Ontario commissioner finds major gaps in ServiceOntario's French services

In a report released Thursday, French Language Services Commissioner Carl Bouchard describes many francophones being told “Sorry, no one here speaks French” at offices that handle driver's licences and health cards.

Cases in the report

• Toronto: help from a store next door
• Windsor: an employee used gestures
• Ottawa: French only during regular hours
• The only bilingual worker was off that day

The report lists cases such as a Toronto office relying on a French-speaking worker from a neighbouring store, and a Windsor employee using gestures to communicate.

Locations with no bilingual staff

12 service points

Twelve ServiceOntario locations required to offer services in French had no bilingual employee at all, the commissioner found.

“These are not suggestions or mere administrative formalities,” Bouchard said of language rights, which he called constitutional and quasi-constitutional rights or values.

— Carl Bouchard, French Language Services Commissioner

Among the 25 recommendations

• French services at every designated-region office
• A minimum number of bilingual positions
• Up-to-date data on bilingual staff
• Active-offer training within six months

Bouchard makes 25 recommendations, including a minimum number of bilingual positions at each office in the province's 25 designated regions.