When Quebec adopted its Bill 96 on the French language, Ottawa for its part kicked off public consultations for its future action plan on official languages, scheduled for spring 2023.
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The first face-to-face consultation session began on Tuesday in Vancouver, British Columbia.
In-person forums will be held across Canada, with planned stops in Montreal and Sherbrooke in early July. Virtual sessions and an online survey are also offered until August 31.
The Minister of Official Languages, Ginette Petitpas Taylor, is counting on these consultations to come up with “a bill with more bite”.
“The next production will be the main vehicle for implementing Bill C-13, which our government tabled on March 1,” she explained at a press briefing in Vancouver.
“It will be the perfect opportunity to address current issues such as Francophone immigration, the education continuum, immersion programs and more,” she added.
Asked about the report from the Commissioner of Official Languages received last week, who is concerned about clauses that are not strong enough, particularly in the early childhood sector, the minister maintained that his recommendations will be taken into account.
“He underlined the progress that has been made, but once again […], of course, we take his comments into consideration,” she said.
This same consultation exercise had already been carried out in 2016 and 2017 when the official languages reform was carried out by the former minister of this department, Mélanie Joly.
