Ottawa, October 6, 2010 - Earlier today, the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne (FCFA) du Canada read the Federal Court’s decision regarding its application for judicial review of the elimination by the federal government of the long form questionnaire for the 2011 Census.
The FCFA is obviously disappointed that the Federal Court has decided to reject its application for judicial review. The Fédération believes that it has proved that the data from the voluntary National Household Survey (NHS) will not be useable to the same ends as the data produced from the mandatory long form census, and this will deprive the government of its ability to know the realities and needs of small French-speaking and Acadian communities.
The FCFA also considers that it has shown that the Official Languages Act is endowed with a quasi-constitutional status and must be interpreted broadly in view of its goal: the progression towards the substantive equality of French and English in Canadian society. The Act requires federal institutions to take positive measures to support the development of official language minority communities.
The FCFA maintains that the eliminination of the mandatory long form census, the only source of reliable data on the realities of the Francophone and Acadian communities, is far from being a positive measure in the sense of what the Official Languages Act requires.
In the coming days, the FCFA and its legal counsellors will carry out an in-depth analysis of the Federal Court’s decision and will examine the options in terms of next steps on this issue.
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The FCFA is obviously disappointed that the Federal Court has decided to reject its application for judicial review. The Fédération believes that it has proved that the data from the voluntary National Household Survey (NHS) will not be useable to the same ends as the data produced from the mandatory long form census, and this will deprive the government of its ability to know the realities and needs of small French-speaking and Acadian communities.
The FCFA also considers that it has shown that the Official Languages Act is endowed with a quasi-constitutional status and must be interpreted broadly in view of its goal: the progression towards the substantive equality of French and English in Canadian society. The Act requires federal institutions to take positive measures to support the development of official language minority communities.
The FCFA maintains that the eliminination of the mandatory long form census, the only source of reliable data on the realities of the Francophone and Acadian communities, is far from being a positive measure in the sense of what the Official Languages Act requires.
In the coming days, the FCFA and its legal counsellors will carry out an in-depth analysis of the Federal Court’s decision and will examine the options in terms of next steps on this issue.
Serge Quinty, Communications Director
Tel.: (613) 241-7600