French Language Services Act
The French Language Services Act (
The Act does not give the French language full official language status in the province, which has no official language defined in law but is primarily an English-speaking province in practice. The Act, however, ensures that provincial government services are offered in French in 26 designated areas across the province with significant numbers of Franco-Ontarian residents. The City of Sarnia will be the 27th in November 2024.
Preamble
"Whereas the French language is a historic and honoured language in Ontario and recognized by the Constitution as an official language in Canada; and whereas in Ontario the French language is recognized as an official language in the courts and in education; and whereas the Legislative Assembly recognizes the contribution of the cultural heritage of the French speaking population and wishes to preserve it for future generations; and whereas it is desirable to guarantee the use of the French language in institutions of the Legislature and the Government of Ontario, as provided in this Act."
History
Historically, the Franco-Ontarian community had been ignored or treated with contempt by the government of Ontario, most notably with the adoption in 1912 of
Over the next number of years, the government began to offer a wider range of services in French. In 1970, a Coordinator of Bilingualism was appointed to oversee the development of French language government services. Over the next 16 years, a large number of service policies were adopted on a piecemeal basis by individual ministries, until the French Language Services Act was introduced in 1986.
The Act
The primary purpose of the Act was to consolidate and formalize government policies and regulations around the provision of French language services. The Act guaranteed francophones in 26 designated areas of the province a right to local French services from the provincial government. Two more cities were designated as French language service areas after the Act came into effect.
Francophones living outside of the designated areas can receive services in French by accessing government services located in the designated areas or by directly contacting the head offices of government ministries. The provision and coordination of French language services is managed by the Ministry of Francophone Affairs.
The French Language Services Act does not cover public agencies such as
The Act also does not legislate any responsibilities upon individual municipalities to provide French language services, although a municipality may choose to do so of its own accord.
The Act was introduced in 1986 by
In November 2021, it was announced that The Act would be modernized.[5] As a first phase they streamlined the process to apply to become a designation French providing business.[6] They as updated government identification to now allow the use of French characters.[7]
Ensuring compliance
In 2007, the Office of the French Language Services Commissioner was the agency whose primary mandate was to ensure compliance with the French Language Services Act in the delivery of government services by means of independent investigations.[8][9] The Commissioner received and handled complaints from the public with respect to inadequate French-language services from the Ontario government. Recommendations are outlined in a publicly available annual report to the Minister Responsible for Francophone Affairs.[10][11]
Under legislative changes that came into effect on May 1, 2019, the position of the French Language Services Commissioner was eliminated and all of his responsibilities were transferred to the Ombudsman.[12] The Ombudsman now has a French Language Services Commissioner at the Deputy Ombudsman level, and a dedicated unit within their office for this work.
The Ombudsman’s jurisdiction and powers of investigation now include ensuring that the rights of Ontarians and the obligations of government agencies are respected according to the French Language Services Act.
Designated areas
In order for an area to obtain designation, Francophones must make up at least 10% of its population, or urban centres must have at least 5,000 francophones.
Districts and counties
- Algoma District
- Cochrane District
- Nipissing District
- Prescott and Russell United Counties
- Sudbury District
- Timiskaming District
Municipalities
- Brampton
- Callander
- Cornwall
- Essa
- Greater Sudbury
- Greenstone
- Hamilton
- Ignace
- Kingston
- Lakeshore
- Laurentian Valley
- London
- Manitouwadge
- Marathon
- Markham
- Mississauga
- North Glengarry
- North Stormont
- Ottawa
- Pembroke
- Penetanguishene
- Port Colborne
- Sarnia
- South Glengarry
- South Stormont
- Tecumseh
- Terrace Bay
- Tilbury
- Tiny
- Toronto
- Welland
- Whitewater Region
- Winchester
- Windsor
Expansion of services
Law application
The Hawkesbury detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police became the first in Ontario to be fully operational in English and French in December 2012.[17]
Controversy
The Act was controversial with anti-
APEC also misrepresented or misunderstood the reality that the legislation did not cover municipal government services, and it began a campaign of persuading Ontario municipalities to declare themselves English-only. A number of smaller municipalities, especially in the
On November 18, 1996,
Notes
- York Regionis not coloured light blue.
References
- ^ "Government of Ontario - Office of Francophone Affairs: Designated Agencies". Ofa.gov.on.ca. Retrieved 2015-03-02.
- ^ "Public Libraries Act: Q & A". Mtc.gov.on.ca. 2014-10-03. Retrieved 2015-03-02.
- ^ [1] [dead link]
- ^ "En français, s'il vous plaît". Windsor Star, October 27, 1989.
- ^ "Ontario's French Language Services Strategy". ontario.ca. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
- ^ "Ontario Newsroom". news.ontario.ca. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
- ^ "Ontario Newsroom". news.ontario.ca. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
- ^ "Office of the French Language Services Commissioner of Ontario". Flsc.gov.on.ca. Retrieved 2015-03-02.
- ^ [2] Archived August 31, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Annual Reports 2007 to 2019". Archived from the original on 2022-07-12.
- ^ "Annual Reports - Ontario Ombudsman". www.ombudsman.on.ca. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
- ^ "Ombudsman Ontario". ombudsman.on.ca. Retrieved 2020-01-13.
- ^ "Government of Ontario - Office of Francophone Affairs: Map of Designated Areas". Ofa.gov.on.ca. Retrieved 2015-03-02.
- ^ "Ontario government". Ontario.ca. Retrieved 2015-03-02.
- ^ "Ontario to Offer French-Language Services in Markham". Government of Ontario. 2015-06-30. Retrieved 2020-04-06.
- ^ "Ontario Newsroom". news.ontario.ca. Retrieved 2022-07-09.
- ^ "Hawkesbury first fully operational bilingual detachment". CNW Group. 2012-12-17. Retrieved 2017-08-13.
- ^ "Spina comments raise ire again". Windsor Star, November 19, 1996.