This amendment serves the same purpose as the one we just adopted, by adding, after line 12 on page 8, a new wording for section 24(1) of the Official Languages Act:
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.
The purpose of this amendment is to ensure that it's possible to communicate in French without making it conditional upon things like health issues or the size of the francophone population. It's a response to the notorious rule according to which services are provided where numbers justify it, something that Mr. Charles Castonguay calls the Durham clause, and which means that a large proportion of francophones outside Quebec do not have access to services in French. As the proportion of francophones outside Quebec decreases, the fewer services there will be in French.
It must be possible to communicate in French unconditionally.