Bill C-13 An Act to Amend the Official Languages Act was signed into law on Tuesday. This first-of-its-kind legislation mandates bilingualism in the federally regulated private sector..According to Languages Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor, the bill aims to “reverse the decline of French” in Canada.. French language textbook .“By receiving Royal Assent, we have given ourselves the means to achieve substantive equality between French and English,” said the minister. .“With this act, we will have better tools to reverse the decline of French. It is a good day for official languages.”.According to Blacklock’s Reporter, Bill C-13 requires airlines, banks, ports, railways, and other federally regulated employers operating in regions of Canada with a “strong francophone presence” to use French. .The legislation does not clearly define what constitutes a “strong francophone presence.”.Cabinet last April 27 added a new clause stating “The minister of Canadian Heritage shall advance the equality of status and use of English and French in Canadian society.” The bill received final passage in the Senate last Thursday..During testimony on Oct. 25 at the Commons Languages committee, employers pointed out various complaints about the legislation..“I’ll give you an example,” said Daniel-Robert Gooch, CEO of the Association of Canadian Port Authorities (ACPA). .“They’ve discovered they can just go on websites and, ‘Oh, OK, this consultation document, do you see on the bottom of page five you refer to an appendix and that is in English?’”.“While some official language complaints are well-founded and require corrective action, our members have in recent years faced increasing complaints that are vexatious in nature and do not in our view protect or assist with the values the act stands for,” said Gooch..In a submission to the Senate Languages committee, the ACPA stated Language Commissioner Raymond Théberge instructed employers to revise previous Twitter posts to ensure compliance with French language requirements..“There was a recent recommendation by the commissioner to ‘back tweet’ years of historical English-only tweets,” wrote the association..“Recently, one of our members had to address a complaint regarding an English-only sign. The sign in question was not erected within the port authority’s lands nor under its purview.”.French “remains fragile” despite 54 years of official bilingualism and $7.7 billion in federal promotions, the department of Canadian Heritage wrote in an April 5 report. .“The viability of francophone official language minority communities remains fragile,” said the report Evaluation of the Official Languages Support Programs 2004-2021..“The rate of bilingualism outside Québec decreased slightly despite an increase in the number of students enrolled in second language learning programs,” wrote researchers. .By an official estimate, 9.5% of Canadians are bilingual outside Québec. Only 3.5% of people outside Québec identify French as their first language.
