(Ottawa) The commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Mike Duheme, will have to explain to a committee of the House of Commons why high-ranking officers occupy bilingual positions when they are incapable of communicating in French.
The Standing Committee on Official Languages unanimously adopted on Monday a motion from the Bloc Québécois summoning the head of the RCMP no later than November 8 to “discuss the plan [de l’organisation] to comply with the Official Languages Act and respect French.”
He will also receive the Minister of Public Safety, Dominic LeBlanc, on a date to be determined.
Radio-Canada revealed at the beginning of October that officials working at the federal police headquarters in Ottawa occupy bilingual positions even though they do not master French and, what’s more, they are not taking any courses to correct the situation.
The motion notes in passing that this constitutes “new violations of the Official Languages Act » within the RCMP.
In an email sent to The Canadian Press, the RCMP asserts that “the majority” of senior managers have “skills” in French and English.
The organization writes that it “recognizes” that the Official Languages Act “must be respected” and that it “intends to make all necessary efforts in this direction”.
The police service adds that members of the senior staff are appointed to “meet operational needs” and that they have “skills […] highly specialized” that are essential to ensure public safety.