Francophones are less and less present at the top of federal agencies.

The switch between Anglophones and Francophones, pushed through by Pierre-Elliott Trudeau in most federal agencies, is no longer one of the priorities of Justin Trudeau’s cabinet. With the appointment of Mary Simon as governor-general, Justin dealt the final blow to the principle of change established by his father. It would therefore be difficult to blame Pablo Rodriguez, Minister for Heritage, who has just appointed Ms Vicky Eatrides President of Canada’s Radio, Television and Telecommunications Commission.

In so doing, the minister disregarded the rotation principle that had been scrupulously observed since the CRTC was founded in 1968, with one single exception: the appointment of Konrad von Finckenstein, who left no immortal memory. After Ian Scott, it was the turn of a Francophone President, but we have to be content with an Anglophone President. I don’t know Vicky Eatrides, but her assistant at Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, Ms. Sonia Beaupré, tells me that she speaks French. We will see.

A TITANIC TASK

A daunting task awaits the new President and her all-female congregation, save for Adam Scott, a colleague of Madame Eatrides who has just been appointed Vice-President in charge of Telecoms.

During her five-year tenure, Ms Eatrides and her two Vice-Presidents, Scott and Alice Barin, are tasked with developing the regulations and arbitration that will follow passage of the Online Streaming Bill (Project C-ll), the Online Communications Platforms Act (Bill C- 18) and the future Hate and Online Safety Act. And I’m not saying anything about a possible review of the mandate
Radio-Canada, access for all Canadians to high-speed internet and technology, not to mention routine business.

Was it possible to find a French speaker capable of handling so many complex tasks? For sure! As far as it was possible to become governor-general to find an Aboriginal who could express himself in his language as well as in English and French. The reality is that Canada’s French-speaking population (21.4% in 2021) is weighing less and less, and Ottawa feels less and less of a need to accommodate this. Almost all French-speaking federal officials are bilingual. And they almost always express themselves in the language of the majority, even if there is simultaneous translation. The testimonies of the Rouleau Commission on the consequences of the “freedom convoy” serve as evidence.

WHAT IS GOOD FOR PITOU…

Despite the thousands of dollars spent providing simultaneous translation at every CBC/Radio-Canada board meeting, French-speaking administrators speak only a few phrases in their language. In what language do you think the meetings of the Canada Council for the Arts, whose President Jesse Wente does not speak French, are held? A member of the Serpent River First Nation, Wente speaks English and his native language, Objibwe. Like the governor general who speaks English and Inuktitut…

The chickens will be teething if the federal government dares to appoint as governor-general, president of the Canada Council for the Arts, or president of the CRTC a person who only speaks French, even if he is an indigenous person and also uses his language can. maternal. What is good for Anglophones and First Nations is not good for Francophones!