Three minority-language groups from Eastern Canada are teaming up to demand parties involved in the Oct. 21 federal election commit to strengthening the Official Languages Act by imposing stiffer sanctions on offenders.

Three minority-language groups from Eastern Canada are teaming up to demand parties involved in the Oct. 21 federal election commit to strengthening the Official Languages Act by imposing stiffer sanctions on offenders.

The unlikely coalition includes the Quebec Community Groups Network, the main alliance that represents English-speaking Quebecers; the Assemblée de la francophonie de l’Ontario; and the Société de l’Acadie du Nouveau-Brunswick, which looks after the interests of francophones in the maritime province.

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“There’s a high degree of consensus on what should be done with the act. We would like that consensus converted into an undertaking by the parties in the election, and then an actual adoption of measures in the new parliament,” Geoffrey Chambers, president of the QCGN, told the Montreal Gazette in an editorial board interview on Thursday.

The alliance “is kind of a motley crew,” said Ali Chaisson, head of Société de l’Acadie du Nouveau-Brunswick. “It’s English and French, it’s people from three different provinces with different realities. But it’s a common good thing that we are trying to accomplish here.”

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Enacted in 1969, the Official Languages Act gives French and English equal status regarding their use in federal institutions — stipulating, for instance, that Canadians have the right to receive services from the government and Crown corporations in both languages. A company like Air Canada, a former Crown corporation still subject to the act, has been fined several times over the years for violating it.

Mélanie Joly, who was the minister in charge of official languages in the Trudeau government, held multiple consultations this year as part of a drive to revamp the act. While the Liberal Party, the New Democratic Party and the Green Party have all pledged to modernize the act, they’ve shared few details.

High on the coalition’s wish list is a demand that a central agency “with strong credibility” such as the Treasury Board be given the responsibility to coordinate the implementation of the act, said Carol Jolin, president of the Assemblée de la Francophonie de l’Ontario.

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Furthermore, Jolin said, an administrative tribunal should be created to hear complaints about the implementation of the act, with the power to impose binding orders and sanctions on federal institutions.

“We want a law with teeth,” Jolin said. “Right now people can file a complaint, there are investigations and recommendations, but it’s up to the minister to put them into action. Usually there are no sanctions and nothing that we can do about them. That has to change.”

Without endorsing any one party, Jolin said the coalition’s best hope of achieving the desired results may lie in the election of a minority government.

“A majority government will probably demand more lobbying from us to make sure they don’t go into another round of consultations,” he said.