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When I heard about the government of Ontario’s decision to eliminate the Office of the French Language Services Commissioner and to scrap plans for a French-language university in Toronto, I came to the sad conclusion that the trend to undermine language rights knows no borders.

As we’ve seen, the shock wave created by this announcement has sparked outrage not only among Ontario francophones, but among Canadians across the country. Needless to say, I am profoundly dismayed by this setback for language rights.

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We’re starting to see examples of this well beyond Ontario’s borders, like the decision to move Saskatchewan’s Francophone Affairs Branch from the province’s Executive Council to the Ministry of Parks, Culture and Sport; the uncertainty surrounding the future of linguistic duality in New Brunswick following the most recent provincial election; the disappearance of the French Education Branch in Alberta’s Ministry of Education, where French-language services are now integrated with those of the majority; the lack of progress in developing a legislative framework for French-language services in British Columbia; and the Coalition Avenir Québec’s announcement during the last provincial election that it would eliminate all elected English-language school boards, along with French ones, and replace them with service centres whose boards are chosen by parents.