Event: The Official Languages Act and Quebec’s English-speaking Community

Date: Thursday March 25
Time: 5 to 6 p.m.

As part of the Quebec Community Groups Network’s effort to better inform our community about its language rights, we are hosting a series of webinars. This second in the series The Official Languages Act and Quebec’s English-speaking Community will feature journalist, author and lecturer Graham Fraser, the former Commission of Official Languages.

Canada’s longest service Commission of Official Languages, Graham Fraser intervened in many judicial cases in Canada in order to defend the linguistic rights of Canadians. In 2007, he intervened in a case which opposed the abolition of the Court Challenges Program which led to the official languages minority component of the program being restored under the Language Rights Support Program. Fraser also appeared before the Supreme Court of Canada as a co-appellant in the DesRochers (CALDECH) case, which resulted in the Court’s broadening the interpretation of Part IV of the Official Languages Act and recognizing the public’s right to receive service of equal quality in both official languages. In 2008, he intervened in the Nguyen case, in which the Supreme Court’s interpretation took into account the interests of official language communities with regard to the rights guaranteed by section 23 of the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms. Since leaving his post as Commissioner, Fraser has lectured on language policy in universities across Canada. He is a Senior Fellow, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa and was a visiting professor at the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada. He is currently editing the diary that F. R. Scott kept during the years of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism.

Register here to received the secure link to attend.