurring problem. This problem suggests that recalcitrant institutions do not accept the premise that they must serve members of both linguistic communities in the official language of their choice.
writes Commissioner Théberge in his 2023-2024 annual report, published Tuesday morning.
From recalcitrant institutions
targeted, Air Canada comes first with 130 complaints, followed by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (48) and the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (46).
We must use both official languages, not one more than the other. […] It is very important that we choose senior public service leaders who are examples of bilingualism
explained Commissioner Théberge during a press conference Tuesday morning.
Federal institutions that were targeted by the greatest number of complaints in 2023-2024
| Federal institution | Number of admissible complaints |
|---|---|
| Air Canada | 130 |
| Royal Canadian Mounted Police | 48 |
| Canadian Air Transport Security Authority | 46 |
| Global Affairs Canada | 42 |
| Employment and Social Development | 38 |
| Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat | 35 |
| Canada Border Services Agency | 34 |
| Shared Services Canada | 33 |
| Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada | 31 |
| Ministry of National Defence | 30 |
Even though the number of complaints made to his team has decreased in the last year, the vast majority still concern communications with the public and the provision of services. Raymond Théberge reports 533 out of the 847 complaints deemed admissible in total.
Although the volume of admissible complaints filed this year is lower than what we have been accustomed to in recent years, we must not take our foot off the accelerator.
It is difficult to explain the decrease in the number of complaints. I assume this is an anomaly
he said during his speech to the media on Tuesday. […] We must continue this momentum and build on the progress made to date to produce concrete and lasting changes to ensure the future of our two official languages.”,”text”:”That said, the last few years have been marked by exceptional events which generated a very large number of complaints. We did not experience this type of event in 2023-2024.[…] We must continue this momentum and build on the progress made to date to produce concrete and lasting changes to ensure the future of our two official languages.”}}”>That said, recent years have been marked by exceptional events which have generated a very large number of complaints. We did not experience this type of event in 2023-2024. […] We must continue this momentum and build on the progress made to date to produce concrete and lasting changes to ensure the future of our two official languages.
Complaints deemed admissible according to the part of the Act concerned, 2023-2024 (as of March 31, 2024)
| Part of the Official Languages Act concerned | |
|---|---|
| Public Communications and Service Delivery | 533 |
| Work language | 227 |
| Language requirements related to positions | 41 |
| Promotion of French and English | 34 |
| Fair participation | 9 |
| Other parts of the Act | 3 |
| TOTAL | 847 |
A large number of these complaints were made in Ontario (130) and Quebec (124). But it is especially in the National Capital Region, on both sides of the Ottawa River, that we find the most, with 284 complaints deemed admissible.
The Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages of Canada specifies that the proportion of complaints for a lack of access to services in French is much greater than that for access to services in English
.
Poorly defined language requirements
One of the explanations put forward by the Commissioner is that the language requirements for certain civil servant positions are, according to him, poorly defined, which is detrimental to the establishment of a bilingual culture
.
When a federal institution fails to establish and promote a bilingual culture, it is surely more difficult for it to meet its responsibilities for institutional bilingualism.
he writes.
Poor determination of language requirements for positions also affects the quality of service to the public.
The ability of civil servants to work in the language of their choice comes second in the number of complaints made in 2023-2024, with 227 cases.
Evolution of the number of complaints deemed admissible over a period of ten years
| 2014-2015 | 2015-2016 | 2016-2017 | 2017-2018 | 2018-2019 | 2019-2020 | 2020-2021 | 2021-2022 | 2022-2023 | 2023-2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 550 | 725 | 1018 | 894 | 1087 | 1361 | 1870 | 5409 | 1788 | 847 |
These federal institutions seem neither to adhere to the vision of a bilingual public service nor to support the creation of work environments in which public servants feel empowered to work in the official language of their choice.
regrets the Commissioner of Official Languages.
One of the structural problems encountered is the poor determination of the language requirements of the positions, which do not take into account all of the tasks associated with these pivotal positions.
he adds.
A concerned commissioner
After six years in office, Raymond Théberge says he is concerned about several aspects.
First, I note that respect for linguistic rights on the part of federal institutions does not meet the expectations expressed in my successive annual reports
he notes. I also note that the progression towards equality of status and use of French and English […] remains a major challenge.
The complaints received by the Office over the years and the investigations it has conducted demonstrate that several federal institutions do not take their linguistic obligations seriously.
Since the new Act was assented to during this year 2023-2024, the commissioner specifies that his annual report reflects a transition situation
. However, he believes that the new powers given to him by the Official Languages Act since June 2023 could help improve the situation, even if it is not a matter of with a magic wand
he emphasizes.
The modernized Act offers more means to support this progression, but it is only one step in its realization
maintains the commissioner.
He calls on each institution to respect its obligations and judges that he and his team will need more resources to fully use the new tools given by the Act, such as the power to conclude compliance agreements or issue orders against institutions for order them to correct a breach of the law.
The two recommendations of the Commissioner of Official Languages
Recommendation 1
I recommend that the Minister of Canadian Heritage develop and make public by June 2026, in consultation with the President of the Treasury Board, indicators enabling the examination of the provisions and application of the Act on official languages in anticipation of the ten-year review in 2033.
Recommendation 2
I recommend that all deputy ministers and deputy heads of the federal public service incorporate into their strategic plan, by May 31, 2025, a plan to achieve the full implementation of Part VII of the Official Languages Act, which is based on the Roadmap on the obligations of federal institutions under the part.
Systemic problems
according to the Federation of Francophone and Acadian Communities (FCFA)
Even though the number of complaints received by the Office has decreased, the Director General of the FCFA, Alain Dupuis, believes that there is still a lot of work to do within federal institutions. He deplores the fact that some organizations are more at fault than others.
It is always these same institutions that are cited year after year. There really is work to be done to change the culture in these institutions. Senior leaders must carry out an analysis of these recurring systemic problems.
he expresses.
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Alain Dupuis, general director of the FCFA.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Julie-Anne Lamoureux
According to the Bloc Québécois spokesperson for official languages, Mario Beaulieu, the principle of institutional bilingualism does not currently work within the federal public service.
People need to complain, we need to move. […] We really have to realize that French is in decline in Canada.
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Mario Beaulieu wants the government to make more efforts to recognize French as an official language.
Photo: The Canadian Press / Adrian Wyld
If you have an employee who wants to work in English with an employee who wants to work in French, what happens? Which one will win? […] The government assumes everything is in English
explains Mr. Beaulieu.
For his part, the Conservative spokesperson for official languages, Joël Godin, applauds Commissioner Théberge’s recommendations, but believes that the current government does not have the will to stop the decline of French in the country.
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The spokesperson for the Conservative Party of Canada on official languages, Joël Godin, wants the new Official Languages Act to be better applied in federal institutions.
Photo: The Canadian Press / Adrian Wyld
The Governor General is bilingual, but she does not speak French in a representative position. We also named the lieutenant governor of New Brunswick, who is unilingual in English. It’s not consistent
says Mr. Godin.
For his part, the Minister of Official Languages, Randy Boissonnault, said he was aware of the report published by the commissioner Tuesday morning.
The report highlights the progress that our government has made with the passage of the new official languages law. […] We continue to make progress, and we will analyze the recommendations closely
indicates his office in a press release.
With information from Laurence Martin, Rosalie Sinclair and Félix Pilon
