Language watchdog defends bilingualism against attack by People's Alliance

There were fireworks Friday at a legislative committee hearing as Michel Carrier, the interim language commissioner, presented his office's annual report.

The report affirms that nursing homes fall under official language requirements, as third-party agencies delivering services for government.

That means they are required to offer service in the official language of a resident's choice.

People's Alliance Leader Kris Austin suggested that would be catastrophic and exacerbate the nursing shortage.

Alliance issues threat

His party sent out a news release threatening to "bring down the government" if the report's recommendations are implemented.

"New Brunswick is struggling to cope with the financial burden that's been placed on the everyday citizens of this province by trying to accommodate two health-care and education systems," said the release. 

"It's time to stop the fiscal hemorrhaging."

The release from the People's Alliance claimed Carrier was demanding every nursing home worker in the province be bilingual.

"The report doesn't say that," replied Carrier.

"It would be asinine to say it … I hope people stand up and say that's not true."

What the report does say about nursing homes is that the requirement to offer service in either official language should be written into nursing home contracts, that anglophone and francophone living environments should be created within bilingual nursing homes, and that nursing home inspections should include making sure language laws are being respected.

Carrier said there would still be jobs for unilingual employees, but units should be organized to make sure service in either language is available when needed.

Politicians urged to defend bilingualism

"That would be perfect," said People's Alliance MLA Michelle Conroy of Miramichi, speaking about the hospital where she has worked in five different units. "What's happening is not that at all."

Carrier's report said he looked into the nursing home issue at the request of francophone stakeholders who found service in French wasn't available in some areas..

He called on political leaders to prevent the spread of misinformation and anti-bilingualism rhetoric by speaking out in defence of bilingualism, which he said is at the heart of our collective identity. 

Liberal official languages critic Gilles LePage accused Austin of spreading false information.

LePage suggested the threat to bring down the government was basically empty, since it would require the support of another party, and the only other party that might agree was the Progressive Conservative Party.

LePage said he would push the government to respond to the recommendations.

Premier Blaine Higgs offered only tepid support for the advice about nursing homes.

"Of course, linguistic concerns will be taken into account, but our priority will be to actually have the ability to deliver services for all seniors across the province. "

Premier concerned about staffing

Higgs noted that nursing homes and hospitals are already short-staffed because they can't find enough workers.

Carrier's report called for continued effort to improve bilingual service in hospitals.

Some of the complaints the office investigated were from people who had to rely on friends or family to interpret so they could communicate with health-care providers. 

The language commissioner said his office received 90 admissible complaints in 2018-19. 

Most complaints about service in French

Eighty-four per cent of them were about service in French. More than 60 per cent originated in Fredericton and the St. John River Valley.

Twenty complaints were determined to be founded. Six complaints targeted Elections New Brunswick, although initially these and one other were reported as complaints about the executive council office of government. The seventh complaint against the office was actually held over from the previous year, the commissioner said in a later news release.

Some complaints to the commissioner's office were against former premier Brian Gallant for streaming live videos on Facebook without simultaneous translation.

One was against the Fredericton police department for being unable to process a theft report in French.

Carrier's report also calls for a more equal sharing of the benefits of immigration among the official linguistic communities.

And Carrier said policies need to be developed on bilingual signs so money isn't wasted redoing them. He gave the example of a sign for Hopewell Rocks that was redone because of a complaint that French was too prominent on it.

The report recounts a similar complaint about English getting too much prominence on a sign in a predominantly francophone part of the province.  

Higgs said this was something the government could support and the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure is already working on it.

Carrier emphasized that a lot of progress has been made. 

"We are celebrating 50 years of official bilingualism and we have done so very well. A lot of challenges, you know, but no violence. We have changed society. We have done it gradually. We have done tremendous work."

Government departments audited

He said a recent audit of Part 1 of the civil service, which includes government departments, found 80 per cent of francophones said they were served in their official language of choice.

For anglophones the rate was 90 per cent. 

He is repeating the recommendation that a secretariat, or a central co-ordinating office, be established to oversee the application of the Official Languages Act. It was in the 2017 report as well. 

The Liberals and the Green Party said that's a good idea. The act is now overseen by the premier.

"The premier has a lot going on," said Green Party Leader David Coon. "There needs to be a specific secretariat. That would help government in so many ways to act on its responsibilities ... and to continue to advance the equality of our official linguistic communities.

"We're not talking about a huge expense, whatsoever."