S-209
First Session, Forty-second Parliament,
64 Elizabeth II, 2015
SENATE OF CANADA
BILL S-209
An Act to amend the Official Languages Act (communications with and services to the public)
first reading, December 8, 2015
THE HONOURABLE SENATOR CHAPUT
4211006
SUMMARY
This enactment amends the Official Languages Act to introduce the concept of equal quality of communications and services offered by federal institutions in each official language. The enactment modifies the criteria used to determine if there is a significant demand for communications and services in either official language.
The enactment specifies the locations where federal institutions have a duty to provide communications and services in both official languages.
The enactment provides for a review of the regulations enacted under Part IV of the Act after every decennial census.
The provisions on prior consultation are applied more specifically to regulations that provide for exceptions to the application of Part IV of the Act in certain circumstances or to certain bodies.
Available on the Parliament of Canada Web Site at the following address:http://www.parl.gc.ca
1st Session, 42nd Parliament,
64 Elizabeth II, 2015
senate of canada
BILL S-209
An Act to amend the Official Languages Act (communications with and services to the public)
1985, c. 31 (4th Supp.)
Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:
1. Subsection 3(1) of the Official Languages Act is amended by adding the following in alphabetical order:
“metropolitan area” means any area that is classified by Statistics Canada in its most recent census of Canada as a census metropolitan area;
2. Section 23 of the Act is amended by adding the following after subsection (1):
Application in certain locations
(1.1) Every federal institution has the duty to ensure that any member of the public can communicate in either official language with, and obtain available services in either official language from, any of its offices or facilities in the following locations:
(a) railway stations and airports serving a metropolitan area;
(b) railway stations and airports serving the national capital or the capital of a province or territory;
(c) ferry terminals serving at least one hundred thousand passengers annually; and
(d) railway stations, airports, ferry terminals, public ports and public port facilities prescribed by regulation of the Governor in Council.
3. The Act is amended by adding the following after section 23:
Equal quality
23.1 (1) Every federal institution has the duty to take every reasonable measure to ensure that the communications and services it provides to the public are of equal quality in both official languages.
Consultations
(2) Every federal institution shall, in the manner prescribed by regulation of the Governor in Council, seek the views of members of the English and French linguistic minority communities on the quality of the communications and services it provides to the public in each official language.
4. Paragraph 24(1)(a) of the Act is replaced by the following:
(a) in any circumstances prescribed by regulation of the Governor in Council that relate to any of the following:
(i) the health, safety or security of members of the public,
(ii) the location of the office or facility, or
(iii) the national or international mandate or services of the office;
(a.1) in any circumstances prescribed by regulation of the Governor in Council where the services in question significantly affect or benefit the English or French linguistic minority population in a given geographic area;
(a.2) in any circumstances prescribed by regulation of the Governor in Council, relating to the loss of the language or linguistic assimilation, where the application of this subsection is likely to lead to the revitalization and advancement of the use of the language of the English or French linguistic minority population; or
5. (1) Paragraphs 32(1)(d) and (e) of the Act are replaced by the following:
(d) designating railway stations, ferry terminals, public ports, public port facilities and airports for the purpose of paragraph 23(1.1)(d);
(e) prescribing the manner in which the consultations described in subsection 23.1(2) are to be carried out;
(f) prescribing circumstances, in relation to the public or the travelling public, for the purpose of paragraphs 24(1)(a), (a.1), (a.2)and (b); and
(g) prescribing the manner in which the review referred to in section 32.1 is to be carried out.
(2) The portion of subsection 32(2) of the Act before paragraph (c) is replaced by the following:
Factors
(2) In prescribing circumstances under paragraph (1)(a) or (b), the Governor in Council shall have regard to
(a) the number of persons able to communicate in the language of the English or French linguistic minority population of the area served by an office or facility;
(b) the particular characteristics, including the institutional vitality, of the English or French linguistic minority population of the area served by an office or facility; and
6. The Act is amended by adding the following after section 32:
Decennial review
32.1 (1) In the sixty days following the publication of each decennial census, the President of the Treasury Board, or such other minister of the Crown as may be designated by the Governor in Council, shall undertake a review of the regulations made under this Part and shall complete it within one year from the time the review is undertaken.
Manner
(2) The review provided for in subsection (1) shall be carried out in consultation with the English and French linguistic minority communities and in the manner prescribed by regulation of the Governor in Council.
7. The Act is amended by adding the following after section 86:
Definition of “regulation”
86.1 (1) In this section and section 86.2, “regulation” means any regulation made under Part IV
(a) exempting certain communications or services provided to the public in either official language by a federal institution from the application of that Part; or
(b) relieving a federal institution of the duty, under that Part, to communicate with or provide services to the public in either official language.
Tabling of proposed regulation
(2) The President of the Treasury Board, or such other minister of the Crown as may be designated by the Governor in Council, shall lay a draft of a proposed regulation before each House of Parliament at least thirty days before a copy of the proposed regulation is published in the Canada Gazette under section 86.2.
Calculation of the thirty day period
(3) In calculating the thirty day period referred to in subsection (2), there shall be counted only days on which both Houses of Parliament sit.
Publication of proposed regulation
86.2 (1) Subject to subsection (2), a copy of each regulation that the Governor in Council proposes to make shall be published in the Canada Gazette and, wherever possible, be printed in one of the official languages in at least one publication in general circulation within each region where the matter applies that appears wholly or mainly in that language and in the other official language in at least one publication in general circulation within each region where the matter applies that appears wholly or mainly in that other language at least thirty days before the proposed effective date thereof, and every opportunity shall be afforded to interested persons to make representations to the President of the Treasury Board with respect thereto.
Exception
(2) No proposed regulation need be published under subsection (1) if it has previously been published pursuant to that subsection, whether or not it has been amended as a result of representations made pursuant to that subsection.
Calculation of thirty day period
(3) In calculating the thirty day period referred to in subsection (1), there shall be counted only days on which both Houses of Parliament sit.
Coming into force
8. This Act comes into force 180 days after the day on which it receives royal assent.
Published under authority of the Senate of Canada
Explanatory NotesOfficial Languages Act
Clause 1: New.
Clause 2: New.
Clause 3: New.
Clause 4: Relevant portion of subsection 24(1):
24. (1) Every federal institution has the duty to ensure that any member of the public can communicate in either official language with, and obtain available services in either official language from, any of its offices or facilities in Canada or elsewhere
(a) in any circumstances prescribed by regulation of the Governor in Council that relate to any of the following:
(i) the health, safety or security of members of the public,
(ii) the location of the office or facility, or
(iii) the national or international mandate of the office; or
. . . 
Clause 5: (1) Relevant portion of subsection 32(1):
32. (1) The Governor in Council may make regulations
. . . 
(d) prescribing circumstances, in relation to the public or the travelling public, for the purpose of paragraph 24(1)(a) or (b); and
(e) defining the expression “English or French linguistic minority population” for the purpose of paragraph (2)(a).
(2) Relevant portion of subsection 32(2):
(2) In prescribing circumstances under paragraph (1)(a) or (b), the Governor in Council may have regard to
(a) the number of persons composing the English or French linguistic minority population of the area served by an office or facility, the particular characteristics of that population and the proportion of that population to the total population of that area;
(b) the volume of communications or services between an office or facility and members of the public using each official language; and
Clause 6: New.
Clause 7: New.