Annual Reports of Commissioners of Official Languages for Canada and New Brunswick
On October 11, my colleague Michel Carrier, Commissioner of Official Languages for New Brunswick, released his 2011-2012 Annual Report. A few days later, last Tuesday, Graham Fraser, Commissioner of Official Languages for Canada, also released his 2011-2012 Annual Report.
I am telling you about this today because as you know, it is absolutely vital to always read Commissioners of Official Languages’ annual reports (including the French Language Services Commissioner for Ontario’s)!
This being said, I wish to congratulate my two colleagues for all their efforts and their excellent annual reports which I encourage you to refer to.
Francophone immigration and the review process of New Brunswick’s Official Languages Act are amongst questions raised in the annual report of the Commissioner of Official Languages for New Brunswick. Given the particular challenges associated with Francophone immigration, Commissioner Michel Carrier recommends the government to develop and implement a long-term strategy on Francophone immigration. This question is also obviously one of our current key priorities in Ontario. I even raised this issue just two weeks ago here on my blog after the release of the final report by Ontario’s Expert Roundtable on Immigration.
Tomorrow, I will meet with Commissioners Fraser and Carrier in Ottawa at Canadian Parents for French’s Annual Conference. I will let you know more about this event next week.
Many decision-makers and policy developers at the provincial and federal levels have dumped French language and services to the French-speaking communities under the umbrella of equity. We know of health equity, equitable access to education and employment. They often lose sight that French is one of the official languages of Canada.
Many provinces have not passed a law or regulation that entitles taxpayers to ask services in government agencies in French, at times because of insufficient critical mass of francophone individuals. However, devising immigration policies that encourage francophone to make Canada their new land would be a first step towards forming that critical mass. Political will and conversations among stakeholders would further pave the way to the development and implementation of such policies. Hat off to Misters Boileau, carrier and Fraser for their respective efforts.