Legal obligation

A Francophone woman complained to us after she went to a provincial courthouse for a family court case in a region that is designated under the French Language Services Act (meaning services in French must be available by law). She said she was unable to obtain services in French at the clerk’s counter. She said she was told that the only bilingual clerk was absent that day.

Result: We raised this incident with senior managers at the courthouse in question, and with the Ministry of the Attorney General. The courthouse has since recruited more bilingual staff and arranged to have more than one bilingual person working at the clerk’s counter consistently. They also made sure all courthouse staff were aware of their obligation to provide an “active offer” of service in French, and the procedures for doing so.

The Ministry also told us that all courthouse staff are provided with a list of bilingual employees, and have been instructed to contact them in the event that someone needs assistance in French. They said that regional managers regularly discuss the provision of services in French at team meetings.