Justice Richard: Official Languages

Boivin Dept: The Federation des communautes francophones et acadienne du Canada is asking the court to restore the mandatory questionnaire as part of the 2011 census and reverse the government's decision to turn it into a voluntary survey, according to Montreal Gazette. "This is not the only data that is necessary," he said. "To know just the number of francophones is not sufficient. It's just one set of data among other statistics that is necessary." An organization representing French-speaking Canadians argued in Federal Court yesterday that the Harper government is still violating its duties under the Official Languages Act, despite offering a compromise on its decision to scrap the long-form census. After announcing it would scrap the long-form census, the government made a compromise to add new questions about written and spoken languages on the mandatory short-form census after the federation launched its challenge and the court agreed to fast-track the case. Lawyer Rupert Baudais, who is representing the federation, told Justice Richard Boivin that the government has a duty to protect and support the vitality of minority English-and French-speaking communities across the country, but it cannot do this without all of the data on the long form census. As reported in the news.
@t montreal gazette, voluntary survey