An Act for the Substantive Equality of Canada's Official Languages

An Act for the Substantive Equality of Canada's Official Languages
Parliament of Canada
Long title An Act to amend the Official Languages Act, to enact the Use of French in Federally Regulated Private Businesses Act and to make related amendments to other Acts
Citation	S.C. 2023, c. 15
Considered by	House of Commons of Canada
Considered by	Senate of Canada
Legislative history
First chamber:
Bill citation	Bill C-13
Introduced by	Ginette Petitpas Taylor MP
First reading	2022-03-01
Second reading	2022-05-30
Third reading	2023-05-15
Second chamber: Senate of Canada
Member(s) in charge	René Cormier
First reading	2023-05-16
Second reading	2023-06-01
Third reading	2023-06-15
Status: In force

An Act for the Substantive Equality of Canada's Official Languages^{[note 1]} is an act of the Canadian Parliament which requires the federal Government of Canada to promote the French language, in order to provide for susbtantive equality, rather than formal equality.^[1]

In March 2021, the Canadian federal government unveiled a plan to "modernize" the Official Languages Act.^[1] The plan focused on achieving "substantive equality" rather than "formal equality", which required a focus on different treatment for different realities.^[1] A bill with the title "An Act for the Substantive Equality of French and English and the Strengthening of the Official Languages Act" was introduced to Parliament in June 2021, but this occurred just after the 2021 federal election was called.^[2]

During the federal election, the Liberal Party of Canada pledged to introduce legislation to implement the plan within 100 days.^[3]

The Act requires increasing francophone migration to Canada, outside of Quebec.^[4]

The Act also enacts the Use of French in Federally Regulated Private Businesses Act as a secondary act, which requires that federally regulated businesses provide services in the French language in Quebec.^[5]

The Parliamentary Budget Officer estimated that compliance could cost CA$240,000,000 initially and CA$20,000,000 annually in ongoing costs.^[6]

The shift from formal equality to substantive equality was described as "remarkable" by François Larocque, Professor and Research Chair in Language Rights at the University of Ottawa.^[1]

The Act has been heavily criticized by organisations representing the Anglophone community in Quebec for not safeguarding their rights symmetrically.^[7] Liberal MP Anthony Housefather was the sole vote against the bill at third reading.^[8]

The decision of the Supreme Court to only translate certain pre-1970 judgements rather than all pre-1970 judgements was criticised by three professors at the University of Ottawa as being against the principle of "substantive equality".^[9]