Question Period Note: Service Canada: Services bilingues

Service Canada offers bilingual services in In-Person offices to support service delivery to minority official languages communities.

• The Official Languages Regulations specify under which circumstances federal offices have the duty to provide services and communicate in both official languages.

• Clients have access to bilingual services at 193 out of the 583 points of service offering passport services.

• When a client presents themselves at a unilingual office and requests services in the minority official language, they are provided with the details of the nearest bilingual office and are offered telephone interpretation services so they can receive service in their preferred official language.

The existing language designations for Service Canada Centres and Passport Offices were determined using the 2011 Census data. The linguistic designation of Service Canada offices is currently under review as part of the Official Languages Regulations Reapplication Exercise and is in the process of being updated to reflect 2021 Census data.

Currently, out of 336 sites, 151 sites are bilingual, and 185 sites are unilingual.
• The number of bilingual sites includes 137 sites identified by the Official Languages Act (OLA) and 14 sites self-designated by ESDC
• The number of unilingual sites includes 150 sites that are unilingual English and 35 sites that are unilingual French

Out of 36 Passport Offices/Consolidated SCCs (including 17 consolidated SCCs and 19 Passport Offices), 28 sites are bilingual, and 8 sites are unilingual English (as follows).
• Consolidated SCCs in Calgary Sundance (AB) and Hamilton East (ON)
• Passport Offices in Richmond (BC), Surrey (BC), Brampton (ON), Mississauga (ON), Scarborough (ON) and Toronto (ON)

Clients can consult the ‘Find a Service Canada office’ website to identify a designated bilingual office offering services in English and French.

Telephone Interpretation Services (TIS) provides live telephone interpretation for clients who speak neither French nor English or for clients in designated unilingual offices who request services in the minority official language. TIS is offered in all Service Canada Centres, Scheduled Outreach sites and consolidated sites across the country. All passport offices in Ontario as well as the Laval and Montreal passport offices in Québec also offer these services.

The Official Languages Regulations Reapplication Exercise (OLRRE) is a mandatory exercise under the Official Languages (Communications with and Services to the Public) Regulations and takes place every ten years.
• The OLRRE determines which points of service (e.g. Service Canada Centres and Passport Offices), are required to communicate with and provide services to the public in both official languages. It was launched by the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) in September 2023
• The OLRRE is conducted using data from the most recent census (2021). This ensures that the linguistic designation of offices reflects the current Canadian reality and meets the needs of official language minority communities
• Newly designated bilingual offices will have one year to meet their new official languages obligations upon publication of their language designation by TBS

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