Languages commissioner concerned about supervisors' language use after survey results
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In the 2024 Public Service Employee Survey, which was released on June 23, 20 per cent of non-supervisor public servants reported that senior managers sometimes, rarely or never use both official languages in their interactions with staff.
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In response, Official Languages Commissioner Raymond Théberge called on senior leaders in the public service to make 'the necessary changes' to ensure language rights of public servants are respected.
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'I'd like to remind supervisors that the right to work in the official language of one's choice belongs to the employee,' he said in an emailed statement. 'It's the supervisor's duty to respect that right.'
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The survey also found that more than a quarter of public servants said their career advancement over the previous year had suffered due to a lack of access to training in their second official language.
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Martin Potvin, a spokesperson for the Treasury Board, said the government is 'committed to strengthening bilingualism in the public service, not only to better serve Canadians, but also to foster a work environment where employees in bilingual regions feel truly comfortable working in the official language of their choice.'
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The survey results were released a few days after new language requirements came into effect for supervisors on June 20. New supervisors in bilingual regions will now be required to have the highest proficiencies in reading and oral conversation in their second language, while maintaining an intermediate level in writing.
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Prior to June 20, supervisors required an intermediate proficiency in reading, writing and oral conversation.
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Those who were already in supervisor roles before that date will be 'grandfathered in' and will only need to improve their second language skills to meet the new requirements if and when they change positions.
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In a recent report, the commissioner said the new requirements don't go far enough.
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'I applaud this initiative as a step in the right direction, but I am concerned about what might happen to employees who are supervised by incumbents of unilingual supervisory positions or by incumbents of bilingual positions who do not meet the CBC second-language requirement,' Théberge wrote in the report.
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