Part 2: New Commissioner of Official Languages says protecting French and English are not competing goals

Tashi Farmilo

Days after taking office as Canada's Commissioner of Official Languages on March 30, Kelly Burke communicated to the Aylmer Bulletin about what she sees as the mounting pressures facing Quebec's 1.1 million English-speaking residents and why she believes protecting French and supporting anglophones are goals that must be pursued together.

In Part 1, Burke outlined her early priorities and her commitment to direct engagement with Quebec's anglophone community. Here, she goes further, addressing the specific legislative threats to English-language services, the Bill 21 case now before the Supreme Court of Canada, and what "substantive equality" means for a community she says is too often left out of the national conversation on language rights.

Burke, who oversees language rights at the federal level from Ottawa, was direct about the significance of Quebec's anglophone population. "The richness of our culture and language resides in large measure in Quebec," she said. "We not only have the largest francophone population, but we also have the largest official language minority community in the anglophones that reside in that province. It's a richness that I think we absolutely need to preserve."

She was equally direct about the challenges facing that community. Burke identified health care as a particular area of concern, noting specific vulnerabilities among elderly anglophones in the province. "Anglophones have a need for services in English in Quebec and legislation that is having an impact on that," she said, adding that justice and education are among the other key sectors requiring close attention to ensure access to services is respected alongside the Official Languages Act as provincial laws develop.

On Bill 21, the provincial law currently before the Supreme Court of Canada, that prohibits teachers and other public sector workers from wearing religious symbols on the job, Burke said the office has already made its position clear. "The charter protects the right to education in minority language," she said, pointing to Section 23 as the basis for the office's arguments. "Official language minority communities have a right to manage and control the school that serves them." She added that education is "the community's most powerful tool for survival of language and culture," and confirmed she endorses the position her predecessor put before the court. The office is now watching closely for the Supreme Court's decision.

Asked why linguistic coexistence remains so contentious despite more than a century of shared history, Burke said her approach is rooted in collaboration. "My approach is to be very collaborative and to be able to work with the community in bringing parties together," she said, describing her goal as ensuring the Official Languages Act is well administered and that services are "delivered according to the letter of the law, but also the spirit and intent of the Official Languages Act."

For readers less familiar with that legislation, Burke offered some context. The Act has been in place since 1969 and was most recently modernized in June 2023. Its core objective is to ensure government services and communications are delivered in both English and French on equal footing. The modernized version codifies that French is in a more vulnerable position than English across the country, and Burke said her powers under the new Act are broader as a result, giving her stronger tools to ensure compliance.

On the question of parity versus equality, Burke said her mandate centres on what she called "substantive equality." "Substantive equality requires that we have equal access to services in many respects, in access and status and usage and quality," she said. "All of what I do needs to have as its justice the reaching of equality between two languages across the nation."

When asked how she intends to balance the heightened protection of French with the day-to-day needs of English-speaking Quebecers in hospitals, courtrooms, and elsewhere, Burke was unequivocal. "The protection of one language cannot be to the detriment of another. Under the law, I have to protect both equally."

Burke closed by looking ahead to the work of engagement. "I am very much looking forward to meeting the diverse level of stakeholders across the country," she said. "I think we want to do all of this in the spirit of collaboration and listening, and certainly taking action where we need to, in order to address some of the significant issues we face."