Heavyweights of the Francophonie outside Quebec ask Ottawa not to agree to the request of the Federation of Francophone and Acadian Communities (FCFA) to designate the Treasury Board as solely responsible for the implementation of the Languages Act official. The group of ten experts, including former judge Michel Bastarache, shared their point of view in a letter published in The duty.
The modernization of the Official Languages Act has been long overdue in Francophone communities outside Quebec. The Liberal government had promised to introduce a bill by the end of 2020, but it was delayed by the pandemic. It finally did in June 2021, but Bill C-32 died on the order paper as the government called an election two months later. On March 1, 2022, Ottawa again tabled a bill, C-13, amending the Act.
The FCFA, an organization whose mission is to ensure the defense and promotion of the rights and interests of Francophones in minority situations, is campaigning for amendments to Bill C-13 “which are of concern for the future of the bill and of the Canadian Francophonie as a whole”, according to the authors of the letter. One of the amendments particularly caught their attention: the FCFA’s proposal to designate the Treasury Board as solely responsible for the implementation of the Act.
At the Standing Committee on Official Languages and at the Standing Senate Committee on Official Languages, professor specializing in language policy Linda Cardinal, of the Université de l’Ontario français, affirmed that the Treasury Board could not deliver programs , while having authority over them.
Currently, the bill rather proposes coordination between departments in the implementation of the law. According to Franco-Ontarian lawyer Ronald Caza, one of the signatories of the letter, the fallout could be “quite serious” for Francophones if Treasury Board were responsible for implementation. According to the lawyer, if the Council had the reins of the application of the law, it could under other governments reduce the programs offered to Francophones, for example.
But the request of the signatories is not only legal: it is also temporal. The FCFA “wants to continue to militate”, says Me Caza, while the signatories wish that the bill “gives birth”. The bill is currently being studied by the Official Languages Committee. The Liberal Party wants to speed up the passage of the bill, to the dismay of the opposition. “The FCFA is campaigning for change. We say ‘it’s over’”, launches the Franco-Ontarian lawyer.
In a press release, Minister of Official Languages Ginette Petitpas Taylor stated that “the communities are impatient to see Bill C-13 become a reality” and that her government “shares this urgency to act”. The FCFA, for its part, takes note of the point of view of the signatories and continues its work “with all parliamentarians at the federal level to give Canada the Official Languages Act that best meets the aspirations of Francophones,” according to its spokesperson, Serge Quinty.
“In a strong Francophonie of 2.8 million individuals and more than 900 organizations, it goes without saying that differences of opinion may arise”, comments Serge Quinty. “A community that has discussions, where we are not on the same page, it is a sign of a community is alive, the sign of a shared force for his part Me Ronald Caza on the phone.
This story is supported by the Local Journalism Initiative, funded by the Government of Canada.