OTTAWA — Proposed changes to the Official Languages Act are likely to create more "arbitrary barriers" for Indigenous people hoping to work in federal institutions and advance to higher levels, says the Assembly of First Nations.
The national advocacy organization, representing more than 600 First Nations across the country, issued its warning to a parliamentary committee currently studying amendments to the law.
Last spring, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government introduced planned reforms to the Official Languages Act to modernize the legislation, including more measures to promote the use of French.
In a brief submitted to the committee studying the issue, the Assembly of First Nations says the bill "continues the federal government’s approach of privileging English and French while devaluing Indigenous languages."
Among the amendments proposed to the existing language law, last touched in 1988,is the extension of language rights to federally private regulated businesses in Quebec or regions elsewhere in Canada that have a francophone population.
It also specifies that managers and supervisors in federal institutions within Ottawa and Gatineau, Que., should be able to communicate in both French and English.
Only about 10 per cent of First Nations people can speak both official languages, according to the assembly's submission, so the bill's proposed changes risk limiting how many of them can access jobs.
"First Nations peoples should not be forced to learn additional colonial languages to be eligible for positions within federal institutions," the document says.
"The government of Canada's approach to languages has privileged English and French over Indigenous languages. This is a modern reflection of Canadian colonialism's exclusion of Indigenous Peoples."
The document recommends that Ottawa, in considering changes to the law, should provide exemptions to Indigenous employees in federal institutions from bilingualism language requirements.
Despite presenting its concerns to the official languages committee that is studying the bill, the Assembly of First Nations has not appeared as a witness. And a list of 45 witnesses scheduled to appear does not include representatives of other Indigenous groups.
Members of Parliament on the committee have already begun debating a motion to see the bill and all of its amendments move onto the next stage of the legislative process.
Liberal MP Marc Serré , the parliamentary secretary to the minister of official languages, said Tuesday that "we're going to look at passing the bill the way it is now."
Serré said that organizations were invited to provide their thoughts in writing, and that the government heard from Indigenous individuals and groups during earlier consultations. But it was not clear whether he was aware of the assembly's submission or the concerns that it contained.
Tensions over bilingual language requirements are nothing new for some Indigenous employees.
Earlier this year, the federal Treasury Board rejected a call to extend an $800 annual bonus paid to public servants who are required to speak French and English to people who can speak one official language plus an Indigenous language.
The federal Liberals have said they want to preserve and promote the use of Indigenous languages. In 2019, their government passed legislation aimed to help communities do just that, after previous policies such as the residential school system sought to eradicate the languages' existence.
But the assembly says in its submission that the 2019 legislation fails to provide anything close to the language protections offered to French in the Official Languages Act.
-With files from Michel Saba
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 29, 2022.
Stephanie Taylor, The Canadian Press
