CONCLUSION
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In 1966, Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson laid the groundwork for Canada’s language policy. Based on those principles, the federal government would be able to serve Canadians in the official language of their choice, and public servants from both language groups would be able to work in their own language.
Prime Minister Pearson said that his government hoped and expected that, within a “reasonable period of years”,1 the public service would reflect the linguistic and cultural values of both Englishspeaking and French-speaking Canadians. These aspirations were later given a stronger legal foundation, particularly through the adoption of the Official Languages Act and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Nearly two years after becoming Commissioner of Official Languages, Graham Fraser finds that Prime Minister Pearson’s wishes have not always been fulfilled by successive federal governments. Yet, the “reasonable period of years” he mentioned has long since passed.
The Commissioner is aware of the amount of progress that has been made on official languages since the 1960s, and in no way does he want to minimize its importance. In fact, this annual report highlights this year’s success stories, as well as past successes.
However, on the whole, the Commissioner finds that the implementation of the Official Languages Act seems to have reached a plateau, as little progress has been made in the past several years. Despite legislation, regulations, policies and other similar documents, the evidence shows that the services provided by the federal government to members of official language communities is inconsistent, and that the public service still does not truly reflect Canada’s linguistic duality. Moreover, it is fair to say that everyone does not have the same opportunities to realize their full potential in the official language of their choice.
As he has said many times throughout the report, the Commissioner believes that the federal government can achieve better results by exercising more political will and showing stronger leadership. However, leadership should not be limited to senior officials; it should be demonstrated by the public service as a whole.
Nevertheless, calls for leadership and political will are no longer enough. There needs to be action. The Commissioner has emphasized the importance of public service renewal in this regard. The federal government must take advantage of the arrival of a new wave of public servants to ensure the public service reflects the country’s linguistic duality. Recruitment, training and development of new employees and executives will help reach this objective.
Political and administrative leadership is all the more important because Canada is developing in a changing world, where internal and external forces have a profound effect on official languages policy. This leadership must contribute to developing a vision of a pluralist and generous society that respects differences and recognizes linguistic duality as a fundamental component of Canada’s identity and development.
A final word
The 40th anniversary of the Official Languages Act in 2009 will be a time to take stock of the progress that has been made in official languages over the years and outline the challenges that still must be met. Federal institutions have the opportunity to overcome some of these challenges now, so that they can contribute to the progress, not the setbacks, made before this anniversary. The Office of the Commissioner is working with federal institutions to help bring about change; nonetheless, it is incumbent upon these institutions to ensure that the language rights of Canadians are fully respected, and that linguistic duality continues to gain ground from coast to coast to coast. If leadership is shown in some key areas in the coming year—service delivery in both official languages, the active use of both official languages in the federal public service and the support of official language communities and the promotion of linguistic duality—the official languages story that the Commissioner tells next year will be more positive than the one he tells this year.
Notes
1 Canada, Official Report of the Debates of the House of Commons, Vol. IV, Ottawa: Queen’s Printer, 1966, p. 3915. From the statement of policy respecting bilingualism in the public service made by Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson on April 6, 1966.
