Bill C-13 receives royal assent: Federally regulated private businesses will soon have linguistic obligations

On June 20, Bill C-13¹ received royal assent. This bill is divided in three parts: Part I amends the Official Languages Act (OLA), Part II enacts the Use of French in Federally Regulated Private Businesses Act (Act) and Part III sets out the provisions for entry into force. This legal update provides a brief overview of the second part, which aims at fostering and protecting the use of French in federally regulated private businesses (FRPB).

Upon its entry into force on a day to be fixed by order of the Governor in Council², the Act will only apply to FRPBs with workplaces in Quebec. Two years later, the scope of most obligations set out in the Act will be extended to FRPBs with workplaces in regions with a strong francophone presence³. However, the Act provides three noteworthy exclusions: (1) entities already subject to the OLA; (2) and businesses that employ fewer employees than a number yet to be specified by regulation and (3) businesses in the broadcasting sector⁴. It is important to note that businesses may choose to be subject to Quebec’s Charter of the French Language (hereinafter, “the Quebec Charter”) instead of the Act.⁵ 

Obligations related to consumers

The Act establishes a right for consumers to communicate and obtain services in French from FRPBs carrying on business in Quebec.⁶ This applies to both oral and written communications as well as to any document or activity related to those communications or services.⁷ 

Obligations related to employees

For FRPBs, the obligations introduced by the Act are similar to those imposed by the Quebec Charter. Notably, employees who work in Quebec are entitled to carry out their work and be supervised in French, as well as use most work instruments and computer systems in French.⁸ The Act also sets out the right of employees, and the trade unions representing them, to receive all communications and documents from the FRPB in French, including employment application forms, offers of employment, individual employment contracts, documents related to the conditions of employment, and collective agreements.⁹ This right continues after the employee ceases to be employed by the business. 

However, if the employer and employee so agree, communications and documents, including employment contracts, may be provided exclusively in a language other than French. If the employment contract is a contract of adhesion, its French version must also be provided to the employee prior to entering the contract in another language.¹⁰  “Widely distributed” communications can also be bilingual, but the use of French must be at least equivalent to the use of any other language. 

In unionized environments, FRPBs must ensure that arbitral awards for grievances or disputes related to employees of the business who occupy or are assigned to positions in a workplace in Quebec are issued in French or translated into French without delay at the expense of the business and provided to the parties to the arbitration in both linguistic versions simultaneously. If the award was issued exclusively in French and a party to the arbitration requests a translation in a language other than French, this must also be done as soon as feasible at the employer’s expense.¹¹ These obligations may therefore result in significant costs for employers in the future. 

Measures to foster French in the workplace

Among the measures adopted to encourage the use of French in the workplace, FRPBs must establish a committee to develop programs intended to generalize the use of French at all levels in the business. The Act also protects against adverse treatment of employees who only speak French, do not have sufficient knowledge of a language other than French, or exercise their rights under the Act. That said, FRPBs are not precluded from requiring that an employee have knowledge of a language other than French if such knowledge is objectively required by the nature of the work.¹²  

Employees already in a position in a Quebec workplace on or before the entry into force of the Act will, however, be protected from any adverse treatment resulting from their insufficient knowledge of French.¹³ 

Takeaways

FRPBs should prepare for the coming into force of the Act, as non-compliant businesses may be subject to a complaint to the Commissioner of Official Languages. That said, further guidance is required, especially relating to the threshold number of employees triggering the application of the Act. Until then, certain businesses operating in Quebec may not know whether or not they are subject to the Act. 

Although at this time we note that a key difference between the Act and the Quebec Charter is that the latter imposes more stringent francization obligations depending on a business’s number of employees, FRPBs should carefully assess their particular circumstances in order to decide whether to be subject to the Act or the Quebec Charter. In any case, it is expected that the Act will have major implications for a number of FRPBs, especially once its reach is expanded to regions with a strong francophone presence in the years following its entry into force.

It is also important to note that the government will be publishing a number of regulations with regard to the Act. We will continue to monitor any such developments.

The authors wish to thank Cécilia Barrette-Leduc, articling student, for her help in preparing this legal update.