Senior managers at Canadian diplomacy have yet to reserve a seat for French at their meetings, a suggestion that a working group set up a year and a half ago deemed easy to implement, a report shows.

A single month should be enough to put the promotion of French on the agenda of Global Affairs Canada Executive Committee meetings. At least that is the estimate made in spring 2021 by an internal “ginger group” on official languages. At the latest 15 months later, it “hasn’t happened yet,” regulates a later follow-up document The duty.

The recommendation therefore appears to have been ignored by the federal ministry’s governing body, which is made up of deputy ministers and deputy deputy ministers, as well as some ambassadors.

A similar fate awaited the suggestion that English and French be spoken alternately at high-level operations and governance meetings, and a “memory of [gestionnaires] and staff of their entitlement to a bilingual team”. “No progress has been made in terms of procedures, but this practice appears to have increased in some sectors,” reads the June 2022 follow-up document.

Multiple IT complaints

The department’s internal report also suggests that Global Affairs Canada’s computer services violate the Official Languages ​​Act, which is the subject of “multiple complaints”. For example, they are English-only computer keyboards or software that is installed by default in English.

The Ministry rejected this accusation in its statement Have to, which rather indicates that the standard is multilingual keyboards, but managers can get English and French keyboards for their employees. Other devices, such as laptops, could also be passed from employee to employee during their life cycle, they say.

However, some proposals led to changes in the organization. Global Affairs Canada now offers its employees email signature templates that prompt the recipient to reply in English or French. The department also set up focus groups and conducted internal surveys.

Importantly, on March 18, 2021, an “issue confirmation” message was sent to all employees, the memo said. “Linguistic duality is an essential element of the inclusive culture that the department continues to build and strives to achieve,” said the communication, which was received by The duty. It states that all employees are encouraged to speak French on a daily basis and that managers are asked to “lead by example”.

French working group

The expression “ginger group” (ginger groupin English) is used within government to describe an internal group tasked with advancing specific causes within an organization.

The French seat at Global Affairs Canada was established shortly thereafter in early 2021 The duty revealed that the department, with 42% French-speaking officers, had none only Anglophones in the most prestigious executive positions. Documents have shown that French speakers were more likely to be excluded from promotion competitionsas well as people from visible minorities, people with disabilities and indigenous people.

Since then, the senior official in charge of the diplomatic network has been Marta Morgan has retired. The Prime Minister Justin Trudeau then he appointed his former personal representative for the G7 summit, David Morrison, as the new deputy foreign secretary.

Francophones have also recently entered senior management positions or been appointed heads of missions. For example, former High Commissioner of Canada to Mozambique and ex-Ambassador to Ethiopia Antoine Chevrier became deputy deputy minister for sub-Saharan Africa last March. He replaces a controversial English-speaking manager who had no diplomatic experience at the post.

The Canadian Press reported this week that a Senate committee is considering reducing the importance of proficiency in French when hiring diplomats — for example, for those who speak Asian languages. This idea explicitly contradicts Global Affairs Canada’s official claim of having an “unwavering commitment” to bilingualismthe vision promised by Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly.

“For Canada’s diplomatic network, proficiency in French is not only essential, but also a strategic asset. The French language is part of Canada’s unique identity on the international stage,” wrote Adrien Blanchard, Secretary of State for Minister Joly.

In an email, Global Affairs Canada spokesperson Patricia Skinner notes that the high-level meetings “flow smoothly from one official language to another, depending on the speaker’s language of choice.” She therefore admits nothing that could indicate that the department’s management could oppose criticism of the handling of French.

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