CNOLC-newsletter-no1/news

NEWS IN BRIEF ABOUT OFFICIAL LANGUAGES

 

NEW CABINET

On October 26, 2021, the Prime Minister announced the composition of the Cabinet. Ginette Petitpas Taylor became Minister of Official Languages and Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, and Mona Fortier was appointed President of the Treasury Board.

MODERNIZATION OF THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGES ACT

As you are aware, Bill C-32, An Act for the Substantive Equality of French and English and the Strengthening of the Official Languages Act, was tabled on June 15, 2021. The mandate letter of the Minister of Official Languages and Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency indicates that the Government still expects to reintroduce a bill at the beginning of her mandate:

“Swiftly reintroduce the Act for the Substantive Equality of French and English and the Strengthening of the Official Languages Act by early 2022.”

SPEECH FROM THE THRONE

Her Excellency, The Right Honourable Mary Simon, Governor General of Canada, delivered the Speech from the Throne on November 23, 2021. These are the extracts on official languages:

“Our two official languages are part of who we are.”

“It is essential to support official language minority communities and to protect and promote French, outside and inside Quebec.”

“The Government will reintroduce the proposed Act for the Substantive Equality of French and English and the Strengthening of the Official Languages Act.”

LINGUISTIC DUALITY DAY

Linguistic Duality Day, which took place on September 9, 2021, was an unprecedented success. Indeed, over 2,500 people participated in the event. There were also over 16,000 visits to the event website, and 27, 000 tweet impressions for the Council of the Network of Official Languages Champions. Refer to this dashboard for further details.

In addition, the Council and the Linguistic Duality Network are actively pursuing their efforts to establish a National Linguistic Duality Day. All updates on this file can be found in the minutes of Council meetings which are emailed to you.

WORKING GROUP ON THE PUBLIC SERVICE EMPLOYEE SURVEY

Did you know that the Vice-Chair of the Council is chairing a working group mandated to review the Public Service Employee Survey (PSES) questions on official languages and make recommendations? This working group, which comprises some 10 federal institutions, resumed its work in order to review the findings of the 2020 survey.

Updates on this file can be found in the minutes of Council meetings which are emailed to you.