Ottawa should offer training in indigenous languages, waivers for public servants: memo

OTTAWA – Top officials have explored the possibility of offering indigenous language training to federal employees and possible waivers for those who already speak one from the requirement of fluency in both English and French, newly released documents show.

Vice ministers from various departments discussed the issue last fall.

A memo, published in The Canadian Press under federal access to information laws, noted a “growing tension” between official language requirements and indigenous languages.

Under Canada’s Official Languages ​​Act, federal institutions must provide work environments for employees to communicate in both French and English, and offer services to Canadians in either language.

As such, top executives are expected to communicate in both and there are a number of public service jobs where bilingualism is mandatory. However, there is room for an employee to take classes and learn French or English as a second language.

The memo issued last fall said a task force had been formed to make changes to the official language requirements. He said that some indigenous public servants who belong to a network of about 400 who work for the federal government affirmed the need for a “blanket exemption.”

“My personal view is that there are opportunities for exemption, if the individual speaks an indigenous language,” Gina Wilson, a deputy minister who advocates for the needs of federal Indian public servants, wrote in an email to colleagues last November.

“Our GG (Governor General) is a good example.”

The appointment of Inuk leader Mary Simon in 2021 sparked discussion, and some controversy, about bilingualism in Canada’s highest offices, given that Simon, the first indigenous person appointed governor-general, spoke English and Inuktitut, but not French.

Simon, who was born in Kangiqsualujjuaq, in the Nunavik region of northern Quebec, said he attended a federal day school and was unable to learn French.

He pledged to do so after his appointment and has been taking lessons, delivering a few remarks in French in public speeches.

Official languages ​​commissioner Raymond Théberge said more than 1,000 complaints were made about Simon’s lack of French in his office after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed her to the job.

Language training has been identified as one of the problems preventing Native American employees in the federal public service from advancing in their careers.

A report written by public servants around Canada’s 150th anniversary celebration recommended that those who are indigenous be exempted from official language requirements and instead be given the opportunity to learn the language of their community.

It’s unclear if Ottawa plans to go ahead with changes to language requirements, training or waivers.

A spokeswoman for Crown-Indigenous-Relations and Northern Affairs Canada said both the ministry and Indigenous Services Canada “have no plans to offer department-wide Indigenous language training,” noting that employees have offered workshops in the past. .

He said Indigenous employees are encouraged to talk to their managers about language training.

Crown Minister for Indigenous Relations Marc Miller, an Anglophone who speaks French and is learning Mohawk, said in an interview that the idea of ​​a waiver is a touchy subject.

“Inevitably, when you have to make one of those decisions, more often than not, almost always, it’s at the cost of writing French off,” said Miller, who represents a Montreal riding.

“I don’t think it’s something that most people find enjoyable…there are resources to learn it and I think there’s availability to do it.”

In their talks last fall, top officials proposed ways to address indigenous public servants’ concerns about languages.

Ideas included providing more time to learn a second language and even offering training in indigenous languages, even to non-indigenous public servants, as a show of reconciliation.

“I certainly remember during my French classes I had this nagging thought in the back of my mind that I would be much more open to this if I had the opportunity to receive training in my own Algonquian language,” Wilson wrote in her email.

“I had a pretty good grounding in both, but of course my French is much better than my Algonquian now.”

Miller said he supports the idea of ​​Ottawa providing classes, particularly for indigenous public servants who weren’t given the opportunity to learn these languages ​​for themselves.

He said one challenge in doing so would be making sure Ottawa doesn’t pull language teachers out of communities.

“When you look at the fragility of indigenous languages ​​across the country, you wouldn’t want to be in a circumstance where we’re taking really valuable assets … people in many circumstances who are quite old, and just taking dictionaries out of their communities where they communities are struggling to recover their languages.”

The same concern was highlighted by government officials. Both they and Miller said Ottawa is facing calls to ensure it provides services to Inuit in Inuktitut.

“We could do better at that,” he said.

One change that Lori Idlout, a federal member of Parliament for Nunavut, said should happen, and that officials also mention in the memo, is for Ottawa to extend the $800 annual bonus it pays to employees who are bilingual speakers. an indigenous language.

The representative says she was approached by a union about federal employees in Nunavut who speak Inuktitut but cannot access compensation because they are not bilingual in French.

“In the meantime, they provide valuable services to the Inuit in Inuktitut,” he said. “Its a big problem”.

Idlout said Nunavut residents face many barriers when it comes to accessing federal services in general, including in Inuktitut.

According to the memo, officials recommend that the government explore a pilot program in Nunavut, where jobs that require them to speak Inuktitut “will not require proficiency in a second official language.”

This report from The Canadian Press was first published on August 14, 2022.

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