A strong Official Languages Act that protects both linguistic communities in , especially in

New Brunswick

Égalité Santé en Français N.B. inc. (Égalité Santé) wants to contribute to the debate surrounding the review of the Official Languages Act of Canada (OLA-CA)* and the calls to change it in order to make it truly effective.

We will begin by introducing our organization. We will then go over the characteristics of our province, the only officially bilingual province, the ineffectiveness of Part VII of the OLA-CA when it comes to federal- provincial agreements on health and we will conclude by making specific recommendations.

*We use the abbreviations OLA-CA for the Canadian legislation and OLA-NB for our provincial legislation.

LOI SUR LES LANGUES OFFICIELLES | 2 WHO ARE WE AND WHAT DO WE WANT?

Égalité Santé en Français N.-B. inc. (Égalité Santé) is a rights advocacy agency incorporated in with expertise in defending health rights. Our agency was formed in the wake of the 2008 health reform carried out by the then Liberal government led by Premier . As part of the reform, which we refer to as the “Murphy reform”, health minister Michael Murphy proposed reducing the number of regional health authorities from eight to two: Regional Health Authority A became Vitalité Health Network1 and Regional Health Authority B is now known as Horizon Health Network.2

Despite objections from the francophone community, Minister Murphy moved forward with his reform and created two regional health authorities. The problem was that one regional health authority was designated anglophone and the other was designated bilingual. Minister Murphy refused to acknowledge the existing francophone health authority, the Beauséjour Regional Health Authority,3 and the existence of several francophone hospitals, in the Acadian Peninsula in particular. Égalité Santé filed suit to uphold the rights of the francophone community in health, especially the right to have a francophone regional health authority.

On April 8, 2010, Égalité Santé and the Government of New Brunswick reached an out-of-court settlement whereby:4

• The government recognized that francophones had the right to francophone health institutions • The government would recognize Regional Health Authority A as a health authority that operates in French • The government recognized the inequality in health services between the francophone community and the anglophone community

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1 https://www.vitalitenb.ca/en 2 http://en.horizonnb.ca/home.aspx 3 http://www.beausejour-nb.ca/Francais/home/ 4 https://www2.gnb.ca/content/gnb/en/departments/premier/news/news_release.2010.04.0494.html

LOI SUR LES LANGUES OFFICIELLES | 3 • The government would be required to prepare a five-year catch-up plan with respect to health services at francophone institutions designed to ensure a fair distribution of health services in both linguistic communities in our province • The majority of members of the boards of directors at the regional health authorities would be elected in 2012 • The francophone and anglophone communities would be represented on the New Brunswick Health Council5 and that agency would have to take into account the interests and needs of the francophone community • The francophone and anglophone communities would be represented at FacilicorpNB (a non- clinical agency that is now part of Service NB)6

• Health regions would be revised to account for both linguistic communities • We would commit to withdrawing our suit against the province

It should be noted that this settlement was a compromise by both parties to the dispute. It was clear that this settlement was the most we were going to get from the government and is the least we could accept under the circumstances.

The Government of New Brunswick then made the following changes:

• Recognized that both regional health authorities are responsible for improving health services delivery in French • Both regional health authorities will have to ensure that they continue to provide health services to the public in the official language of their choice • Changes to the Regional Health Authorities Act to recognize that Regional Health Authority A is an organisation that operates in French, thereby acknowledging that the regional health authority is a francophone organization with a responsibility to serve residents in the official language of their choice • The Minister of Health will have the authority to assign the designation university hospital centre and affiliated university hospital centre • The New Brunswick Health Council Act7 will be amended to acknowledge that the New Brunswick Health Council must include the needs of the linguistic communities in its mission.

5 https://www.nbhc.ca 6 http://facilicorpnb.ca/files/Info_Evolution_summer_2015.pdf 7 https://www.gnb.ca/legis/bill/FILE/56/2/Bill-35-e.htm

LOI SUR LES LANGUES OFFICIELLES | 4 • The provincial government will also recommend that the New Brunswick Health Council consult the linguistic communities in the official language of their choice • More than half of the members of the board of directors (8 out of 15) of each regional health authority will be elected by universal suffrage as of 2012 • The rest of the board members will be appointed by the minister with consideration for specific communities of interest • Additional administrative changes will also be made to improve the health services provided to the francophone population • A five-year action plan will be prepared to ensure a fair distribution of health services in both regional health authorities in the province • Geographic regions currently assigned to each regional health authority will be revised in consultation with the communities served • The Department of Health8 will set up a committee to implement the strategic plan on official languages in the health sector • Part of the committee’s mandate will be to provide advice on accounting for the needs of official language communities in planning the health care system • The committee will include representatives from both regional health authorities • The next provincial health plan will include specific, measurable objectives for official languages • FacilicorpNB’s mandate will be changed to ensure that FacilicorpNB continues to communicate with the regional health authorities and their institutions in the language of their choice • The provincial government will change the FacilicorpNB shareholder structure to include representatives from both regional health authorities

On November 30, 2012, history was made when the government published what it described as a “Plan for equitable health services”9 in the wake of the 2010 out-of-court settlement. We issued a public statement that this was the first time the government acknowledged that the two regional health authorities did not have the same range of health services, that the francophone regional health

8 https://www2.gnb.ca/content/gnb/en/departments/health.html 9 https://www2.gnb.ca/content/gnb/en/news/news_release.2012.11.1129.html

LOI SUR LES LANGUES OFFICIELLES | 5 authority had fewer.10 We also said that this was just the first step, that by the end of the Plan the two regional health authorities would still not have the same range of health services: the gap would be narrowed, but not closed!

That plan expired on March 31, 2018, and, as we predicted, the health services between the two regional health authorities are still not equal, far from it, as the table11 prepared by our organization in September 2017 shows.

Since the 2010 out-of-court settlement, the Alward government (2010-2014) amended the Regional Health Authorities Act (RHAA), effectively reducing the board of directors’ authority by legislating that regional health authority executives would be appointed and serve at the discretion of the health minister. The minister also now has the power to appoint the chair of the board of directors of the regional health authority. For its part, the Gallant government (2014-2018), which criticized the changes made under the Conservatives, took the opportunity to dismiss the executive in place at the Vitalité Health Network.12 The Court of Queen's Bench ruled in favour of the dismissed executive confirming that it had been dismissed without just cause.13 On January 1, 2018, the Liberal government of transferred management of the Extra-Mural Program (EMP)14 to Medavie Health Service15 thereby weakening the francophone regional health authority despite general opposition from both the francophone and anglophone communities.

On June 13, 2017, Égalité Santé filed a notice of action with the Court of Queen’s Bench against the Province of New Brunswick. We called on the court to recognize:

a. the constitutional right of the Acadian and francophone community to have distinct health care institutions over which it has full and exclusive control b. that the Acadian and francophone community has the right to health institutions of equal quality to those of the anglophone linguistic community.

Since that time, we have been waiting for our day in court, but the provincial government is currently disputing our right to act on behalf of the francophone community despite the fact that we were recognized to do so in 2008 and were signatories of the out-of-court settlement in 2010. Many Acadian organizations and individuals support our case before the courts.16

10 http://www.egalitesante.com/communique-de-presse-egalite-sante-plan-de-repartition-equitabledes-services-de- soins-de-sante/ 11 http://www.egalitesante.com/infographie/ 12 https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/694927/changement-directeur-general-reseau-sante-vitalite 13 https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1039665/fredericton-navait-pas-de-motif-valable-pour-conge- dier-rino-volpe- reconnait-la-cour 14 https://www2.gnb.ca/content/gnb/en/departments/health/news/news_release.2018.01.0022.html 15 https://www.medaviebc.ca/ 16 http://www.egalitesante.com/wp-content/uploads/2017-06-13-Avis-de-poursuite-déposé.pdf

LOI SUR LES LANGUES OFFICIELLES | 6

NEW BRUNSWICK’S UNIQUE SITUATION

The Official Languages Act of Canada (OLA-CA) does not reflect the statutory reality of New Brunswick. Under the OLA-CA, official language communities are identified and framed by the same legal jargon as francophone or anglophone minorities (section 2b). The term minority does not apply in New Brunswick and even conflicts with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms17 (Charter of Rights), An Act Recognizing the Equality of the Two Official Linguistic Communities in New Brunswick.18

In 1981, New Brunswick passed An Act Recognizing the Equality of the Two Official Linguistic Communities in New Brunswick, which established equal legal status for both linguistic communities, the anglophone community and the francophone community. Section 1 of the Act could not be any clearer:

Acknowledging the unique character of New Brunswick, the English linguistic community and the French linguistic community are officially recognized within the context of one province for all purposes to which the authority of the Legislature of New Brunswick extends, and the equality of status and the equal rights and privileges of these two communities are affirmed.

The OLA-CA still does not recognize this equal status of our province’s two official language communities despite that status being enshrined in our provincial legislation for the past 37 years. This disconnect is even harder to grasp when we know that the principles of the 1981 Act (Bill 88) were enshrined in the Charter of Rights in 1993 through a constitutional amendment.19 It is therefore surprising to see that the federal government has not taken this into account in its own legislation.

17 https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/const/page-15.html 18 http://laws.gnb.ca/fr/ShowPdf/cs/2011-c.198.pdf 19 http://www.droitslinguistiques.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=388%3Alarticle-161-de-charte- canadienne-des-droits-et-libertes-le-droit-a-legalite-des-communautes- linguistiques&catid=6%3Ablogue&Itemid=46&lang=fr

LOI SUR LES LANGUES OFFICIELLES | 7 ______

The equality of our two linguistic communities cannot be bound by how the federal government describes the two communities in the OLA-CA or the services it provides to the people of New Brunswick. It is outrageous that the condition “where numbers warrant” applies in New Brunswick since both communities in our province have the right to be served by the government in the language of their choice. That is how it should be for all services provided by the provincial government, and federal departments and agencies. The RCMP is a good example20 where language obligations have to be met by virtue of our province being the only officially bilingual province. The RCMP’s obligations were confirmed in the Paulin21 ruling.

Égalité Santé unequivocally supports objectives 1 and 2 in the brief submitted by the Société de l’Acadie du Nouveau-Brunswick22 on April 16, 201823 to the Senate Standing Committee on Official Languages as part of its study on ’ views about modernizing the Official Languages Act. The two objectives are as follows:

• Objective 1: Recognize New Brunswick’s language specificity in the preamble and purpose section of the federal OLA24

• Objective 2: Recognize an exception for New Brunswick with regard to “significant demand” in Part IV of the OLA25

______RECENT AGREEMENTS BETWEEN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AND THE GOVERNMENT OF NEW BRUNSWICK

20 http://officiallanguages.nb.ca/newsroom/press-releases/rcmp-and-official-languages-new-brunswick-clarification 21 https://www.clo-ocol.gc.ca/en/language-rights/court-decisions/canada-v-societe-des-acadiens-et-acadiennes-du- nouveau-brunswick-inc-2006 22 http://sanb.ca/english 23 http://sanb.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/SANB-M%C3%A9moire-16-avril-VERSION-FINALEAvec-Annexes.pdf 24 Ibid, p.12 25 Ibid, p.14

LOI SUR LES LANGUES OFFICIELLES | 8 Over the past few years, several agreements have been signed between the federal government and our provincial government, which prompted us to take an in-depth look at the OLA-CA. Among the recent agreements we note the following:

• Canada-New Brunswick Home and Community Care and Mental Health and Addictions Services Funding Agreement, June 15, 201826

• Bilateral agreement to invest more than $7 million to help address opioid use and overdoses, August 15, 201827

• Provincial, federal governments sign 10-year housing agreement 28

Provincial and federal governments sign infrastructure agreement, March 15, 201829

The agreements that caught our attention the most:

• Bilateral agreement between New Brunswick and the federal government on health transfers reached at the end of December 201630

• Bilateral agreement between New Brunswick and the federal government on funding and reporting in the areas of home and community care, mental health and addiction services announced in December 201731

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These two agreements caught our attention for a number of reasons. Note that the first agreement was a departure from the common front of the provinces in order to negotiate for more money than the federal government was proposing. What is more, our province was led by a Liberal government at the time and we wondered if that would play in our favour with the federal Liberal government or if the other provinces would fare better.

As an agency that advocates for better health care for the francophone community, we also wanted to know whether our regional health authority, the Vitalité Health Network, was getting its fair share.

26 https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/corporate/transparency/health-agreements/shared-health-priorities/new- brunswick.html 27 https://www2.gnb.ca/content/gnb/fr/ministeres/sante/multimedia/mmrenderer.2018.08.201808-15_01.JPG.html 28 https://www2.gnb.ca/content/gnb/en/news/news_release.2018.07.0890.html 29 https://www2.gnb.ca/content/gnb/en/news/news_release.2018.03.0279.html 30 https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1007438/transferts-sante--nouveau-brunswick-entente-bilaterale-brian- gallant 31 https://www.canada.ca/en/health- canada/news/2017/12/governments_of_canadaandnewbrunswickfinalizeagreementtoimprovehe.html

LOI SUR LES LANGUES OFFICIELLES | 9 As we were reviewing these two agreements we wanted to know more about federal and provincial responsibilities for developing institutions for our linguistic community. It should be noted that at the time, educational stakeholders filed a lawsuit against the province to get what was described as “the equality budget envelope”.32

We took the time to read and reread the Official Languages Act and we came to the following conclusion:

EVERY AGREEMENT NEGOTIATED BETWEEN THE FEDERAL AND PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENTS SHOULD INCLUDE SPECIAL FUNDING FOR DEVELOPING INSTITUTIONS FOR OUR LINGUISTIC COMMUNITY, WHICH MAY BY EQUAL IN LAW AND IN STATUS, BUT IS NOT AT THE SAME LEVEL OF DEVELOPMENT. ______This duty stems from sections 41(1) and (2):

Government Policy 41 (1) The Government of Canada is committed to

(a) enhancing the vitality of the English and French linguistic minority communities in Canada and supporting and assisting their development; and

(b) fostering the full recognition and use of both English and French in Canadian society.

Duty of federal institutions (2) Every federal institution has the duty to ensure that positive measures are taken for the implementation of the commitments under subsection (1). For greater certainty, this implementation shall be carried out while respecting the jurisdiction and powers of the provinces.33

32 https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1007622/education-enveloppe-egalitaire-nouveau-brunswick- 21-4-millions-dollars-deux-ans 33 https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/o-3.01/page-4.html

LOI SUR LES LANGUES OFFICIELLES | 10 We also verified with our regional health authority, Vitalité Health Network, whether they received special funding for their development. The answer was no.

In 2017, Égalité Santé and other organizations—both francophone and anglophone—launched a campaign to oppose our provincial government’s plan to privatize management of the Extra-Mural Program and hand over the reins to a private company, Medavie, which had been running New Brunswick’s ambulance services for 10 years.

Even though the board of the directors of the francophone regional health authority, Vitalité Health Network, repeatedly spoke out against the plan to privatize and even attended information meetings put on by Acadian organizations opposed to this plan, the province moved ahead with privatizing this hospital service.

The francophone community was already experiencing problems with the ambulance service that the private company Medavie had been managing for more than 10 years. Far too often our francophones were not served in their language. We know that it is critical to be understood when being administered health care, especially in emergencies. The ambulance service also performed poorly in francophone rural regions.

Without going into detail, on January 1, 2018, management of the Extra-Mural Program34 was transferred to a division of Medavie, Medavie Health Services NB.35

We also learned that funding from federal-provincial agreements would be used to set up Medavie’s management of the Extra-Mural Program, Ambulance New Brunswick, and Tele-Care.36

The only conclusion we came to is that the francophone community was not only not getting special funding in health agreements for its growth and development, but that the funding in those agreements was being used by our province, with permission from the federal government, to hurt our institutions. Some say that federal funding is being used to undermine us.

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34 https://www2.gnb.ca/content/dam/gnb/Departments/h-s/pdf/en/extramural/AgreementEMANB.pdf 35 https://medavienb.ca/en/ 36 https://www2.gnb.ca/content/gnb/en/departments/health/news/news_release.2017.12.1607.html

LOI SUR LES LANGUES OFFICIELLES | 11 PRESENTATION TO SENATE STANDING COMMITTEE ON OFFICIAL LANGUAGES

In April 2017, our agency presented a brief regarding the state of governance and management of clinical and non-clinical services within the Vitalité Health Network of the Acadian and francophone community of New Brunswick and its demands.37

In that brief we stated the following: The role of the federal government Under Part VII of the Official Languages Act, the Government of Canada committed “to enhance the vitality of the English and French linguistic minority communities in Canada and support and assist their development and foster the full recognition and use of both English and French in Canadian society”. Égalité Santé submits that the Government of Canada has a role in helping the Province of New Brunswick meet its constitutional obligations to the French language community. Section 16.1 guarantees equality of the official language communities of New Brunswick, including the right to distinct institutions that are necessary for protecting and promoting the community. Égalité Santé submits that the institutions subject to section 16.1 include health care institutions. True equality of the official language communities cannot be achieved unless the French language community has full and complete control of its health care institutions. Obviously, Égalité Santé’s demands for governance and equality of health care in institutions were met with resistance from the New Brunswick government.

______The general perception is that conceding to Égalité Santé’s demands would result in additional cost to the Province. This has never been fully proven, but the fact remains that

37 http://www.egalitesante.com/wp-content/uploads/2017-04-10-M%C3%A9moire-CSPLO-vf.pdf

LOI SUR LES LANGUES OFFICIELLES | 12 the Government of Canada and the Government of New Brunswick have a duty to achieve equality in official language communities. If New Brunswick’s health costs are higher as a result of constitutional obligations, then it is up to the federal government to factor in those obligations when it comes time to fund New Brunswick’s health care system. Égalité Santé considers this to be a federal government contribution that is consistent with its constitutional obligations and commitment to official language minority communities under Part VII of the Official Languages Act. We know that the federal government is committed to promoting the development of official language communities. We are pleased with the reinstatement of the court challenges program, which is vital for ensuring that governments uphold the constitutional rights of both official language communities of Canada and our province. The federal government holds the purse strings when it comes to health. It can pressure the Government of New Brunswick to create governance structures that would ensure this development. Through agreements and health transfers, the federal government should factor in true equality for New Brunswick’s communities and the additional costs that may result.

Minority community development must never be at the mercy of balancing a provincial or federal budget. When a government has an obligation, it must assign the necessary funding for meeting its obligations. What is currently happening in Ontario never should have happened. The same thing might happen in our province even though our language rights are more formally recognized by law and enshrined in the Constitution. That is why the federal government must do everything it can to ensure that Part VII of the OLA-CA is legally binding. The federal government must adopt the regulations set out in Part VII of the OLA-CA. The recent decision by Justice Gascon of the Federal Court in Fédération des francophones de la Colombie-Britannique v. Canada (Employment and Social Development) should be a strong signal that the government must quickly draft regulations in accordance with Section 41 of the OLA-CA. The Court could not be clearer: “It is undeniable, in my opinion, that the scope of the duty contained in section 41 is hamstrung by the absence of regulation“.40

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40 https://decisions.fct-cf.gc.ca/fc-cf/decisions/en/item/310390/index.do Para. 293

LOI SUR LES LANGUES OFFICIELLES | 13 OFFICIAL LANGUAGES ACT

In this section, we will share the comments and recommendations we made after reading the OLA-CA.

Purpose of the OLA-CA We take issue with this section because it does not take into account the statutory context of New Brunswick. As we said earlier, unlike the other provinces and territories, our province does not have a majority community and a minority community. We believe that any federal legislation, the OLA-CA in particular, must take into account the reality of our province, but also the statute enshrined in section 16.1 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

PURPOSE Recommendation No. 1 That the OLA-CA be amended to take into account the statutory context of New Brunswick’s two linguistic communities, which are equal in rights, status, and privilege. Recommendation No. 2 That the federal government acknowledge that New Brunswick is an officially bilingual province and, as such, make it mandatory for all federal services and agencies in New Brunswick to be bilingual. Recommendation No. 3 Use the term “minority language community” to describe the francophone linguistic community of New Brunswick. PART II LEGISLATIVE AND OTHER INSTRUMENTS

Recommendation No. 4 Any written or oral interaction with New Brunswick or a federal institution or agency located or conducting business in New Brunswick must be done in both official languages of Canada and New Brunswick. PART III ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE

LOI SUR LES LANGUES OFFICIELLES | 14

Recommendation No. 5 All judges appointed to the , the Federal Court of Appeal, the Federal Court, and the Tax Court of Canada must be bilingual. Recommendation No. 6 All rulings made by the Supreme Court of Canada, the Federal Court of Appeal, the Federal Court, and the Tax Court of Canada must be published in both official languages of Canada. PART IV COMMUNICATIONS WITH AND SERVICES TO THE PUBLIC

Recommendation No. 7 Every federal institution with offices in New Brunswick or that serves the citizens of that province from other offices must provide their services in both official languages and in the individual’s preferred language. Recommendation No. 8 Any contract with a third party that affects New Brunswick or a person from New Brunswick must take into account the obligation to provide services in both languages at all times. For over a decade, federal institutions have increasingly been using websites instead of community newspapers to share information about their programs with the public. Community newspapers report on community life and inform local resident, which puts them at the very heart of the development of language communities. By using websites hosted by major corporations, the government is supporting those corporations instead of developing communities. Recommendation No. 9 To inform the public of their programs or other information, federal institutions must use minority language community media, which ultimately contributes to their development. PART V LANGUAGE OF WORK Recommendation No. 10 Federal agencies and departments in New Brunswick must set up work teams and appoint managers who encourage and promote the use of the preferred language of each public servant.

LOI SUR LES LANGUES OFFICIELLES | 15 PART VI PARTICIPATION OF ENGLISH-SPEAKING AND FRENCH-SPEAKING CANADIANS Recommendation No. 11 The linguistic obligations that apply to each federal institution in New Brunswick must be taken into account while ensuring that both linguistic groups have equal opportunity to participate in the federal public service in New Brunswick. PART VII ADVANCEMENT OF ENGLISH AND FRENCH Recommendation No. 12 The federal government must adopt regulations as soon as possible to render section 41 legally binding. Recommendation No. 13 The Commissioner and the government must appeal Justice Gascon’s decision in Fédération des francophones de la Colombie-Britannique v. Canada (Employment and Social Development). PART VIII RESPONSIBILITIES AND DUTIES OF TREASURY BOARD IN RELATION TO THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGES OF CANADA Recommendation No. 14 This part of the OLA-CA needs to be adjusted to account for New Brunswick’s specificity, its bilingual nature, and the equality of its two linguistic communities. Recommendation No. 15 Traceability of federal funding spent at the provincial level needs to be established, especially at the level of each linguistic community. The province must detail the distribution of and justification for the federal funding spent on each linguistic community. Recommendation No. 16 The distribution of and justification for federal funding at the provincial and linguistic community levels must be available on federal and provincial government websites and identified under each of the federal-provincial agreements. Recommendation No. 17

LOI SUR LES LANGUES OFFICIELLES | 16 That section 43(1)(c) be amended to clarify that it is to “enhance the vitality of minority community institutions”. Recommendation No. 18 That Part VII regulations be drafted and enacted as soon as possible. PART IX COMMISSIONER OF OFFICIAL LANGUAGES Recommendation No. 19 That the Commissioner may thoroughly examine every new bill, or any new legislation introduced by the federal government, to ensure that it is consistent with the Official Languages Act of Canada, especially the provisions in Part VII. Recommendation No. 20 That the Commissioner raise awareness on a regular basis about the importance of the OLA-CA and the benefit of filing complaints with the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages. Recommendation No. 21 That the Commissioner host an information session on the OLA-CA for all MPs following a general election and for every MP following a byelection.

Recommendation No. 22 That the Commissioner have the authority and funding to go to court to have his or her recommendations upheld in cases of non-compliance with the OLA-CA by a federal department or agency.

CONCLUSIONS

Égalité Santé understands and acknowledges the importance of the Official Languages Act but finds that legislation without teeth is not worth the paper it is written on. We also know that the role of the Commissioner is extremely important. He is the watchdog of our linguistic rights both in francophone and anglophone minority language communities. For that he needs to have the power to enforce the OLA-CA when stakeholders or offenders fail to comply with it after being notified of their breach.

LOI SUR LES LANGUES OFFICIELLES | 17 There also needs to be a well-established process to ensure that politicians, especially ministers and officials, respect the spirit and the letter of the OLA-CA. That respect needs to be reflected in our federal-provincial agreements because we cannot rely on our provincial politicians and officials for that. New Brunswick has made a spectacle out of this these past few years.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Égalité Santé en Français, Brief to the Standing Senate Committee on Official Languages Regarding the State of Governance and Management, Clinical and Non-Clinical Services within the Vitalité Health Network of the Acadian and Francophone Community of New Brunswick and its Demands, April 2017

• http://www.egalitesante.com/wp-content/uploads/2017-04-10M%C3%A9moire-CSPLO-vf.pdf

• Government of Canada, Official Languages Act, https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/O-3.01/

• Government of Canada, Interim Report of the Standing Senate Committee on Official Languages, Modernizing the Official Languages Act: The Views of Official Language Minority Communities, October 2018,

• https://sencanada.ca/content/sen/committee/421/OLLO/reports/Modernizing-the- OLA_report_E.pdf

• Government of Canada, Interim Report of the Standing Senate Committee on Official Languages, Modernizing the Official Languages Act: The Views of Young Canadians, February 2018,

• https://sencanada.ca/content/sen/committee/421/OLLO/Reports/Modernizing-the-OLA- Youth_e.pdf

• Société de l’Acadie du Nouveau-Brunswick, Let’s Finally Recognize the Specificity of New Brunswick in the Official Languages Act! Brief by the Société de l’Acadie du Nouveau-Brunswick, submitted to the Standing Senate Committee on Official Languages in the context of its study of Canadians’ views on modernizing the Official Languages Act, April 2018

• http://sanb.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/SANB-M%C3%A9moire-16-avril-VERSION-FINALE- Avec-Annexes.pdf

LOI SUR LES LANGUES OFFICIELLES | 18