The devil is in the details, the saying goes. And all the details, namely the decrees and regulations that accompany the new version of the Official Languages Act, recently adopted by both Houses of Parliament, will be known within about two years.
“Yes, absolutely,” Official Languages Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor confirmed Friday morning, when questioned about the rumor of this horizon, while insisting that “the vast majority of the law” will come into force upon royal assent, which which should arrive in the next few days, and that the regulations will come into force “as soon as they are developed”.
Thus, we will have to wait before Ottawa determines which are the famous “regions with a strong Francophone presence” where, in addition to Quebec, it will be possible to work and be served in French in private companies under federal jurisdiction. Ditto for the penalty regime that may be imposed on those who do not comply.
And what will allow Canadians to believe that a government that needed six years to deliver this reform and which, in general, is struggling to meet the deadlines, will respect this one? “I delivered the goods for Bill C-13, then we will deliver the goods for the regulations as well,” said Ms. Petitpas Taylor.
Called to comment on the Minister’s remarks on the sidelines of a testimony before a parliamentary committee, the Commissioner of Official Languages, Raymond Théberge, considered it “difficult” to decide on the time the federal government is giving itself, but he was nevertheless tapping foot.
“I think we absolutely have to minimize delays and take action as quickly as possible, whether it’s issuing a decree, whether it’s developing regulations,” he said. Time is not necessarily our friend when it comes to the development of our communities. »
Mr. Théberge admitted that the passage of Bill C-13 is a “relief”. This reform of the law creates, according to him, a linguistic regime “more robust, stronger, more focused on the needs of the communities, with more teeth for the commissioner, therefore to try for better compliance”.
This joy was also easily perceptible in the trembling voice of Minister Petitpas Taylor, who recounted how, as an Acadian living in New Brunswick, a region where French is the minority language, she felt “really moved […]then full of emotions, that we finally took that step” when she saw her bill get the green light from the Senate late the day before.
Rejoicing also on the side of the Federation of Francophone and Acadian Communities (FCFA) of Canada. “Canada has taken a big step forward towards the real equality of French with English. This is a historic moment for our country, after six years of work, ”wrote its president, Liane Roy, in a press release.
A path strewn with pitfalls
The reform of the Official Languages Act is a long-standing Liberal promise and its path has been strewn with pitfalls. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had been forced to clarify in recent months that his ministers should all vote in favor of C-13 after one of them, Montrealer Marc Miller, said he reserves the right to oppose it.
Within the Liberal caucus, other Liberals representing English-speaking communities in the Montreal region led a campaign to remove from C-13 any reference to Quebec’s Charter of the French language. Among them, Marc Garneau (Notre-Dame-de-Grâce–Westmount), Emmanuella Lambropoulos (Saint-Laurent) and Anthony Housefather (Mont-Royal).
Their Franco-Ontarian colleague Francis Drouin then publicly criticized them for putting on a “shameful smoke show” and the Bloc Québécois portrayed them as the actors of the “West Island Story”, wanting to defend their own interests, even if it meant sacrificing those of minorities. French speakers.
The three opposition parties, which hold the majority on the Official Languages Committee, had indicated that they would support an amendment that would subject private companies under federal jurisdiction on Quebec soil to Quebec’s Charter of the French language rather than giving the choice between the latter and the Official Languages Act, thus forcing the hand of the Trudeau government.
The Liberals, backed into a corner, then found a compromise with the Government of Quebec and amended C-13 at the last minute so as to copy large parts of the Charter of the French language into federal law. The opposition parties then rallied and abandoned their amendment.
The liberal rebellion ultimately did not materialize at the final moment. MP Housefather was the only MP in the entire House of Commons to vote against the bill at third reading. Mr. Garneau, for his part, left politics denying that his position on C-13 played a role in his decision.
The Official Languages Act came into force more than 50 years ago and its last major reform dates back more than 30 years. His record is, to say the least, mixed. The proportion of French speakers is in decline in Quebec and the French-speaking minorities in the rest of the country are constantly being anglicized. Although bilingualism is on the rise, it is almost exclusively Quebecers who are responsible for it.