The Ontario government has only followed two of the nine recommendations issued by its French Language Services Commissioner since the latter took office in 2020.
Published on Wednesday, Kelly Burke’s most recent annual report notably takes stock of these two years and of her special investigation into the cuts at Laurentian University in Sudbury.
Some of the failings noted by Mr.me Burke were for the first time almost three years ago. Among other things, we note in the Commissioner’s report that the Ministry of Francophone Affairs lacks rigor in updating and drafting the designation regulations of the French Language Services Act (FLSA). This regulation lists all the Ontario organizations that have voluntarily obtained a designation and that must therefore offer services in French to their clients.
In her first report, Kelly Burke indicated that this list was not up to date; she now recommends that the ministry develop a plan by September 2023 to update the regulations, which has not been done since 1996. “We have to clean up,” she said in a press conference. Wednesday morning. She notes, for example, that some organizations on the list no longer exist or have been merged with others. “All regulations related to the FLSA should be [mis] up to date,” continued the French Language Services Commissioner.
Kelly Burke fears that the current lack of clarity will jeopardize the services offered to Franco-Ontarians. Such a situation has also occurred at Laurentian University, which, according to the commissioner, violated the French Language Services Act by eliminating all programs leading to two degrees, which were nevertheless protected. “The Ministry of Francophone Affairs and the other departments concerned have begun a systematic review of this list in order to update it gradually,” says Marilissa Gosselin, spokesperson for the Minister of Francophone Affairs, Caroline Mulroney.
Plans never produced
In 2020, Commissioner Burke recommended that Ontario deputy ministers present to the Executive Council how they intended to implement the LSF and ensure the quality of services offered in the language of Molière within their respective departments. She also proposed that these plans be included in an annual report by the Minister of Francophone Affairs to the Legislative Assembly.
However, the first report of its kind, filed in April 2022, “did not contain information on departmental service plans,” reads the portrait prepared Wednesday by Kelly Burke. These plans – which represent the “nerve of war”, according to her – would not have been produced in time by the ministers, who now have this responsibility. The ministries could evaluate the effectiveness of this multi-year plan each year, within the framework of the report of the Minister of Francophone Affairs, thinks Kelly Burke.
On the other hand, the commissioner says that she has the attentive ear of the government, although the latter has only very little followed her recommendations. The Ministry of Francophone Affairs thus presented on Tuesday its regulations for active offer, i.e. the principle of offering Franco-Ontarians services in their language without them having to ask for it. The measure was enshrined in the RSA when it was modernized in November 2021, and it could allow the government to follow up on some recommendations dating back to 2019-20, according to Kelly Burke.
In total, the Office of the French Language Services Commissioner of Ontario handled 277 cases between 1er October 2021 and September 30, 2022; however, he was unable to say whether these were complaints or requests for information. This is a decrease of 20% compared to the previous year. “We are continuing to implement the modernization of the LSF to ensure the delivery of quality services in French for generations to come and thus ensure the vitality of our Francophone communities,” says Marilissa Gosselin.
This story is supported by the Local Journalism Initiative, funded by the Government of Canada.