The road to French services

We received a complaint from a man who had recently moved to Canada. Although his motorcycle licence was valid in his home country, he was required to re-take the test in Ontario. The man had been assigned an English-speaking examiner for his motorcycle road test, even though he requested a French-speaking examiner in advance at a designated DriveTest centre.

We received a complaint from a man who had recently moved to Canada. Although his motorcycle licence was valid in his home country, he was required to re-take the test in Ontario. The man had been assigned an English-speaking examiner for his motorcycle road test, even though he requested a French-speaking examiner in advance at a designated DriveTest centre.

The man told our Office that because he couldn’t understand the directions given by the examiner during his exam, he failed the road test. He called us because he was worried that, although he was an experienced driver, he would have to repeat the entire motorcycle licensing process from the beginning.

Staff at our French Language Services Unit contacted the Ministry of Transportation and learned that this DriveTest centre had no certified bilingual examiner for motorcycle road tests. Thanks to our intervention, the man's road test was rescheduled, this time with a bilingual examiner dispatched from another DriveTest location.

The Ministry also informed our Office that it has made arrangements to ensure there are staff available to handle bilingual road test requests at the designated DriveTest location.

Learn more about the French Language Services Unit which answers questions and takes complaints about services in French.