Francophones urge changes to languages act
Last Updated: Tuesday, April 13, 2010 | 4:58 PM ET
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Francophones across Canada are hoping to change the Official Languages Act to prevent minority communities from losing government services in French should 2011 census data show their numbers too weak to qualify.
Currently the act stipulates that a region's language minority population must represent more than five per cent of the province's population in order to qualify for French services from the federal government, including postal service and the RCMP.
Smaller communities now worry what will happen if next year's census data shows a French-speaking population that is smaller than that.
"For example, in P.E.I. we know for a fact that if the next census brings the francophone to less than five per cent [of the] population they are going to lose all their government services in French," said Marie-Claude Rioux, the executive director of l'Association des juristes d'expression française de la Nouvelle-Écosse, which promotes access to French-language legal services for francophones in Nova Scotia.
Sec. 22 of the act states that every federal institution must be able to provide services in either French or English at its head or central offices, or at any office in the National Capital Region or elsewhere in Canada "where there is significant demand for communications with and services from that office or facility in that language."
But regional statistics don't tell the whole story, Rioux and others believe.
"If you have life in French, financial institutions in French, you have health services in French, well, that community has a vitality," said Manitoba Senator Maria Chaput, who is pushing her parliamentary colleagues to change the act by the end of the year.
The current Official Languages Act also ignores those who want services in French, even if it's not their first language, according to former Supreme Court justice Michel Bastarache, who was recognized Wednesday by Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean as a companion of the Order of Canada for "his invaluable contributions to protecting the linguistic rights of minority communities."
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