Official Languages Committee on May 28th, 2026

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

Welcome to meeting number 36 of the Standing Committee on Official Languages. Pursuant to Standing Order 108(3)(f) and the motion adopted on April 21, we are meeting today to study the proposed regulations on the use of French in federally regulated private businesses.

I would now like to welcome our witnesses. From Droits collectifs Québec, we have Etienne‑Alexis Boucher, chief executive officer, and François Côté, general counsel. Both are joining us by video conference. From the Fédération acadienne de la Nouvelle‑Écosse, we have Jules Chiasson, chief executive officer, who is appearing in person. Denise Comeau‑Desautels, the organization's president, will join us later by video conference, so for now, we just have Mr. Chiasson, but we are glad to have him here in person.

Each organization will have five minutes to deliver an opening statement. We will then proceed to questions from members.

We will start with Mr. Boucher.

[Etienne-Alexis Boucher, Chief Executive Officer, Droits collectifs Québec]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I'd like to say hello to all the members of Parliament on this august committee, including the chair, the vice-chairs, all committee members, and the member for Brome—Missisquoi, whose riding is in the Eastern Townships, where Droits collectifs Québec is based. This region is home to the town of Cowansville, where my beloved mother comes from.

Parliamentarians, I will make a very brief statement. You are no doubt familiar with Droits collectifs Québec, whose mission is to protect and advocate for the collective rights of Quebeckers, including their language rights. We have been in operation since 2019. Over the years, our work has extended beyond Quebec matters. Advocating for the language rights of Quebeckers has led to frequent collaboration with various types of organizations from the Canadian francophonie, including the Fédération des associations de juristes d'expression française de common law and the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada.

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to speak to the draft regulations.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

Is that it? Are you done, Mr. Boucher?

[François Côté, General Counsel, Droits collectifs Québec]

I will carry on from here.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

Okay.

[François Côté]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Parliamentarians, it's an honour for me to appear before you.

We are here to talk about the draft regulations on the use of French in federally regulated private businesses. Right from the outset, we would like to say that—

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

I'm sorry to cut you off, Mr. Côté, but may I ask you to speak a little bit slower please? We have interpreters interpreting your remarks and sometimes, if people speak fast, it can be a bit hard for them to do the interpretation.

[François Côté]

Okay. Far be it from me to give our hard-working interpreters a headache. I'll slow down.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

Thank you.

[François Côté]

I'll start by saying that Droits collectifs Québec is strongly against the draft regulations when it comes to Quebec's jurisdiction. We will not speak to the relevance and potential value of the draft regulations to protect the French language and the language rights of workers to earn their living in French in federally regulated businesses outside Quebec, where the draft regulations will fill a certain legal vacuum, albeit in a very sector-based and geographically and demographically limited manner.

However, we believe that in Quebec, the draft regulations unnecessarily duplicate the Charter of the French Language. On top of that, the regulations are in conflict with the charter as they propose a language monitoring and protection regime that is significantly less effective than the charter in a number of key areas. Quite frankly, we see the draft regulations as a calculated effort by the federal government to encroach on Quebec's political and legal autonomy on language matters by seeking to counter the legal impact of the Charter of the French Language, which does apply—

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

I'm sorry Mr. Côté, but I have to cut you off.

We have a technical issue. I'm going to suspend for a moment. Please stay on the line. I have stopped the clock. We'll get back to you shortly.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

I call the meeting back to order.

Mr. Côté, I'm sorry, but the interpreters are having a hard time hearing you. The sound quality is poor. Someone from the technical team will call you to try and resolve the issue.

My suggestion to the committee would be that Mr. Chiasson make his opening remarks and then we will come back to Mr. Côté, in the hopes that the issue will have been resolved.

Does that work for you, Mr. Côté?

[François Côté]

We have done a sound test twice, but all right. I'll wait for your technical team.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

Thank you, Mr. Côté.

Mr. Chiasson, you have the floor for five minutes.

[Jules Chiasson, Chief Executive Officer, Fédération acadienne de la Nouvelle-Écosse]

Mr. Chair and members of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Official Languages, it is a pleasure and a great privilege for me to appear before you today on behalf of the Fédération acadienne de la Nouvelle‑Écosse for your study on the draft regulations on the use of French in federally regulated private businesses.

The organization, which was founded in 1968, has 29 member organizations, including 12 regional organizations, 15 provincial organizations and 2 institutional organizations.

The Fédération acadienne de la Nouvelle‑Écosse welcomes the draft regulations that the federal government wishes to implement concerning the use of French in federally regulated private businesses. Implementing regulations to require federally regulated private businesses to provide services in French represents tangible support for the Official Languages Act and for existing measures to support official language minority communities.

However, we believe several important questions remain unanswered regarding the application of these regulations.

First, how should a federally regulated business subject to these regulations be defined? Will the regulations apply in the same way to francophone minority communities as to Quebec's English-speaking community?

It is important to recognize that francophone minority communities are at greater risk when it comes to maintaining and developing their language and culture. Large national businesses could reasonably make efforts to provide services in French to the public and a French-language work environment for their employees without incurring excessive costs.

The federal government could help advance these efforts by providing financial assistance or support measures to these businesses to facilitate the delivery of services in French and the creation of French-language workplaces. It is not necessary to require that every location of a business in a designated area always provide services in French and maintain a French-language workplace. A more practical approach would allow businesses to choose one or several locations where services in French would be provided. The local francophone community would quickly identify these service points and could therefore fully benefit from services in French, as would the business's francophone employees.

The number of regions identified as having a strong francophone presence under the criteria in the draft regulations on the use of French in federally regulated private businesses are insufficient to have a truly positive impact on Nova Scotia's Acadian and francophone community.

However, while the inclusion of Digby, Yarmouth and Richmond is certainly a step in the right direction, the regulations could more accurately reflect local francophone and Acadian realities by specifically recognizing the municipalities of Clare and Argyle and the francophone community of Isle Madame located in Richmond.

The Chéticamp region should also be included in the draft regulations. The Acadian community in this region has just been given a protected provincial electoral district. This recognition is the result of extensive community mobilization that went all the way to the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia to ensure appropriate political representation.

The city of Halifax should be an area where the regulations apply. Today, Halifax is a main francophone population centre in Nova Scotia, with between 15,000 and 20,000 francophone residents. The city is home to eight Acadian schools of the Conseil scolaire acadien provincial and a campus of Université Sainte-Anne. In addition, 14 provincial francophone organizations are headquartered in Halifax. The city is also home to the Alliance Française and Canadian Parents for French. Social and recreational activities are offered in French regularly throughout the year.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

I'm sorry, Mr. Chiasson, but your time is up. I gave you some extra time, but I have to cut you off now. I suggest that you share the rest of your remarks during the question period.

Colleagues, technicians are working with Mr. Côté. Representatives of Droits collectifs Québec have about two and a half minutes left for their opening remarks. In the meantime, I suggest we move on to questions from members.

Mr. Boucher, I'd like to give you time to speak if you wish, or to supplement your opening remarks.

You have the floor, Mr. Beaulieu.

[Mario Beaulieu, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

I have a point of order, Mr. Chair.

We could still hear Mr. Côté, but the volume was a bit low.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

I understand, but we didn't have interpretation. That's the problem, unfortunately.

I suggest we give Mr. Boucher time to supplement his remarks if he'd like to, but I'd like us to move on to questions from colleagues due to time constraints.

[Etienne-Alexis Boucher]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

It's a bit of a shame because Mr. Côté and I had split up our roles. After all, he's a doctor of constitutional law and the author of the book entitled Le droit linguistique au Québec and he has extensive expertise to speak to Droits collectifs Québec's perspective on the draft regulations.

He mentioned that the regulations overlap with the Charter of the French Language. I would like to add that currently, the federal government does not have an agency similar to the Office québécois de la langue française, which has the expertise to regulate business operations and compliance with the language regime. The federal government is imposing a redundant piece of legislation, yet Quebec has an agency with all the necessary expertise in this area.

As Mr. Côté noted, we have serious reservations about the draft regulations as currently drafted.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

I'm sorry about the technical issues, Mr. Boucher. As I said, technicians are working with Mr. Côté and I hope he'll stay on and we can hear his answers to questions from committee members.

Before we move on to questions, I'd like to welcome Ms. Denise Comeau-Desautels from the Fédération acadienne de la Nouvelle‑Écosse. Our technicians have been working with her to ensure she can deliver her testimony. Our technicians have been pretty busy today.

Welcome, Ms. Comeau-Desautels.

[Denise Comeau-Desautels, President, Fédération acadienne de la Nouvelle-Écosse]

Good afternoon.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

Colleagues, we will now proceed to the question period.

We'll start with Mr. Godin for six minutes.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Mr. Chair, please restart the clock because my microphone was not working.

I'd like to take this opportunity to make the following statement concerning the technical issues we're experiencing. I'm not attacking any organization or individual, but things tend to run more smoothly when people appear in person. I do understand that witnesses are allowed to appear virtually, but unfortunately, we can't hear Droits collectifs Québec clearly. The president of the Fédération acadienne de la Nouvelle‑Écosse could not deliver her opening remarks, while Mr. Chiasson, who is appearing in person, was able to do so without any problem.

I just want to put that message across. There are limited opportunities to appear before parliamentary committees and I think appearing is a great opportunity. I would recommend that witnesses take advantage of this opportunity and appear in person.

I like what you said, Mr. Chiasson. You are pragmatic. You are not asking for services in French from coast to coast or in every corner of the country. You have said that there should be some designated branches so that Canadians can receive services in French. However, how should this issue be handled? Do you have any suggestions for indicators on parameters or guidelines that could be incorporated into the regulations?

[Jules Chiasson]

Examples could include using the criteria used for federal agencies. For example, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, or RCMP, got in touch with us in Halifax to ask about the best location for their offices to serve the francophone community in the Halifax region. That was very much appreciated and we are trying to put that in place. Obviously, it's the same thing in rural areas.

We could use that model.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

You said the RCMP consulted you to identify the best locations.

Were you consulted when the proposed regulations on the use of French in federally regulated businesses were drafted? Did the committee of experts select your organization?