(Ottawa) The reform of the Official Languages Act received royal assent early Tuesday afternoon and now has the force of law.
“Mr. Speaker, good news: the Senate has just confirmed the Royal Assent of Bill C-13,” said Official Languages Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor during question period.
While elected officials applauded and “heys” were heard, the minister was delighted that the law provides “the best tools to curb the decline of French and to better protect our official language minority communities”.
The new version of the law enshrines the right to work and be served in French in Quebec and in “regions with a strong Francophone presence” in other provinces in private companies under federal jurisdiction, such as banks and airlines or railway companies. .
And still in these companies, it aligns the federal law with the Charter of the French language in order to make the linguistic regimes of Quebec and Ottawa very similar.
The piece of legislation also gives the Commissioner of Official Languages the power to issue orders to federal institutions and creates a penalty regime, but these are limited to $25,000. It also forces the appointment of bilingual judges to the Supreme Court.
In the foyer of the House of Commons, Minister Petitpas Taylor told reporters that this is a “historic day” and that the “bill” will have “a positive and lasting impact for our children and our grandchildren”.
Asked to say if she believes that the modernized law will succeed not only in curbing the decline of French, but also in making it grow, Ms.me Petitpas Taylor explained that she has two goals.
Number one, to protect and promote our two official languages across the country. But also, we all have to do our fair share. If we want to achieve real equality, of course we have to give the French language a helping hand. Then, with our bill, we are definitely offering exactly that.
Minister of Official Languages, Ginette Petitpas Taylor
The bill passed third reading in the Senate last week after being rushed through it following its near-unanimous passage by elected officials in the House of Commons a month ago. , and under pressure from minority Francophone communities and the Government of Quebec.
Senator René Cormier, who was C-13’s sponsor in the Upper House, also gave a nod during the minister’s press conference to the fact that the senators would have liked to continue their study, although they are “all the same very, very happy and extremely happy” with the version adopted.
“The development of the Canadian Francophonie and the achievement of real equality between our two official languages depend on the effective application of this law,” he insisted.
Liberal MPs were overjoyed as they arrived for Question Period on Tuesday, with one, Nova Scotia’s Darrell Samson, calling it “the best day” since the last major overhaul of the law he over 30 years ago.
The Conservative spokesperson for official languages, Joël Godin, for his part reiterated that, according to him, Ottawa “gave birth to a mouse” and that much more should have been done to protect French.
Asked about the efforts he had to make to convince his caucus to vote in favor of the bill, Mr. Godin indicated that “there was work in the caucus”, but that “it didn’t been difficult”.
On the side of the Bloc Québécois, its spokesman Mario Beaulieu attributed to its formation the introduction of “elements of asymmetry to make it recognized that Anglophones in Quebec do not have the same needs at all as Francophone minorities outside Quebec. “.
It is now a matter of “boots following chops”, he added, recalling that the action plan on official languages announced very recently will almost exclusively support English in Quebec at the same time as the Trudeau government prides itself on being the first to recognize that French is under threat in the province.
New Democratic Party spokesperson for official languages, Niki Ashton, said in a written statement that she was “proud” of the work accomplished and noted the “beautiful spirit of collaboration” during the course.
“I want to recognize the Francophone communities who have fought for a modernized law for decades. This historic moment belongs to them,” she said.
In a press release, the Commissioner of Official Languages, Raymond Théberge, said he was “celebrating” the modernization of the law. According to him, this “marks the beginning of a new chapter in the history of official languages”.
Mr. Théberge recognizes that the reform worries Anglophones in Quebec and judges that he will therefore have to “closely monitor” the impacts of C-13 with “precise indicators”.
The modernization of this quasi-constitutional law was a flagship promise of Justin Trudeau’s Liberals. The Prime Minister committed to it in 2018. The Official Languages Act came into force more than 50 years ago.