Question Period Note: Official Languages Exemption for Indigenous Language Speakers

The Assembly of First Nations and the First Nations Summit submitted briefs to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Official Languages on November 23rd, 2022, as part of its study of Bill C-13, an Act to amend the Official Languages Act and to enact an Act respecting the use of French in the course of business under federal jurisdiction.

• The Government of Canada is committed to ensuring that federal public servants meet the official languages requirements of their positions. Public servants must be able to provide government services to Canadians in both official languages, as required by the Official Languages Act.
• As my Treasury Board colleague explained, our Government is not considering a blanket exemption from official language requirements.
• Bill C-13 seeks to promote substantive equality between English and French, without undermining the reclaiming, revitalizing and strengthening of Indigenous languages.

• The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) and the First Nations Summit (FNS) submitted briefs to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Official Languages (LANG) on November 23rd, 2022, as part of its study of Bill C-13, an Act to amend the Official Languages Act (OLA) and to enact the French Language Use in Private Sector Undertakings Act.
o In this study, the AFN and FNPS argue that official language proficiency requirements will limit the access of Aboriginal people to key positions or appointments in federally regulated private sector companies, the Supreme Court of Canada, the public service and federal institutions.
o The briefs recommend an exemption for Indigenous people from bilingualism requirements for all positions in federal institutions, including senior management positions, federal courts and the Supreme Court of Canada.
o The AFN submission also calls for the recognition of Indigenous languages as official languages, and the incorporation of the Indigenous Languages Act (ILA) into the provisions of the Official Languages Act on federal court remedies and redress.
• According to press reports, a memo was circulated in the fall of 2021 stating that a working group had been formed to discuss possible changes to bilingualism requirements in the federal public service. According to the memo, senior officials in several departments are considering offering an exemption for positions where bilingualism is mandatory to candidates who speak an indigenous language and have sufficient knowledge of one of the official languages, and a network of about 400 indigenous public servants have reportedly raised the need for "a general exemption".
• On August 15, 2022, the Bloc Québécois publicly expressed its disapproval of this proposal and felt that the federal government should immediately drop the idea of granting an exemption from the bilingualism requirement to its public servants who speak an indigenous language but are not proficient in English or French. According to Mario Beaulieu, the Bloc's official languages critic, "there is no way we are going to push French aside again, as if it were a second-class language.
• On August 18, the office of the President of the Treasury Board of Canada, Mona Fortier, wrote to the press to clarify that "a blanket exemption from official language requirements is not an option currently being considered" and that the Government will "never" change the "fundamental principle of bilingualism" in the federal public service.
o In her letter, the Minister stated that: "The Government of Canada is committed to ensuring that federal public servants meet the language requirements of their position, that they are able to work in the language of their choice in designated regions, and that they provide government services to Canadians in both official languages, as required by the Official Languages Act.”
• Instead, the Government would consider encouraging greater use of "non-imperative appointments", meaning that a position designated bilingual can be filled by someone who is not proficient in both official languages, but who commits to doing so through language training at public expense.
• For the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada, which has made it a "priority" to work with Indigenous people to find ways to "make our languages complementary," "if they [French and Indigenous languages] are pitted against each other, it is the hegemony of English that wins. The Government must work to increase the presence of Indigenous people and languages in the public service, but this must be done "within the existing legal frameworks," says federation president Liane Roy.
• Under the OLA, senior public servants must be able to communicate in English and French and bilingualism is mandatory for a number of public service positions. In addition, an employee may take courses in either English or French.
• On August 19, 2022, the Government of Canada announced the appointment of the first Indigenous judge to the Supreme Court of Canada. A "fluently bilingual" Franco-Ontarian, Justice Michelle O'Bonsawin is an Abenaki member of the Odanak First Nation and has served on the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Ottawa since 2017. She specializes in the areas of mental health, Gladue principles, labour and employment law, human rights and privacy law.

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