City of Ottawa
In its most recent preliminary budget, the City of Ottawa published an English-only document, on the pretext that it was “much too large” to be translated into French, even though members of the public, including Francophones, were invited to comment on the document. This shortcoming is especially intriguing since the City has a Bilingualism Policy28 and By-law No. 2001 – 170,29 which entrenches and grants the same rights, status and privileges to both official language groups in its population. As a result, the French Language Services Commissioner has launched an investigation of the City of Ottawa’s budget communications and adoption process pursuant to his legal responsibilities and obligations.
28. Available online: http://ottawa.ca/en/city-hall/your-city-government/policies-and-administrative-structure/bilingualism-policy (page consulted in May 2015).
29. Available online: http://ottawa.ca/en/residents/laws-licenses-and-permits/laws/bilingualism-law-no-2001-170 (page consulted in May 2015).