OTTAWA – By announcing his resignation on Monday, Justin Trudeau leaves behind nine years filled with public policies, particularly in matters of French such as the modernization of the Official Languages Act and even controversial appointments. We asked three experts in the Canadian Francophonie to take stock of the Trudeau years in terms of official languages.
Despite the long process that led to its modernization, reform of the Official Languages Act is at the top of Justin Trudeau’s list of achievements, our experts maintain.
“This is clearly an important legacy from the government. It is a law that has innovated in recognizing the minority character of French in North America and integrating the principle of real equality,” notes the holder of the Research Chair on Francophonie and Public Policies at the University. from Ottawa, Linda Cardinal.
“When we look back on Mr. Trudeau’s mandate in ten or twenty years, we will certainly note that he succeeded in modernizing the Official Languages Act, that remains one of his legacies,” supports Simon Fraser University professor and specialist in Canadian language policies, Rémi Léger.
Among the less successful moves, we note the appointments of the Prime Minister in recent years to key positions who do not speak French, underline specialists in the minority Francophonie.
“What struck the symbolism were the appointments of the Prime Minister,” analyzes political science professor at the Royal Military College in Kingston, Stéphanie Chouinard.
“The appointment of Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick Brenda Murphy caused a lot of ink to flow, as did the appointment of Mary Simon, ignoring the issues of bilingualism and official languages,” she gives as an example, with record complaints to the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages.
“That says a lot about the place that official languages and French occupied in Mr. Trudeau’s mind. For him, Canada must now prioritize reconciliation with indigenous peoples and the question of French was secondary,” comments Rémi Léger.
The reinvestments in official languages under his government fall into the sections of good moves, notes Stéphanie Chouinard. She cites the improvements to the action plans for official languages under her reign and the funding of the University of French Ontario.
“During the Trudeau era, the reality of official languages was not called into question and the Prime Minister in his delegations abroad always took care to present French and English equally. It’s something that doesn’t make a mark unless there’s a scandal,” further illustrates the researcher on the Canadian Francophonie.
For Linda Cardinal, the examples of the lack of respect for French at the Rouleau Commission, the Commission on Foreign Interference or even the end of bilingual labeling in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, however, demonstrate that the state of French in the federal public service in recent years has not seen any improvement under this Liberal government.
If she describes the French file, notably thanks to the reform of the Official Languages Act, as a success during the nine years of the Prime Minister, it is more due to the work of her ministers, because “on the ground, we never felt that Mr. Trudeau was the great defender of official languages,” analyzes Linda Cardinal.
“We never felt that Mr. Trudeau was the great defender of the Francophonie in Canada, because he had a complicated relationship with Quebec. In a minority environment, he always saw French as a language of identity and not as an official language (…). I don’t think that was Mr. Trudeau’s strong point,” summarizes the University of Ottawa professor.
“It was a success despite itself,” says Rémi Léger. He was brought into the official languages field against his will. This is an area that clearly did not interest him and that he wanted to avoid at all costs upon his arrival in 2015. He was pulled into the sandbox of official languages and he was forced to make decisions such as the modernization of the Official Languages Act. »
For the Federation of Francophone and Acadian Communities of Canada (FCFA), Mr. Trudeau’s mandate will have had “many more positives than negatives. »
“It wasn’t perfect, but when we look back several years from now, I think that Prime Minister Trudeau will emerge as one of the people who will have done a lot for the Canadian Francophonie,” says its president Liane Roy.