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<h1 itemprop="headline" class="">Fraser: Pearson's dream of bilingualism, 50 years later</h1>
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<a itemprop="name" class="" href="http://ottawacitizen.com/author/graham-fraser"><img alt="" src="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/ad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536?s=33" class="" height="33" width="33"> <span class="">Graham Fraser</span><br> <span class="">More from Graham Fraser</span></a> </div>
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Published on: April 6, 2016 | Last Updated: April 6, 2016 6:00 AM EDT </div>
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<img itemprop="url" class="" alt="Former prime minister Lester B. Pearson." src="http://wpmedia.ottawacitizen.com/2016/04/former-prime-minister-lester-b-pearson.jpeg?quality=55&strip=all&w=840&h=630&crop=1" height="630" width="840">
<p><span class="">Fifty years ago today, Lester Pearson articulated a vision for a bilingual public service that would bring Canadians together.</span>
<span class=""><span itemprop="copyrightHolder">Toronto Sun Files</span></span> </p>
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<p>Fifty years ago, Prime Minister Lester Pearson rose in the House
of Commons to articulate his government’s language policy. It was a
remarkable statement, delivered a year before the first volume of the
report of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism was
published and three years before the Official Languages Act was passed.</p>
<p>Pearson began by framing the issue of bilingualism in the public
service in terms of attracting the most competent and qualified
Canadians, stressing what he called “the fundamental objective of
promoting and strengthening national unity” by establishing the equality
of rights and opportunities for both English-speaking and
French-speaking Canadians.</p>
<p>“In a diverse federal state such as Canada it is important that all
citizens should have a fair and equal opportunity to participate in the
national administration and to identify themselves with, and feel at
home in, their own national capital,” he said.</p>
<p>Then Pearson moved directly to the heart of the policy. He said that
“the government hopes and expects that, within a reasonable period of
years,” the federal public service would reach a state of affairs in
which:</p>
<p>“(a) it will be normal practice for oral or written communications
within the service to be made in either official language at the option
of the person making them, in the knowledge that they will be understood
by those directly concerned;</p>
<p>“(b) communications with the public will normally be in either official language, having regard to the person being served;</p>
<p>“(c) the linguistic and cultural values of both English speaking and
French speaking Canadians will be reflected through civil service
recruitment and training; and</p>
<p>“(d) a climate will be created in which public servants from both
language groups will work together toward common goals, using their own
language and applying their respective cultural values, but each fully
understanding and appreciating those of the other.”</p>
<p>That was 50 years ago today. Anyone parsing that statement can see
the framework – and the spirit– of the Official Languages Act and,
later, parts of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.</p>
<p>At times, I think that the language policies of the federal
government would be better understood if, instead of talking either
admiringly or dismissively of “Trudeau’s dream” or referring to Part IV
and Part V of the Official Languages Act, which remain abstract and
technical even for public servants, people asked themselves the
questions that Pearson’s speech still evokes.</p>
<p>Do English-speaking and French-speaking Canadians feel equally at
home in Ottawa? Do public servants communicate with the public in the
official language of their client’s choice? Is it normal practice for
public servants to speak and write in the official language of their
choice, knowing that they will be understood? Are linguistic and
cultural values of both official language groups reflected in public
service recruitment and training? Is there a climate that encourages
English- and French-speaking public servants to work together, using
their own language and applying their own cultural values, but fully
understanding and appreciating those of the other?</p>
<p> Huge progress has been made over the past half-century in the area
of language policy. But my office continues to get complaints from
citizens who have not been served in the official language of their
choice. Public servants usually use the majority language in meetings
and in their written work. The culture of the federal public service is
often the culture of the majority. And the manager or executive who
actively encourages public servants to use the official language of
their choice in meetings, briefing notes and performance evaluations is
too often the exception rather than the rule.</p>
<p>As Canadians prepare to celebrate the 150th anniversary of
Confederation, we should remember that the ideals that Lester Pearson
articulated so clearly a half century ago today are still a challenge to
achieve. But in striving to meet the goals that Pearson set, we are
building a stronger, fairer and more inclusive country.</p>
<p><em><strong>Graham Fraser</strong> is Canada’s Commissioner of Official Languages.</em></p>
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