Press release
Reports by Quebec’s French Language Commissioner

The Quebec Federation of Labour (QFL) takes note of the report by Quebec’s French Language Commissioner on the francization of businesses and shares several of its findings.

For example, with the integration into the labour market of tens of thousands of immigrants in recent years, the need for French language learning in workplaces has increased significantly. At the same time, the Commissioner notes that the process of francization in businesses remains fragile.

“The Commissioner’s report clearly indicates that the mechanisms adopted by the government show certain shortcomings, particularly in terms of the ability to assess needs and monitor the progress of French language learning in the workplace. As a society, we have made the choice to no longer tolerate the decline in the use of French as the normal and customary language of work. As recommended by the Commissioner, the Office québécois de la langue française must adapt its practices to push businesses forward and, in particular, require them to invest more firmly in French language training at work,” said QFL Secretary General Olivier Carrière.

The QFL agrees with the Commissioner: employers who hire workers who do not sufficiently master French have a social and legal responsibility to actively support them in achieving this. “It is urgent that we equip ourselves with the means to make workplace francization and workers’ language integration a unifying project for an open and inclusive society, and a collective success. For us, this involves updating tools and providing adequate support from the Office to enable francization committees to fully play their role, and for employers to take responsibility by setting clear francization targets. It also requires an end to budget cuts in various francization services in order to ensure greater accessibility and a more diverse range of training offers aimed at supporting workers’ language skills in the workplace and during working hours,” added the Secretary General.

Finally, the federation recalls that worker representatives can play an important and constructive role in assessing the linguistic situation and implementing business francization programs. “The QFL has always promoted social dialogue in the workplace as a lever for developing language policies and strategies, and francization committees, where they exist, have been contributing positively for nearly half a century. The time may have come to recognize this expertise and extend its benefits to companies with 50 employees or more, in order to support the collective effort to generalize the use of French in Quebec workplaces,” concluded the Secretary General.

Translated into English by SEU800 from the original French-language press release.