In response to the evolving linguistic situation, Canada Post will soon offer additional services in English in Quebec and specifically in Montreal, following a bilingual advisory at post offices across the country.
• Read more: Canada Post backs down and now requires its mail carriers to speak French in Quebec
• Read more: “It’s full of monolinguals”: Quebec will no longer need to speak French to be a postman by 2024
The federal Crown Corporation, as required under the Official Languages Act every ten years, surveyed the population of certain regions to assess the status of bilingual services in its network of post offices. .
“As part of this exercise, it was determined that some monolingual post offices should become bilingual,” a Canada Post spokesperson explained matter-of-factly in an email.
Parade of Bilinguals
By completing the online questionnaire, The Newspaper The organization has seen plans to relocate 24 offices in the Montreal region. They will move from monolingual French to bilingual status. Note that in the metropolitan area, there are already more than 50 offices providing services in the language of Shakespeare in 240 service centres. Some branches are also identified on the Canada Post website as strictly English-speaking, but the organization said this was an “error.”
The post office is identified in English on the Canada Post website, a mistake according to a spokeswoman for the federal agency.
Screenshot, Canada Post website
This means that almost one-third (31%) of post offices in the Montreal region will be bilingual (31%), up from one-fifth (21%) currently.
In Quebec, the number of new bilingual institutions will increase from two to five out of a total of 38 post offices.
Despite our questions, Canada Post declined to specify the number of new post offices offering services in French in other provinces. In fact, this review exercise has, in the past, led to the loss of bilingual status in some places as the federal agency adjusts its services based on census data.
“True Equality”
However, French is declining everywhere in Canada, while the proportion of French speakers from coast to coast has increased from 22.2% in 2016 to 21.4% in 2021. In Quebec alone, French dropped two points. During this period, the proportion of French speakers fell below 75%.
In this context, it is natural for public services to adapt to their clients, maintaining the Commissioner’s Office of Official Languages, which speaks of the “principle of genuine equality”.
Archive the photo
“It is imperative that members of minority communities have equal access to services provided by the federal government in the official language of their choice,” organization spokeswoman Sonia LaMontagne argued via email.
However, this idea was not to the taste of Jean-Paul Perrault of the French Imperative movement.
“Quebec has 5.3% of the population that only speaks English, we don’t need more bilingual post offices. It’s a waste of public funds,” he denounced.
Challenges in hiring?
According to Guillaume Dufour, president of the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean chapter of the postal workers union, adding a bilingual requirement could cause hiring problems in some sectors.
“Depending on the location, it can be very difficult to find people who speak English,” he said in an interview, adding that the same reasoning could be used elsewhere in the country.
Canada Post and Official Languages
5857
Post offices in Canada
1372
Post offices in Quebec (23%)
240
Post offices in the Montreal area
Over 50
Bilingual Post Offices are already bilingual (21%)
66
Post offices in the greater Quebec region will have five bilingual branches after the revision (7.5%).
6
Bilingual post offices or 1.9% of 313 service points in the Toronto region
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