麻豆影视

Skip to main content

Treasury Board rejects 'blanket exemption' idea for official language requirements

Share
OTTAWA -

The Treasury Board is rejecting an idea pitched by some Indigenous public servants to offer "blanket exemptions" so they don't have to learn both of Canada's official languages.

A briefing note from last fall released to The Canadian Press under federal Access-to-Information shows senior officials responding to the exemption call coming from some members of the Indigenous Federal Employees Network.

Senior bureaucrats flagged a "growing tension" between Indigenous languages and official languages of French and English for some Indigenous employees. The note says the employees were "strongly asserting a blanket exemption."

The office of Treasury Board President Mona Fortier said in a statement this week that it's working with partners to explore options to address barriers public servants face in advancing their careers.

"A blanket exemption from official languages is not one," it read.

"We will never change the fundamental principle of bilingualism in the public service."

Under Canadian law, federal institutions must provide services in both languages and offer a bilingual working environment. However, some positions can be classified to allow employees to learn a second language through taking classes.

The requirement to work in French and English has in the past been identified as one of the major barriers faced by Indigenous public servants from advancing in their careers, including to some of the government's executive roles.

The briefing note listed some of the possible solutions officials discussed to eliminate those barriers including offering Indigenous language training to both Indigenous and non-Indigenous public servants, as well as potential exemptions if someone could speak an Indigenous language.

They suggested designing a pilot in Nunavut where jobs requiring an Inuit language wouldn't require an employee to be competent in a second official language.

Gina Wilson, a deputy minister and advocate for Indigenous public servants, wrote to colleagues last November saying she believed there was room for exemption, "if the individual speaks an Indigenous language."

Wilson is now the deputy minister of Indigenous Services Canada. She was the deputy minister for women and gender equality when she wrote the email.

In her email she cited the case of Governor General Mary Simon who is bilingual in Inuktitut and English.

"Then, we have the issue of who assesses the capacity of the Indigenous language speaker, but surely as a pilot we could figure that out," she wrote.

Officials proposed other ideas, like giving Indigenous employees more time to meet their second language requirement and compensating those who use their Indigenous language skills as part of their job, similar to the annual bonus employees receive who are bilingual.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 18, 2022.

IN DEPTH

Opinion

opinion

opinion Don Martin: How a beer break may have doomed the carbon tax hike

When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.

CTVNews.ca Top Stories

A unique form of clouds made an appearance over the skies of Ottawa on Sunday evening.

Weeneebayko Area Health Authority and the Government of Ontario have awarded a $1.8 billion fixed-price contract to design, build and finance a new Far North hospital.

A 54-year-old inmate at the Toronto South Detention Centre has been charged in connection with a deadly jail beating late last week that claimed the life of a 69-year-old prisoner.

Local Spotlight

Bernie Hicks, known as the 鈥楤atman of Amherst,鈥 always wanted to sit in a Batmobile until a kind stranger made it happen.

Bubi鈥檚 Awesome Eats, located on University Ave West took to social media to announce the closure on Friday.

Weeneebayko Area Health Authority and the Government of Ontario have awarded a $1.8 billion fixed-price contract to design, build and finance a new Far North hospital.

Some Manitobans are cleaning up Sunday morning, after intense winds barreled through southern parts of the province Saturday.

Avry Wortman, 13, scored two touchdowns on Sunday during her team's win in the under 14 Greater Moncton Football Association.

A gargantuan gourd 鈥 affectionately named 鈥極rangina鈥 by the urban gardeners who grew it in the front yard of their Vancouver home 鈥 earned the massive honour of being named B.C.鈥檚 heaviest giant pumpkin Saturday.

Chantal Kreviazuk is set to return to Winnipeg to mark a major milestone in her illustrious musical career.

From the beaches of Cannes to the bustling streets of New York City, a new film by a trio of Manitoba directors has toured the international film festival circuit to much pomp and circumstance.

A husband and wife have been on the road trip of a lifetime and have decided to stop in Saskatchewan for the winter.

Stay Connected