Legal context of the OLA and designation of the CRTC
The Official Languages Act (OLA, 1969) gives English and French equal status throughout the federal administration. In 1982, the enactment of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the second Official Languages Act solidified the equality of status of English and French and ensured that language rights would be respected. The Act also provided a legislative base for certain policies implemented in federal institutions, particularly with respect to the use of both official languages as languages of work in the federal administration. In 1991, the Official Languages (Communications with and Services to the Public) Regulations guaranteed that communities would have access to services in their own language by defining the scope of certain provisions of the OLA.
Since 1994, more than 30 federal institutions whose activities are deemed to be of vital importance to the development of official language minority communities (OLMCs) have been called on, under the Accountability Framework for the Implementation of Sections 41 and 42 of the OLA, to make special efforts to implement the federal government's commitments under Part VII of the Act. In 2003, the Official Languages Accountability and Coordination Framework reiterated the responsibilities of all federal institutions, including those responsibilities relating to Part VII of the Act. These responsibilities provide, among other things, that official language minority communities must be consulted regarding policy and program issues that concern them, where required.
That same year (2003), Canadian Heritage designated the CRTC as one of the 33 institutions required to prepare an action plan for implementing section 41, Part VII, of the Act and to report on its achievements.
In 2005, with the enactment of Bill S-3, the Official Languages Act was amended, essentially providing legal remedies to enforce the duty of federal institutions to take positive measures to support the development of official language minority communities and foster linguistic duality. Pursuant to subsection 77(1), Part VII of the Act became enforceable: any person may apply to a court for a remedy where a federal institution has failed to act on or has breached its duties in this regard.
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