LANG Committee News Release
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Standing Committee on Official Languages | ![]() | Comité permanent des langues officielles |
For immediate release
NEWS RELEASE
Establishing Language Requirements for Governor in Council Appointments
Ottawa, December 10, 2024 -
Today, René Arseneault, Chair of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Official Languages (the Committee), presented a report in the House of Commons entitled: Establishing Language Requirements for Governor in Council Appointments.
This report is the culmination of a study that the Committee undertook following a recommendation that Mr. Raymond Théberge, Commissioner of Official Languages, made in his 2021–2022 Annual Report. Mr. Théberge had recommended that “one of the parliamentary committees on official languages study the language obligations related to the staffing of senior management positions in the federal public service and to Governor in Council appointments in order to determine whether knowledge of both official languages should be a requirement when hiring for these types of positions.”
The modernized Official Languages Act sets out the language obligations for persons appointed by the Governor in Council to deputy minister or associate deputy minister positions. On their appointment, they must take the language training that is necessary to be able to speak and understand clearly both official languages.
However, a significant number of Governor in Council appointments do not have language requirements. The Committee’s recommendations aim to address this gap. Specifically, the Committee recommends that the Governor in Council set language requirements for all Governor in Council appointments and require that they have, at minimum an advanced level (“Level C”) for reading comprehension, intermediate (“Level B”) for written expression and advanced (“Level C”) for oral proficiency (comprehension and expression). As such, senior officials of federal institutions would, at minimum, need to have the same language proficiency as certain parliamentary and public service officials. To give effect to these changes, the Committee recommends that the expression “be able to speak and understand clearly both official languages” in the Official Languages Act and the Language Skills Act be defined based on the recommended language requirements. The Committee also made recommendations concerning the bilingualism bonus, language training for federal public servants and the taking of measures to develop and promote partnerships with post-secondary institutions in order to support the next generation and expand the bilingual capacity of the federal public service.
During its study, the Committee received briefs and heard evidence from many stakeholders, including the Treasury Board Secretariat, the Privy Council Office, the Canada School of Public Service, the Commissioner of Official Languages of Canada, and representatives of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada and the Société de la francophonie manitobaine.
The report is available on the Committee’s web page on the Parliament of Canada website at http://www.parl.gc.ca/LANG-e. Anyone unable to access an electronic copy of the report can obtain a paper copy by contacting the Committee Clerk.
The House of Commons Standing Committee on Official Languages is composed of 12 Members of Parliament. The chair is René Arseneault (Madawaska–Restigouche) and the vice-chairs are Joël Godin (Portneuf–Jacques-Cartier) and Mario Beaulieu (La Pointe-de-l’Île). The other members are Niki Ashton (Churchill–Keewatinook Aski), Marc Dalton (Pitt Meadows–Maple Ridge), Bernard Généreux (Montmagny–L’Islet–Kamouraska–Rivière-du-Loup), Marilyn Gladu (Sarnia–Lambton), Angelo Iacono (Alfred-Pellan), Annie Koutrakis (Vimy), Joël Lightbound (Louis-Hébert), Darrell Samson (Sackville–Preston–Chezzetcook) and Marc Serré (Nickel Belt).
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