“We were looking to clarify and strengthen certain obligations,” explains Marie-Lison Fougère, Deputy Minister for Francophone Affairs.
The most important innovation concerns the principle of active offer, which is now integrated and defined in the Act. That is to say that the services in French must be indicated and communicated to the client from the first contact.
“Francophones have rights. And these rights, they must not shout and demand to have them. Service providers must put in place the necessary mechanisms to proactively offer them to Francophones,” explains Tharcisse Ntakibirora, specialist in charge of planning at the Toronto Central LHIN.
The Act provides that a regulation will define “the basic measures that all organizations must put forward,” reports Marie-Lison Fougère. “He will look into the comment of active offer, so that there is a certain uniformity in the practices of organizations.”
This modernization comes as complaints against the Department of Health accounted for 15.4% of cases reviewed by Kelly Burke, the French Language Services Commissioner. This, out of the 351 complaints examined from 1is October 2020 to September 30, 2021 by his office.
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