Teranet
The Teranet case is a perfect illustration of the fact that little or no progress is being made on some issues, despite the efforts of the Commissioner’s Office.
Teranet is a private corporation that specializes in online land registration.76 In 1991, the Ontario government privatized land registration services by entering into a public-private partnership with Teranet.77 Unfortunately, when it signed that agreement more than 25 years ago, the government failed to ensure that land registration services would be available in French.
In 2010, the government renewed its public-private partnership with Teranet until 2067. It was an opportunity for the government to enhance Teranet’s obligations to provide services in French but little or nothing concrete came out of it. In fact, in his 2011-2012 annual report, the Commissioner recommended that any entity formed from a public-private partnership in Ontario be subject to the French Language Services Act.
Despite government commitments to provide a plan to correct a poor start 25 years ago, the French-language services provided by Teranet remain superficial. When one looks at its website, one quickly realizes that the French and English versions are in no way equivalent. In 2011, Teranet’s action plan clearly provided that its website would allow French documents to be created and registered online in its database. However, it must be noted that this government action plan was two years behind schedule in its deployment.
In march 2017, The Ministry of Government and Consumer Services informed the Commissioner’s Office that a new online land registration system, with a French version in keeping with the Act, will be phased in during the fall of 2017 in a number of land registry offices, which will fulfill obligations associated with designated areas. In addition, the Ministry made a commitment to ensure that all final stages of testing and the transition to the new system, which will be operational in April 2018, will take place in both languages. The Ministry also stated that it would promote the full bilingual capacity of Teranet’s new online land registration system in its communications plan. This implementation was confirmed again recently.
All these commitments, if kept, should finally provide access to a French-language service that is equivalent to a service that has been available in English for nearly a quarter century. Accordingly, the Commissioner’s Office pledges to keep a close eye on this matter and follow up with the Ministry to obtain updates on its operational plan.
76. For more details, see https://csfontario.ca/en/enquetes/terres-et-ressources/teranet (page consulted in March 2017).
77. For more details, see teranet.ca/our-proven-value-governments/teranet-ontario-partnership (page consulted in March 2017).