Criticized by representatives of the English-speaking community in Quebec, the agreement between Ottawa and Quebec on the protection of French at work is rather “interesting”, according to the Commissioner of Official Languages, Raymond Théberge.
“I think it’s important to realize that this agreement means that we will be able to promote and protect French in Canada, not only in Quebec, but outside Quebec. It remains to be seen its impact on the ground in the years to come,” commented Mr. Théberge on the sidelines of the presentation of his annual report in Ottawa on Tuesday.
The official languages watchdog did note in its report that “Bill 96” passed in Quebec last year to strengthen the Charter of the French language “has raised concerns in English-speaking communities. »
He does not specify whether he shares these concerns, and did not criticize this law on Tuesday when questioned about it. The Commissioner simply mentioned the fact that references to Quebec law in a federal law could be the subject of expert debate.
The agreement does not only make people happy
However, the numerous references to the Quebec charter in federal Bill C-13 have led to the barricades of English-speaking Liberal MPs from Quebec. One of them, the member for Mount Royal, Anthony Housefather, went so far as to vote against the reform of the Official Languages Act proposed by his own government.
“We had to remind the House and Canadians that the fears of the English-speaking community in Quebec were not settled,” he explained when registering the only dissent out of the 338 elected to the Commons at the time of the final count.
Bill C-13 was finally passed by all parties in Ottawa in mid-May after an agreement between the Trudeau and Legault governments to modify the text at the last minute. This shows, according to Commissioner Raymond Théberge, that “it is possible to promote and protect French while protecting the rights of linguistic communities in a minority situation”. “We can do both at the same time,” he said on Tuesday.
Its 2022-2023 annual report rather supports the difficulty of access to services in French for travelers and the pitfalls for French-speaking federal public servants wishing to work in their language. The Commissioner welcomes the adoption of C-13 for the tools it gives him to crack down on institutions that show little concern for official languages.
Disappointed Anglophones
Joined by The dutythe president of the Quebec Community Groups Network (QCGN), Eva Ludvig, says she is “disappointed” by the commissioner’s opinion on C-13.
“We expect the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages to understand and support official language minority communities, including the English-speaking minority in Quebec. Our community leaders have taken a strong stand on this issue, as evidenced by MP Anthony Housefather who voted against this bill,” she wrote in a statement.
The English-speaking Quebec group says it also has the opinion that the promotion of French goes hand in hand with the protection of the rights of linguistic minority communities, but believes that C-13 goes against this objective.
Its representatives must speak before a Senate committee next week to share their fears. According to them, the bill in the hands of senators amplifies “the effects of the Charter of the French language as amended by Quebec’s Bill 96”.
” [L’entente sur C-13] should also be of concern to the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages, whose duty it is to protect the language rights of Canadians and to promote linguistic duality and bilingualism across Canada,” continues Eva Ludvig.
Questioned on this subject on Tuesday, the Minister of Official Languages, Ginette Petitpas Taylor, repeated that she was “very happy” with the text which makes it possible to align the federal law with the ambitions of the National Assembly to want to better protect French in Quebec.