The Workplace of the Commissioner of Official Languages says it is going to examine the method for nominating governors normal after receiving tons of of complaints from Canadians upset that the latest nominee, Mary Simon, can not converse French.
The workplace says it has acquired greater than 430 complaints and that it considers a lot of them to be admissible.
Simon is Inuit and was educated in a federal day faculty within the Nunavik area, the place she was not given the chance to be taught French as a toddler.
She has promised to attempt to be taught it in her place as governor normal. Many francophones have questioned why she didn’t accomplish that throughout the almost 20 years she spent working for the Division of International Affairs.
Commissioner Raymond Théberge mentioned he was not shocked by the variety of complaints.
“I anticipated plenty of complaints as a result of, for a large number of Canadians, the query of official languages and linguistic duality is essential,” he mentioned. “The complaints maintain coming.”
Théberge mentioned his workplace acknowledges Simon’s “private qualities, her contribution however the query is: are we setting a precedent for the nomination of senior officers in Canada for years to come back?”
Théberge mentioned the investigation will look not into Simon personally however somewhat look at the method used to appoint a governor normal.
“The Official Languages Act applies to federal establishments,” Théberge mentioned, “to not people. The investigation will look into the Privy Council Workplace. It won’t look into Mrs. Simon however into the method that led to her nomination.”
Simon will probably be put in as Canada’s governor normal on July 26. She would be the first Indigenous individual to carry the place.
