Ottawa – The Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne (FCFA) du Canada wants to know what the federal government intends to do to increase its leadership so that all efforts are made to achieve true and substantive equality of French and English in Canada. The FCFA made this statement in reaction to volume II of the Commissioner of Official Languages’ annual report, published this morning.

The FCFA is stunned by the poor performance of a good number of federal institutions in terms of official languages. For example, the Commissioner reports that 10 out of the 16 federal institutions reviewed in 2009-2010 received a “D” or an “E” on the issue of support to the vitality of official language minority communities and the advancement of English and French. Furthermore, only two out of 16 federal institutions reviewed greeted the public in both official languages more than 60 percent of the time.

“Such a report card on official languages is quite embarrassing when you consider that Canada just attended the Francophonie Summit in Montreux as an active participant a week ago,” says FCFA President Marie-France Kenny. “With all the principles and guidelines developed by Mr. Fraser and his predecessors, with all the court decisions that have clarified the language obligations of federal institutions, there really is no excuse for this anymore. All the tools are there.”

The FCFA wishes to point out that it also put forward concrete recommendations for the full implementation of the Official Languages Act, last year, in a brief it published on the 40th anniversary of the Act. Since that time, the Fédération has taken steps to meet with Canadian Heritage, Justice Canada and the Treasury Board to create a work group for the implementation of the Act and a review of the Official Languages Regulations. “The Commissioner’s report shows the urgency of such a mechanism and we are going to keep pushing forward on this,” says Ms. Kenny.

The Fédération is also surprised by the timid recommendations put forward by the Commissioner in his report, given the dismal marks he gave some federal institutions and the less than encouraging conclusions he came to. The FCFA would have liked to see, for example, a recommendation for the Treasury Board, which is responsible for the implementation of parts IV (communications with and services to the public) and V (language of work) of the Act.

“The Commissioner has several tools at his disposal. He can audit federal institutions, request follow-ups to his recommendations according to specific timetable, and in extreme cases he can initiate court actions. We believe that the current context demands firmness and boldness from the Commissioner to ensure that the Act is fully implemented,” says Ms. Kenny.

The FCFA is a national organization that includes Francophone representative associations of nine provinces and the three territories, as well as ten national organizations. Its role is to defend and promote the rights and interests of the French-Speaking population outside Quebec.

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Serge Quinty, Communications Director
FCFA du Canada
Tel.: (613) 241-7600