Statement made on 09 March 2011 by Senator Maria Chaput
Hon. Maria Chaput:
Honourable senators, my question is for the Leader of the Government in the Senate. Last month, I asked whether the government had considered its obligations under the Official Languages Act and Regulations before closing numerous Service Canada offices in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador.
I also asked whether a study had been done on the impact that these changes would have on official language minority communities and whether that study was available for consultation. This morning, I learned that, when the Associate Deputy Minister from Service Canada appeared before the Standing Committee on Official Languages in the other place, she confirmed that, from now on, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador would be considered to be part of the Atlantic Region and designated unilingual under the Official Languages Act.
If I understand correctly, that means that Acadians and other francophones in the Atlantic Region have just lost their right to receive federal services in their official language, French. I would like to remind honourable senators that 20 to 25 per cent of people living in the Atlantic Region are francophone and that New Brunswick is the only officially bilingual province in Canada. Designating the Atlantic Region as a unilingual anglophone region therefore seems to be a clear violation of the constitutional rights of Acadians and francophones in that area.
My question then is: Who decided to designate this area unilingual and what was the basis for that decision? Does this government truly see Acadia as a unilingual anglophone region?
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