Question Period Note: Part VII of the Official Languages Act – Advancement of English and French

Budget 2023 provides for $22.1 million for a centre of expertise for Part VII of the Official Languages Act to ensure federal institutions fulfill their duty to enhance the vitality of official language minority communities.

• Bill C-13 contains measures that significantly strengthen Part VII of the Official Languages Act, which ensures the vitality of official language communities and the promotion of English and French.
• By strengthening this part, the government is acknowledging the demands that have been expressed for several years. C-13 specifies the nature and scope of the positive measures that federal institutions must take.
• In addition, the 2023-2028 Action Plan for Official Languages provides $20.1 million over five years for the creation of a Centre for Strengthening Part VII of the Official Languages Act to support federal institutions with the development of concrete positive measures and the analytical capacity essential to do this work.

• The Budget 2023, announced on March 28, 2023, provides for more than $1 billion in new investments for the Action Plan 2023-2028, which would bring total official languages funding to over $4 billion over five years.
• One of the pillars guiding these new investments is the Government of Canada leadership and it includes $22.1 million for a center of expertise ($20.1 million) to ensure federal institutions fulfill their duty, under the Official Languages Act, to enhance the vitality of official language minority communities, and to support data and research on the number of children who have a right to be educated in the minority language ($2 million).
• Bill C-13 consolidates Part VII by clarifying the issue of positive measures in order to provide a better framework for federal institutions. Among other things, it provides for new commitments for the federal government and proposes new enhancements to increase the prescriptive nature of positive measures.
• Part VII was created during the last major revision of the Official Languages Act (the Act) in 1988. The Act set out the federal government's commitment to enhancing the vitality of the English and French linguistic minority communities in Canada and supporting their development, as well as fostering the full recognition and use of both English and French in Canadian society. Since 2005, federal institutions have been required to take positive measures to implement this commitment and this part of the Act has become justiciable before the courts.
• Bill C-13 provides for new commitments by the federal government to :
o Enhance the vitality of the English and French linguistic minority communities in Canada and support and assist their development, taking into account their unique and diverse character and their historical and cultural contributions to Canadian society.
o Recognizing that French is in a minority situation in Canada and North America due to the predominant use of English, protect and promote French.
o Strengthen quality learning opportunities for Anglophone and Francophone minorities in their own language throughout their lives.
o Contribute periodically to the estimation of the number of rights-holders to minority language education (a provincial/territorial responsibility guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms).
• To better define the notion of positive measures, the Bill increases the prescriptive nature of positive measures. For example, the Bill specifies that positive measures must be concrete, that they may also promote and support the learning of French, and finally, that they may foster public acceptance and appreciation of both official languages. In addition, the Bill provides that positive measures may support sectors essential to the vitality of the English and French linguistic minorities, such as culture, education, health, justice, employment and immigration, and to protect and promote the presence of strong institutions that serve these minorities.
• The Bill specifies the process leading to the taking of positive measures by federal institutions by basing their analyses on dialogue and consultation activities, research and evidence, when making structural decisions that could have an impact on the two official language communities across the country.
• In addition, the strengthened Part VII proposed in the Bill sets out specific obligations for certain ministers.
o The Minister of Global Affairs must take measures to foster bilingualism and the promotion of French abroad.
o The mandate of the Minister of Canadian Heritage is enhanced by including, among other things, the notion of promoting Francophone culture in Canada, particularly through the activities of the portfolio agencies for which he or she is responsible.
o The Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship must adopt a Francophone immigration policy to enhance the vitality of Canada's Francophone minorities, including objectives, targets and indicators.
• In this Bill, the federal government also gives greater recognition to the importance of cooperation with the provinces and territories in the implementation of Part VII, given the diversity of provincial and territorial language regimes that contribute to the advancement of the equality of status and use of English and French in Canadian society.

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