Designation of areas
A year ago, the Commissioner recommended that the Minister Responsible for Francophone Affairs propose the designation of the entire province of Ontario under an amended French Language Services Act. In his 2015-2016 annual report, the Commissioner concluded that making Ontario one large designated area would resolve, once and for all, concerns, disparities and arduous processes that are outdated and no longer reflect current realities.
At this time, 20% of Ontario’s Francophones still live in areas not designated under the French Language Services Act. Designation of an area allows Francophone citizens living there to obtain services in French from the provincial government. There are 26 designated areas in Ontario. For an area to be designated, an application must be submitted to the Office of Francophone Affairs, which then analyzes the request and makes a recommendation for or against designation to the Minister.
Designation of an area is not a piece of cake, especially since the 2012 deployment of a new analytical framework by the Office of Francophone Affairs. The new framework has an additional criterion under the heading of “community support.” Consequently, an area that wants to be designated not only has to meet the existing requirements78 but also has to submit official letters of support from all local MPPs. While this practice demonstrates the engagement of local elected representatives in communities that do not meet the numerical requirements, it adds to the burden that the communities are already shouldering. The Commissioner has already expressed reservations about this, pointing to the refusal suffered by the Region of Durham.79
There are still too many Francophones who have to travel absurd distances to obtain French-language services from the Ontario government. And many areas still risk encountering the same “community support” obstacles in their application for designation.
Despite the development of online government services, vulnerable Francophone citizens, like the rest of the population, need human contact, either for rehabilitation, access to justice, immigration services or children’s aid. Not all these services are available online. In these cases, and many others, the territorial and statistical boundaries of designated areas make no sense.
The Commissioner therefore reiterates the importance of guaranteeing access to French-language services for all citizens of Ontario who want services in French, whatever they are, wherever they are. The Minister responsible for Francophone Affairs must ensure that the whole of Ontario becomes a designated area.
78. The area to be designated must contain either 5,000 Francophones in an urban centre or a Francophone population that makes up 10% of the local population; however, the cities of Kingston and Markham were designated in 2006 in 2015 respectively with a strong community support although they did not meet the demographic criteria.
79. In 2015, the Office of Francophone Affairs held a consultation on designating the areas of Markham and Oshawa. While Markham’s elected representatives were enthusiastic, Durham’s representatives stopped the designation process because of financial concerns, thwarting the efforts by the community to obtain designation.