Official languages commissioner sees complaints drop by more than half in past year
OTTAWA — The number of complaints from Canadians who say their language rights weren’t respected dropped by more than half last year, but the official languages commissioner says it’s too early to say there is a downward trend.
In his annual report released Tuesday, Raymond Théberge says his office received 847 admissible complaints between April 1, 2023, and March 31, 2024, down from 1,788 in the previous fiscal year. The last time his office received fewer than 1,000 complaints in a year was in 2017-18, when there were 894.
But he cautioned against drawing conclusions that violations of the Official Languages Act will continue to decline.
The 847 complaints, he told a news conference, “are a bit of a contrast to the very high volume we’ve become accustomed to in recent years. Is this decrease a sign that federal institutions are complying more fully with their language obligations? …. Only time will tell.”