Théberge names three official language priorities

The Office of Canada’s Commissioner of Official Languages published its annual report last week, marking the end of the transition period for newly arrived Commissioner Raymond Théberge. Théberge, who took office as Commissioner on January 29, 2018, states in the report that he feels he had to hit the ground running to catch up with the work already underway at the office.

“There was a steep learning curve at first,” Théberge told The Record, explaining that he has been able to focus in on some of the issues as time has moved on. “I would say that I’m deeply in the saddle at the moment and ready to move forward.”

Looking ahead, the commissioner identified three key areas of focus for the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages in the coming year.

First and foremost, Théberge said that Canada’s Official Languages Act needs to be modernized.

“Clearly the Act, which reflected the

reality of 1969, really does not reflect the reality of 2018,” he said, pointing out that there have been massive changes not just to Canada’s demographics and minority language communities in the last 50 years, but also to culture and society as a whole. “We live in a digital world,” he continued, pointing out there was no such thing as a website in 1969 whereas today’s readers take in most of their information on the internet.

Although the modernization of the act was a project handed to him already in progress rather than being his own initiative, Théberge said that he understands and believes strongly in the importance of the work.

“Nobody understands the act better than the commissioner’s office,” he said. “Not too far down the road we will be putting out a formal position on what we see as being necessary to modernize this act, but it will be up to parliament to decide on the timeframe and process that is put in place.”

Théberge underlined the fact that he feels his office should be a key player in that process.

The second focus the commissioner identified was holding the Federal Government accountable to the Official Languages Action Plan that was announced in March.

“We will be looking at making sure that the action plan is well implemented,” Théberge said, explaining that part of the role of the Commissioner is to ensure that the action plan is properly rolled out and that the resources go where they should to have the most positive impact on the communities involved. He noted with interest that this is the first time the national action plan makes specific mention of providing support to Quebec’s English-speaking minority.

Priority number three will be to continue the work of checking and supporting

the use of both official languages in Federal institutions.

“We have to keep pushing to ensure that Canadians can get service and communications in the language of their choice,” the commissioner said, noting that the tools already exist to evaluate the “official language maturity” government bodies, but that they need to continue to be used. “What tends to happen is that organizations do not develop the reflex of thinking about official languages throughout their whole business model,” he added, explaining that the office’s tools provide a roadmap for how to do things better.

Over the summer Théberge said that he will be drafting a vision statement that will outline the way these three priority areas will drive his mandate.

“Going forward there are a number of things we have to do to make sure that linguistic duality is alive and well in Canada,” he said. “I want it to make sure that the message is clear that, as Commissioner of Official Languages, I am there for both linguistic groups.”

More information on the Commissioner of Official Languages, his mandate, and the full text of the annual report is available at http://www.officiallanguages.gc.ca/