Travelers and French-speaking federal public servants are again this year the main victims of shortcomings in the area of official languages, concludes Commissioner Raymond Théberge in his most recent annual report, published on Tuesday.
However, the official languages watchdog’s 2022-2023 report does not fail to remind the institutions at fault, Air Canada in the first place, that its office is about to obtain the power to impose fines.
“I am pleased that Bill C-13 gives me new powers. Through the compliance agreements that the next commissioners and I can negotiate, the orders that we can make, the administrative monetary penalties that we can impose […]we will be in a better position to ensure the application of the Official Languages Act than in the past,” warns Mr. Théberge.
Once again this year, complaints poured into his office, mainly to denounce problems in obtaining services in French. Of this number, 1788 of them were deemed admissible, including only 276 for the air carrier Air Canada.
This is a ten-year high in the number of complaints from travelers against the former crown corporation, if we do not take into account the thousands of complaints made last year against the single event of the speech delivered in English by its CEO, Michael Rousseau, before the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal. Air Canada, however, recently decided to subscribe to the Quebec Charter of the French language for its employees in the province, as required by Quebec’s law 96.
Soon more severe
In front of journalists, Raymond Théberge said he never wanted to rain down fines on Air Canada, up to a maximum of $25,000 per complaint. Even though the law has existed for more than 50 years and he repeats similar reprimands from year to year, he hopes that his new powers — which will soon have to be clarified by regulation — will manage to “change the behavior” of institutions that are not respectful of official languages.
” [Une amende], it is a binding means, which is part of a gradation of powers that will now be available to the commissioner. From compliance agreements, to orders and monetary penalties: it’s a gradation. »
In general, airports, the Canada Border Services Agency and other air transport institutions are the dunces of respect for French, according to the number of complaints, which have jumped over the past decade. However, the main problems were established in the 2012-2013 report, criticizes the commissioner.
“It’s clear that the majority of our complaints concern French. In other words, a lack of services in French”, he specifies, adding that French is often perceived as a language relegated to the background.
In particular, travelers struggle with institutions that neglect active offer, such as posting “Bonjour Hello “. They do not deploy enough staff able to communicate in both languages with the public and do not systematically post information in French and English.
The public service lagging behind
The Federal Commissioner of Official Languages denounces the federal government’s tendency to drop the bilingualism criterion for certain public servant positions. Some 714 complaints received concerned public institutions that “would not establish the linguistic profiles of certain positions in an objective manner”. This is three times more than last year.
He laments the fact that the government is in no hurry to fix this problem, established in a 2020 report. He now recommends that the federal government tackle it no later than June 2025.
In general, Mr. Théberge is also concerned about the consequences of telework for the rights of employees to speak the language of their choice. In 2017, the government stopped asking its employees if they feel free to draft documents in French or English. According to the latest available data, Francophones were much less likely (68%) than Anglophones (92%) to be able to write emails in their language, for example.
Among the 207 complaints filed regarding language at work, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (43 complaints), the Department of National Defense (28), Public Services and Procurement Canada (21), the Canada Border Services Agency ( 20), Shared Services Canada (11) and Global Affairs Canada (10) share the top spot. More than half of the complaints were made in the Ottawa-Gatineau region.
“In 79% of cases, the complaints related to an incident relating to the use of French,” notes Raymond Théberge.
The commissioner, however, detailed his cautious optimism regarding the federal government’s recent language policies. He welcomes the appointment of Indigenous and bilingual Justice Michelle O’Bonsawin to the Supreme Court, for example.
Raymond Théberge says he is preparing for the coming into force of Bill C-13, currently being considered by the Senate, and is pleased with the $1.4 billion in funding provided for in the latest federal action plan for languages official, otherwise criticized for supporting English in Quebec.