OBJECTIVES
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The purpose of the study is to focus on how the commissions carried out the government’s commitment to enhance the vitality of Francophone and Anglophone minorities under Part VII of the Official Languages Act. Among other things, it looks at the mechanisms put in place by the commissions to take the vitality of official language minority communities into account in their readjustment decisions, particularly in applying the concepts of community of interest or community of identity or the historical pattern of an electoral district, concepts which, under the Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act, they are required to take into consideration.
The findings of the study will serve to enlighten the government about what action needs be taken, where applicable, to ensure that the commissions fully uphold the government’s commitment to official language communities, with due regard to the impact of their decisions on these communities. This has become even more important since the adoption of Bill S-3 in November 2005, which strengthens the scope of Part VII of the Official Languages Act. From now on, federal institutions shall “ensure that positive measures are taken” to “enhance the vitality of the English and French linguistic minority communities.”
Lastly, one of the objectives of the study is to ensure that the investigatory powers of the Commissioner of Official Languages, to protect the language rights of official language communities, are fully recognized by the commissions without thereby affecting the independence of commissions, which remains a basic principle.
