Ontario marks the anniversary of the modernization of the French Language Services Act

December 06, 2022

TORONTO ― Today, Caroline Mulroney, Minister of Francophone Affairs, issued the following statement:

“This week marks an important and defining anniversary for the province’s Francophone community. One year ago, on December 9, 2021, the modernized French Language Services Act received Royal Assent. In addition to ensuring greater accountability of ministries, government agencies and third-party organizations in their delivery of French language services, the modernized Act makes the active offer provision the cornerstone of access to quality French language services.

It is in this spirit that we have created a new active offer regulation under the Act. O. Reg 284/11 Active Offer of Services in French — Prescribed Measures sets out the specific actions that must be taken to fulfill the active offer obligation and gives Ontario one of the most developed frameworks surrounding the provision of active offer in government services.

The regulation requires that organizations responsible for delivering services on behalf of the government are proactive in informing the public of the availability of these services and in offering them at the time of request.

This time last year, for the first time in over 35 years, Ontario took a historic and concrete step by proclaiming a modernized version of the French Language Services Act with substantial amendments. Today, Ontario is reaffirming its commitment to improving the delivery of French language services and making them more accessible to all Francophones. The active offer regulation is another key step towards the continued improvement of French language services so that the needs of Ontario’s Francophone communities today can be met.”