PIPSC marks the 50th anniversary of the coming into effect of the Official Languages Act on September 7, 1969, and the 10th anniversary of the Linguistic Duality Day celebrated annually on the second Thursday of September throughout the public service of Canada.
The act establishes the equality of status of French and English. Accordingly, it sets out broad principles with respect to official languages in the federal public service.
Our overall position is that PIPSC supports bilingualism both as an organization, as demonstrated by our Policy on Official Languages, and in the public service of Canada.
Specifically, we support:
- The protection of both official languages, as well as Indigenous languages.
- The rights of all workers to work in their official language of choice – including full-time or part-time public servants and government contractors.
- The obligation to provide services in designated government offices in both official languages – whether service delivery is effected by full time or part-time public servants or government contractors.
- The work of the National Joint Council (NJC) on the upcoming reopening of the Bilingualism Bonus Directive, with an aim to better support the use of both official languages amongst federal government employees.
On March 2019, the government undertook a consultation exercise to review the Official Languages Act where PIPSC shared its views on improvements needed. Also, PIPSC staff and elected officials have participated in a town hall and forums, as well as joined other stakeholders at the Symposium on the 50th anniversary of the Official Languages Act.
At the June Board of Directors’ meeting, PIPSC established a Standing Committee on Official Languages responsible for advising and making recommendations to the Board. The committee’s mandate will be presented and adopted at 2019 PIPSC AGM in November.
PIPSC’s Committee on Official Languages welcomes your comments and questions. Email us at gtlo_tfol@pipsc.ca.