OTTAWA — Senior civil servants explored offering Indigenous-language training to federal employees and possible exemptions to those who already speak one from requiring fluency in both English and French, newly released documents show.
Deputy ministers from several departments discussed the issue last fall.
A memo, released to The Canadian Press under federal access-to-information laws, flagged a “growing tension” between official-language requirements and Indigenous languages.
Under Canada’s Official Languages Act, federal institutions must offer working environments for employees to communicate in both French and English, and offer services to Canadians in either language.
As such, communicating in both is expected for senior executives and there are a number of public service jobs where bilingualism is mandatory. There is room, however, for an employee to take classes and learn French or English as a second language.
The memo issued last fall said a working group was held about making changes to the official-language requirements. It said some Indigenous public servants belonging to a network of around 400 who work for the federal government asserted the need for a “blanket exemption.”
“My own personal view is there are opportunities for exemption — if the individual speaks an Indigenous language,” Gina Wilson, a deputy minister who champions the needs of federal Indigenous public servants, wrote in an email to colleagues last November.
“Our GG (Governor General) is a good example.”
Inuk leader Mary Simon’s appointment in 2021 sparked a discussion — and some controversy — over bilingualism in Canada’s highest offices, given how Simon, the first Indigenous person named as Governor General, spoke English and Inuktitut, but not French.
Simon, who was born in Kangiqsualujjuaq, in the Nunavik region of northern Quebec, said she attended a federal day school and wasn’t able to learn French.
She committed to doing so after her appointment and has been taking lessons, delivering some French remarks in public speeches.
Commissioner of official languages Raymond Théberge said more than 1,000 complaints about Simon’s lack of French were lodged with his office after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau named her to the role.
Language training has been identified as one of the issues preventing Indigenous employees in the federal public service from advancing in their careers.
A report authored by public servants around the celebration of Canada’s 150th anniversary recommended those who are Indigenous be exempt from official-language requirements and instead be provided with chances to learn the language of their community.
It’s unclear if Ottawa plans to move ahead on changes to language requirements, training or exemptions.
A spokeswoman for Crown-Indigenous-Relations and Northern Affairs Canada said both that ministry and Indigenous Services Canada “have no plans to offer department-wide Indigenous language training,” noting employees have offered workshops in the past.
It said Indigenous employees are encouraged to talk to their managers about language training.
Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller, an anglophone who speaks French and is learning Mohawk, said in an interview that the idea of an exemption is a sensitive issue.
“Inevitably, when you have to make one of those decisions, it is more often than not, and almost always, at the expense of jettisoning French,” said Miller, who represents a riding in Montreal.
“I don’t think that’s something that most people would find palatable … there are resources to learn it and I think there is the availability to do so.”
In their talks last fall, senior officials proposed ways to address concerns from Indigenous public servants about languages.
Ideas included providing more time to learn a second language and even offering Indigenous-language training, including to non-Indigenous public servants, as a show of reconciliation.
“I certainly recall during my French classes having this nagging thought in the back of my mind that I would be so much more open to this if I had the opportunity to be given training in my own Algonquin language,” Wilson wrote in her email.
“I had a pretty good base in both, but of course my French is much better than my Algonquin now.”
Miller said he supports the idea of Ottawa providing classes, particularly to Indigenous public servants who were not provided the chance to learn these languages for themselves.
He said one challenge to doing so would be making sure Ottawa wasn’t taking language teachers away from communities.
“When you look at the fragility of Indigenous languages across the country, you would not want to be in a circumstance where we’re taking really valuable assets … people in many circumstances that are quite older, and just walking dictionaries out of their communities where communities are struggling to regain their languages.”
The same concern was highlighted by government officials. Both they and Miller said Ottawa faces calls to ensure it provides services to Inuit in Inuktitut.
“We could do better on that,” he said.
One change Lori Idlout, Nunavut’s federal member of Parliament, said should happen — and which officials also pitch in the memo — is for Ottawa to extend the $800 annual bonus it pays to employees who are bilingual to those who speak an Indigenous language.
The representative says she’s been approached by a union about federal employees in Nunavut who speak Inuktitut but are unable to access the compensation because they are not bilingual in French.
“Meanwhile, they’re providing valuable services to Inuit in Inuktitut,” she said. “It’s a huge issue.”
Idlout said Nunavut residents face many barriers when it comes to accessing federal services in general, including in Inuktitut.
According to the memo, officials recommend the government explore a pilot in Nunavut where jobs that require they speak Inuktitut “would not require competency in a second official language.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 14, 2022.
KITCHENER, Ont. – Prosecutors are arguing a man who stabbed a professor and two students in a University of Waterloo gender studies class last year should face a lengthy sentence because of the attack’s lasting impact on campus safety and security.
Federal prosecutor Althea Francis says a sentence in the upper range is appropriate not only because Geovanny Villalba-Aleman wanted to send a message about his views but also because he sought to make those with different beliefs feel unsafe.
The Crown has said it is seeking a sentence of 16 years for Villalba-Aleman, who pleaded guilty to four charges in the June 2023 campus attack.
The sentencing hearing for Villalba-Aleman began Monday and is expected to continue all week.
Federal prosecutors argued Tuesday that Villalba-Aleman’s statement to police, and a manifesto that was found on his phone, show his actions were motivated by ideology and meant to intimidate a segment of the population.
Villalba-Aleman pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated assault, one count of assault with a weapon and one count of assault causing bodily harm.
A video of his statement to police was shown in court earlier in the sentencing hearing.
In the video, Villalba-Aleman told police he felt colleges and universities were imposing ideology and restricting academic freedom, and he wanted the attack to serve as a “wake-up call.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 23, 2024.
OTTAWA – The Bank of Canada cut its key policy interest rate by 50 basis points on Wednesday to bring it to 3.75 per cent. Here’s what people are saying about the decision:
“High inflation and interest rates have been a heavy burden for Canadians. With inflation now back to target and interest rates continuing to come down, families, businesses and communities should feel some relief.” — Tiff Macklem, Bank of Canada governor.
———
“Activity in Canada’s housing market has been sluggish in many regions due to higher borrowing costs, but today’s more aggressive cut to lending rates could cause the tide to turn quickly. For those with variable rate mortgages – who will benefit from the rate drop immediately – or those with fast-approaching loan renewals, today’s announcement is welcome news indeed.” — Phil Soper, president and CEO of Royal LePage.
———
“This won’t be the end of rate cuts. Even with the succession of policy cuts since June, rates are still way too high given the state of the economy. To bring rates into better balance, we have another 150 bps in cuts pencilled in through 2025. So while the pace of cuts going forward is now highly uncertain, the direction for rates is firmly downwards.” — James Orlando, director and senior economist at TD Bank.
———
“The size of the December rate cut will depend on upcoming job and inflation data, but a 25 basis point cut remains our baseline.” — Tu Nguyen, economist with assurance, tax and consultancy firm RSM Canada.
———
“Today’s outsized rate cut is mostly a response to the heavy-duty decline in headline inflation in the past few months. However, the underlying forecast and the Bank’s mild tone suggest that the future default moves will be 25 bp steps, unless growth and/or inflation surprise again to the downside.” — Douglas Porter, chief economist at Bank of Montreal.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 23, 2024.
