Today, the Honourable Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Minister for Official Languages, supported by the Honourable Mona Fortier, President of the Treasury Board, and the Honourable David Lametti, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, tabled an improved bill for substantive equality between Canada’s official languages.

More than 30 years after the last major reform, the Official Languages Act required modernization to keep pace with a society that has experienced profound social, demographic and technological changes.

This new version significantly improves the Official Languages Act to address the decline of French in Canada; clarify and strengthen the part of the Act concerning the promotion of official languages and supporting official-language minority communities; improve compliance by federal institutions concerning official languages; and achieve a balance so that as many Canadians as possible can identify with this modernization.