New Brunswick will create a Secretariat of Official Languages in the new year, the province announced Monday.
The new secretariat is being formed in response to the 2021 review of the province’s Official Languages Act.
But the province is not saying how many recommendations from the report, released last December, may be implemented.
Among the series of recommendations was the establishment of a provincial Department of Official Languages.
Instead of creating a separate department, the secretariat will operate within the existing Department of Intergovernmental Affairs.
“This secretariat will help us to promote the many positive aspects of a province with two official languages and help us to strengthen our abilities to provide New Brunswickers and visitors to our province with quality services in both English and French,” Premier Blaine Higgs said during a news conference.
The secretariat will be responsible for monitoring and evaluating how the province is implementing the Official Languages Act.
It will also “undertake public outreach campaigns to promote respect, knowledge and communication between the two linguistic communities and the economic benefits of bilingualism in the province.”
“I truly believe that if we have a wider spread ability to speak both official languages, we can reach a potential that no other province can achieve because we are the only bilingual province in the country,” said Higgs.
Reviewing the Commissioner of Official Languages
Another one of the recommendations involved reviewing the position of Commissioner of Official Languages.
They are responsible for investigating, reporting on, and making recommendations related to compliance with the act, along with promoting the advancement of both official languages in the province.
Higgs said any changes to the position would be reviewed as part of a wider evaluation of all legislative officers in the province.
“We have many more legislative officers than many provinces, but that would be a separate review and not part of the language review,” he said.
The premier said the secretariat will also be tasked with reviewing language requirements for civil service positions in the province, which was another recommendation from the review.
“This group can work with any department, understand the conditions around that department and what’s needed, and then be able to ensure that the right language requirements are there and the right testing is done for that and the right service can be provided.
What about the remaining recommendations?
As for which other recommendations the government may approve from the review, the premier declined to say.
“I can’t go through them item by item because many of them are grouped into different recommendations in different segments that would fall into a number of buckets,” said Higgs.
“The secretariat’s role will be to look at areas that we find it’s important to understand ‘OK, is this a problem? Is this something that we can solve? Is this something the department needs to look at?”
The premier did also addressed the length of time it took his government to issue a response to the review.
Higgs said it took more time than originally anticipated to review the recommendations, which he said were “far-reaching and covered a wide variety of areas.”
“It was essential for us to take the time necessary to carefully examine all of the recommendations before we gave our response. We wanted to do things correctly,” he said.
Commissioner of Official Languages responds
New Brunswick’s official languages commissioner released a statement Monday responding to the province’s “scant” and “vague” response to the review.
Shirley MacLean said the review included a “detailed analysis and recommendations to continue the progression towards equality of status, rights and privileges of our two official languages.”
“The government has now given some hints of a bill to come in the spring, without giving a full response to the report on the review,” MacLean wrote in the statement.
MacLean applauded the creation of an official languages secretariat, something her office has been calling for but said she was “left wanting more information about the government’s other intentions regarding official languages in New Brunswick.”
“This is an issue that I will continue to follow closely. In the meantime, I remain committed to listening to our two linguistic communities and to carrying out my mandate with integrity,” she said.
