While Quebec is asking the federal government to adopt a differentiated approach between French-speaking minorities outside Quebec and the province's English-speaking community, Justin Trudeau's Quebec lieutenant, Pablo Rodriguez, says the federal government must be there for both language communities.
"It's true that there is only one endangered language in North America and that's French," the heritage minister said Friday on the sidelines of an announcement of support for the tourism sector in the Montreal area. "That being said, the Official Languages Act and the Government of Canada are there for both minority communities.
"The Trudeau government recognizes that French is threatened and that Quebec has a role to play in ensuring its survival," said Rodriguez. However, the federal government's approach will have to ensure that members of Quebec's English-speaking community can receive essential services, such as access to justice and health care, in their own language.
Quebec is asking the federal government to take a different approach to francophone minorities outside Quebec and the anglophone community within Quebec in its proposed reform of the Official Languages Act.
Quebec's Minister of Canadian Relations Sonia LeBel sent a list of 14 amendments to federal MPs studying the bill this week, reports Radio-Canada. She is asking elected officials to recognize that the needs of the two communities are different.
LeBel also asked the elected officials to stop referring to the promotion of English in the new version of the law and to speak only of the promotion of French and the "development of minorities."
Rodriguez did not want to comment directly on LeBel's request.
"I think it's important that Quebec be able to express its opinion, but in the end, it's the Standing Committee on Official Languages that will analyze this and decide what action to take," he said.
- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on June 10, 2022
