Bill S-205: Canada Post Disappointing

Ottawa, June 17, 2015 – On Monday, June 15, 2015, the Standing Senate Committee on Official Languages heard from Canada Post officials as part of its consideration of Bill S-205, introduced by Senator Maria Chaput.

The Committee learned that, based on the 2011 Census, 36 posts offices across Canada were newly designated bilingual, while 49 other post offices were stripped of their bilingual status and designated unilingual. “Once again we see that Part IV of the Official Languages Act is simply not working,” said Senator Chaput. “The communities are still there, but the services are disappearing.” The Senator was shocked to learn that six of the post offices losing their bilingual status are in Moncton, New Brunswick, and another is in Saint-Norbert, Manitoba.

Senator Chaput was also critical of how Canada Post was treating official language minority communities. “The communities affected by cuts are rarely consulted, and the minimal arrangements made to compensate for the loss of service in French are often useless. Far from supporting the vitality of our communities, Canada Post often acts in a way that assimilates rather than supports,” said the Senator. She noted that when Canada Post changed over some of its services affecting Sainte-Anne, Manitoba, it redid the listing of all residents’ addresses in English only, without consultation. No consideration was given to the communities’ particular needs.

During the second part of the meeting, Jocelyne Lalonde, Executive Director of the Association des collèges et universités de la francophonie canadienne, expressed her organization’s support for Bill S-205. She stressed that federal institutions have a duty to consider the institutional vitality of the communities they serve and pointed out that the loss of French-language services would negatively affect their ability to live in French.

The meeting schedule for the Standing Senate Committee on Official Languages is available online. Regular updates are posted on Senator Chaput’s website.

Website: www.mariachaput.ca
Twitter: @SenChaput
Liberal Senate Forum: http://liberalsenateforum.ca

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To obtain an interview with Senator Chaput, please contact:
Suzanne Belliveau at 613-943-2435 or by email at [email protected]