Official languages plan for public service mum on quotas, timelines
Goal is to make 'measurable' progress toward more bilingual civil service, says Donald Arseneault
The Gallant government has released a new official languages plan that is short on specific targets and timelines.
Instead, cabinet minister Donald Arseneault, who is responsible for official languages, says the goal will be to make measurable progress toward a more bilingual civil service.
"It's been very difficult to measure whether we're making that progress," he told reporters on Friday. "We want to measure it," he said.
We're not here to send anybody home or prevent anyone from getting a promotion.- Donald Arseneault, minister responsible for official languages
"We believe firmly in the language of work being the choice of the civil servant."
But Arseneault said "it's up to the bureaucrat" to exercise that right, and he says there will be no firm quotas or deadlines imposed to force more bilingual capacity within the civil service.
In her 2014-15 annual report, New Brunswick's official languages commissioner, Katherine d'Entremont, recommended that all senior civil servants be bilingual by 2020.
"It would be a great achievement if we could do that," Arseneault said on Friday. "But we're not here to send anybody home or prevent anyone from getting a promotion."
That, he said, would only fan existing language tensions.
Under the plan, each department will come up with its own strategy to improve its bilingual capacity.
'Difficult, if not impossible' to work in French
The report says despite a 2009 policy that states civil servants can work in the official language of their choice, in some cases "it is very difficult, if not impossible" for civil servants to work in French.
The report says that's because of time restrictions and because of senior officials in departments who aren't bilingual.
Francophone bureaucrats are often asked to do their work in English "to avoid translation."
"Costs and low public demand for a particular document are also cited as reasons for asking that work be done in one language rather than the other," it states.
The report proposes measures, such as reviews, measurements, and training courses to make it easier.
Michel Doucet, a University of Moncton law professor and advocate of language rights, said on Twitter it remains to be seen whether the plan will lead to improvements.
"The plan has a lot of generalities but few concrete measures," he tweeted.
'Still some gaps' in public contact requirement
On another aspect of bilingualism, service to the public, the report says the requirement that New Brunswickers be offered service in the official language of their choice "is still largely misunderstood or inappropriately applied."
The law requires that "first contact with the public" be available in English or French, but "there are still some gaps."
The report says the government will "put measures in place" to make improvements, including assessments of employees' ability in both languages, improved second-language training, and measurement of progress.
Arseneault acknowledged language tensions have flared up in the province in the last month because of a debate over separate school bus systems operated by the English and French school systems.
"It's not the first time there have been tensions on this file," he said, "but I think our approach has been very co-operative, that we can work with both language communities in a harmonious way."
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