Keeping-Tabs-Winter-2024

airs to evaluate the ability of every candidate declaring
themself bilingual, not only to understand,
but also to speak “clearly” both official languages. 4
As for the Commissioner of Official Languages,
his new powers include entering into compliance
agreements, 5 making orders 6 and imposing administrative
monetary penalties (the latter power
will come into force when the associated order and
regulation are made). 7 With the advent of these
new powers, litigators can expect to see a more
judicialized Office of the Commissioner of Official
Languages, i.e. one exercising quasi-judicial powers
of a more coercive nature. All of the Commissioner’s
new powers are intended to increase the
compliance of federal institutions with the OLA,
and are accompanied by recourse to the federal
courts.
By aiming for substantive equality in the field of
justice, and by strengthening the Commissioner’s
powers, the modernized OLA holds great promise
for the promotion of language rights in Canada.
Notes
1. An Act to amend the Official Languages Act, to enact the Use of French in Federally Regulated Private Businesses Act and to make related amendments to other
Acts, First Session, Forty-fourth Parliament, 70-71 Elizabeth II - 1 Charles III, 2021-2022-2023.
2. RSC, 1985, c 31 (4th Supp) [OLA].
3. OLA, s 3.1.
4. OLA, s 16.2(1) and (2).
5. OLA, s 64.1 ff.
6. OLA, s 64.5 ff.
7. Supra note 1, s 37, see also s 71(3).
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