The decline of french - M. Carney, the ball is in your court

September 13, 2025

The decline of french - M. Carney, the ball is in your court

Open Letter

The Right Honourable Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada
c/o Prime Minister's Office 80 Wellington Street Ottawa, ON K1A 0A2 Media@pmo-cpm.gc.ca

Subject - Measures to Promote the Substantive Equality of the Two Official Languages

Since your predecessor's Bill C-13 in 2023 (for which he obtained the support of all parties in the House), the Official Languages Act recognizes that French is in a minority situation in Canada and aims for the substantive (rather than merely official) equality of English and French.

A significant proportion, if not a majority, of Quebecers consider that federalism is not favourable to, but rather represents an obstacle to, the protection and promotion of French in Quebec. Bill C-13 was a partial but important response to this legitimate concern.

To be fully effective, Bill C-13 must be completed under your leadership. It is up to you to act decisively and swiftly.

We thank you in advance for your attention to this open letter; the complete version of our letter can be found on our website.

Marc J. Ryan, info@BMQC.org, www.BMQC.org, Biography

cc- M. Michael Sabia, Clerk of the Privy council and Secretary to the Cabinet
80, Wellington street Ottawa (Ontario) K1A 0A3 info@pco-bcp.gc.ca

The Year 2026, a Pivotal Year

2026 promises to be an important political year in Quebec, and consequently in Canada. A sovereignist party is leading in the polls, and a referendum is on the horizon. The protection and promotion of French in the federal system would undoubtedly be a key issue in any referendum. You will be judged on how you defend Quebec's place in the confederation.

What will your plan be?

The law on official languages before and after PL-C-13

A Reminder: Your Predecessor's Linguistic Legacy

The federal language policy originally established by Pierre Trudeau's government in the 1960s officially treated French and English equally. Your predecessor, Justin Trudeau, has a mixed record on linguistic matters, but he introduced, to the surprise of many, a major bill, Bill C-13 on the promotion of French, which modified his father's original vision. C-13 represents a mini-linguistic revolution. It puts an end to the dogma of linguistic symmetry in Canada, recognizing the largely minority status of French in Canada and the legitimate role of Bill 101 (post-Bill 96) in promoting French in Quebec. From now on, the objective of the Official Languages Act is to promote the true equality of both languages.

This bill was the result of a combination of circumstances, including:

- the steady decline in the number of Francophones in Canada since the adoption of the Official Languages Act

- a minority government that was therefore more inclined to consider the linguistic demands of the Bloc Québécois and other parties.

- a report entitled GOVERNMENT MEASURES TO PROTECT AND PROMOTE FRENCH IN QUEBEC AND IN CANADA https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2023/parl/xc60-1/XC60-1-1-441-2-eng.pdf by the House of Commons Committee on Official Languages, composed of 12 members from the four main political parties. The Committee considered the arguments of various linguistic experts and unanimously recognized the decline of French in Canada AND in Quebec. For more information, see my analysis of the Committee's report here.

This bill (now 2023 SC ch. 15) was passed despite the opposition of the English-speaking lobby group Quebec Community Group Network (QCGN), which still refuses to acknowledge the decline of French in Quebec; see in particular this letter and brief from QCGN.

Your Reluctance to Date on Linguistic Matters

In your election campaign, you clearly chose not to seek a confrontation with QCGN. As a result, your election platform left little room for the promotion of French. In fact, your election platform on this point was the weakest of the four main parties. https://www.bmqc.org/en/articles/lelection-federale-2025-et-la-protection-et-promotion-du-francais

The Aftermath of Bill C-13 - An Opportunity for You to Take

C-13 is not the end of the story of the need to promote French in Canada and Quebec. Rather, it is the beginning of a long process that must be initiated, and which will not be completed until the objective of true equality of the two languages has been achieved.

Federal legislation must be reviewed by your office in its entirety and amended to comply with the new objectives of the OLA. In the second part of this open letter, we provide some examples of legislation that are deficient in this regard.
You must appoint a new Commissioner of Official Languages who accepts linguistic asymmetry (which the current Commissioner refuses to do).
You must give clear instructions to your ministers to administer their portfolios in accordance with the changes brought about by Bill C-13. In particular, your Minister of Justice must weigh all his interventions to enforce/interpret the Charter by considering its impact on true equality between the two languages and the legitimate role of Bill 101 in protecting and promoting French.
You must review the language of work at the federal level (government and private companies under federal jurisdiction) in Quebec, to put an end to any ambiguity regarding the language of work. It has been more than 50 years since the B & B Commission recommended that the language of work in Quebec be French; see Valérie Gagnon, p. 106. You must say this publicly, without hesitation, and adopt the corresponding legislation.
You must ensure that the government will be able to resist lobbying by organizations like QCGN every time they seek to challenge Bill C-13. Parliament has considered and rejected their positions. Yes, French is in decline; the popular will must not be frustrated by responding to occult maneuvers.
In any new round of constitutional negotiations, it will be up to you to demonstrate to Quebecers, in words and in deeds, that federalism can be favorable to the protection and promotion of French in Quebec. The bar is high. To do this, you will need to be convinced of it yourself, and hire equally committed assistants. I am confident that Michael Sabia, your Cabinet Secretary, is well equipped to advise you in this regard.

You have a busy legislative agenda.

Federal legislation must be reviewed by your office in its entirety and amended to comply with the new objectives of the OLA. The next part of this letter explains in more detail the changes brought about by Bill C-13 and provides examples of the legislative measures that are required.

The Post-Bill C-13 Official Languages Act

Bill C-13 represents a mini-linguistic revolution. Thanks to amendments by Bill C-13 (now 2023 SC c. 15), federal language legislation (Official Languages Act OLA ss. 2 (b).1), 41 (2) and 45.1 (1) (b)) now explicitly recognizes that French is in a minority situation in Canada and North America due to the predominant use of English and requires special promotion.

OLA 2 The purpose of this Act is: ...

(b.1) advance the equality of status and use of the English and French languages within Canadian society, taking into account the fact that French is in a minority situation in Canada and North America due to the predominant use of English and that there is a diversity of provincial and territorial language regimes that contribute to the advancement, including Quebec’s Charter of the French language, which provides that French is the official language of Quebec;

Federal language legislation recognizes, in particular, the role of Bill 101 (Charter of the French Language) in redressing this inequality (Official Languages Act, preamble, s. 2 (b).1) and 45.1 (1) (b).

OLA 41 (2) The Government of Canada, recognizing and taking into account that French is in a minority situation in Canada and North America due to the predominant use of English, is committed to protecting and promoting the French language.

OLA 45.1 (1) The Government of Canada recognizes the importance of cooperating with provincial and territorial governments in the implementation of this Part, taking into account the diversity of the provincial and territorial language regimes that contribute to the advancement of the equality of status and use of English and French in Canadian society, including that...

(b) Quebec’s Charter of the French language provides that French is the official language of Quebec;

Yet federal non-linguistic legislation has not been amended to take into account the decline and need for protection of French in Canada in general, and in Quebec in particular, where French is the official language.

GAPS IN CURRENT NON-LINGUISTIC FEDERAL LAW

In practice, federal non-linguistic legislation currently favours the use of English, including in Quebec, and does not follow through on the commitment in the OLA to promote substantive equality between English and French.

Federal language legislation aims for the equal use of French and English. But in reality, English is omnipresent outside Quebec and constitutes the common language of communication and work. In Quebec, Bill 101 has a different objective: that French be the common language. However, many federal laws officially permit the use of either French or English, which disproportionately results in choosing English, even in Quebec. There are undoubtedly many examples of such gaps in current non-linguistic federal legislation.

Here are five specific examples among others of federal legislation that should be updated.

CITIZENSHIP

The Citizenship Act, 1985 SC c. C-29, sets out the conditions for becoming a Canadian citizen.

Section 5 requires knowledge of either English or French to obtain citizenship:

5 (1) The Minister shall grant citizenship to any person who (a) makes application for citizenship;... (d) if 18 years of age or more but less than 55 years of age at the date of his or her application, has an adequate knowledge of one of the official languages of Canada;

The Bloc Québécois proposed Bill C-223 in 2020 to amend this provision in the case of an immigrant ordinarily resident in Quebec to require an adequate knowledge of French; For more information, see this 2021 summary from the Government of Canada, which states that English is significantly overrepresented in Quebec's language tests leading to citizenship: Quebec had the highest naturalization rate for the period under review.

Quebec had the highest naturalization rate of all provinces for the 2009-2012 cohort (63% vs 53% Canadian average).For fiscal year 2018-2019, out of the 19,456 citizenship tests administered by the Department in Quebec, 28% (5,438) were in English and 72% (14,018) in French. For reference, in the same year, a total of 126,690 knowledge tests were conducted across the country including 110,612 (87%) in English and 16,088 (13%) in French.

The Conservatives had supported the Bloc's Bill C-223, but the lack of support from the Liberals and the NDP meant that Bill C-213 was never passed; see articles in Le Devoir and HebdoRiveNord. The defeat of Bill C-213 occurred before the passage of Bill C-13 in 2023. Will the new recognition of Bill 101 in Bill C-13 change your party's vote in the future?

IMMIGRATION

Immigration to Canada is at a historic high, with negative impacts on the proportion of Francophones in the country; see statistics since 1871. The Immigration and Refugee Protection Act regulates the admission of immigrants to Canada. Section 3 of this Act stipulates that:

3 The objectives of this Act with respect to immigration are:.. (b1) to support and assist the development of minority official languages communities in Canada;

This is Trudeau's vision of immigration, which treated Anglophone and Francophone minorities equally. But it was never a realistic vision. Thus, minimum targets were set for Francophone immigration outside Quebec, but the same was not done, for obvious reasons, for Anglophone immigration to Quebec. On the contrary, an immigration agreement between Canada and Quebec recognizes the desire of both parties to ensure the integration of immigrants in the province that respects the distinct character of Quebec society.

Bill C-13 put an end to the dogma of the symmetry of linguistic minorities in Canada. Section 3 of the Immigration Act must be revised to reflect Bill C-13.

PATENTS

The Federal Patent Act (PA SC 1985 chp. P-4) grants a legal monopoly across Canada eligible patents. art.27 and 42.

27 (1) The Commissioner shall grant a patent for an invention to the inventor or the inventor’s legal representative if an application for the patent
in Canada is filed in accordance with this Act and all other requirements for the issuance of a patent under this Act are met..

42 Every patent granted under this Act shall contain the title or name of the invention, with a reference to the specification, and shall, subject to this Act, grant to the patentee and the patentee’s legal representatives for the term of the patent, from the granting of the patent, the exclusive right, privilege and liberty of making, constructing and using the invention and selling it to others to be used, subject to adjudication in respect thereof before any court of competent jurisdiction.

The PA authorizes the filing of documents in English or French; other languages require translation.

12 (1) The Governor in Council may make rules or regulations:...

j.72) respecting the replacement of all or part of the text matter of a specification or drawing contained in an application for a patent that is in a language other than English or French with a translation into English or French, for the purposes of paragraph 38.2(3)(b).

In practice, this means that the vast majority of applications are filed and granted in English only, but benefit from an exclusive right, faculty and privilege of use, even in Quebec.

The BA should be amended to provide that this right, privilege and liberty of use does not apply in Quebec in the absence of a request and grant of the patent in French, or in English and in French.

TRADEMARKS

The Federal Trademark Act TMA (LB SC chp. P-4) grants a legal monopoly across Canada to eligible trademarks. See 19.

19 Subject to sections 21, 32 and 67, the registration of a trademark in respect of any goods or services, unless shown to be invalid, gives to the owner of the trademark the exclusive right to the use throughout Canada of the trademark in respect of those goods or services.

The TMA accepts the filing of documents in English or French; other languages require translation. Art. 31(1).

In practice, this means that the vast majority of trademark applications are filed and granted in English only, but benefit from an exclusive right of use, with regard to these products or services, in all of Canada, even in Quebec. This has caused problems since the adoption of Bill 101 in 1977 because holders of trademarks registered in English only at the federal level invoke the right to use their brand in English only, even in Quebec.

To put an end to these conflicts, it would be necessary to modify the TMA to provide that this exclusive right of use does not apply in Quebec in the absence of registration of the trademark in French, or in English and in French.

CORPORATE NAMES

The Canada Business Corporations Act (CBCA SC 1985 cp. C-44) contemplates the filing of articles of incorporation to create a federal business corporation, including the designation of its corporate name.

6 (1) Articles of incorporation shall follow the form that the Director fixes and shall set out, in respect of the proposed corporation,

(a) the name of the corporation;

The CBCA allows any company thus formed to do business anywhere in Canada.

15 (1) A corporation has the capacity and, subject to this Act, the rights, powers and privileges of a natural person.

(2) A corporation may carry on business throughout Canada.

The CBCA does not require a corporate name to be in French.

In practice, this means that the vast majority of corporate names are filed and granted in English only, but benefit from the right of use throughout Canada, even in Quebec. This has caused problems since the adoption of Law 101 in 1977 because Bill 101 contains its own rules on business names. Additionally, a company name is often also registered as a trademark. Holders of corporate names registered in English only at the federal level often invoke the right to use them in English only in Quebec.

To put an end to these conflicts, it would be necessary to amend the CBCA to provide that this right to use a corporate name does not apply in Quebec in the absence of federal filing of the corporate name in French, or in English and by French.

CONCLUSION

The adoption of PL C-13 was an important change, but there is much to do to follow up on the federal commitment to promote French in Quebec. All federal legislation must be revised and updated to reflect PL-C-13. Does the political will exist?