A Senate committee is wondering whether French proficiency shouldn’t be a less important requirement when hiring diplomats representing Canada abroad at a time when Ottawa is refocusing its foreign policy on the Indo-Pacific region.

That question was raised during hearings of the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, which is currently trying to determine Global Affairs Canada’s ability to implement the country’s foreign policy goals.

British Columbia Senator Yuen Pao Woo pointed out that many qualified people are very familiar with Asian languages ​​and cultures but are stuck as they are not fluent in French.

“I wonder if it wouldn’t be possible to rank the ability of certain Canadians,” he suggested, to “compensate for some lower marks for deficiencies in French”.

At a November 3 meeting, Woo argued diplomats should always be required to learn French, but that skill might be considered less important for diplomats than for other public sector employees.

“I can understand that we could not do this in other ministries where the work is not done so internationally,” he admitted. But for Global Affairs Canada, where open-mindedness is the department’s raison d’être, one would think other attributes would be valued more highly. »

The minister opens the door

When asked about the issue, International Development Minister Harjit Sajjan was open to the idea of ​​hiring English-speaking diplomats and later having them learn French.

“It’s my fault if I don’t speak French and I make all sorts of excuses, but there are challenges,” said the minister, who is a British Columbia MP.

“But once you’re in the system, you can start learning it because you’re immersed in that environment. It may not seem like it since I’ve been in Ottawa, but my French has improved a lot — and that’s not a very good measure considering where I started. »

Knowledge of both official languages ​​is required for some diplomatic positions, but not all.

In June, Global Affairs Canada’s head of human resources told the committee that lengthy security procedures and tests for proficiency in both official languages ​​sometimes make recruitment difficult.

Tricky question

The level of French proficiency in the civil service has been a sensitive issue for a number of years, particularly with regard to service abroad.

Documents received in 2020 from The duty revealed that Francophones were virtually absent from key positions in Canadian diplomacy.

While francophones made up 42% of all Global Affairs Canada employees, they made up just 18% of senior staff.

In April, diplomat Pierre Guimond, now an expert-in-residence at Laval University, told senators that those numbers were the result of “a certain semblance of indifference or undue comfort” at Global Affairs Canada.

“The reputation of the department, which has been criticized for having little interest in the functioning of a bilingual department, is a cause for concern for its current and former staff and even for certain Quebec candidates wishing to enter the Foreign Service,” said he Mr. Gimond.

“In my overseas postings, I’ve faced many diplomats who didn’t understand why our Canadian diplomats aren’t all bilingual until they know a third or even a fourth language,” he added.

Global Affairs Canada is conducting a consultation this fall on “The Vitality of Canada’s Francophone and Anglophone Minorities and the Use of French and English in Conducting Canada’s External Relations.”

Meanwhile, some indigenous groups have called on Ottawa to extend the salary bonus it offers to civil servants who are fluent in English and French to those who speak an indigenous language.

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