Description of Proposed Use of French in Federally Regulated Private Businesses Regulations

Whom does this apply to?

The Use of French in Federally Regulated Private Businesses Act (UFPBA) would apply to federally regulated private businesses (FRPBs) in Quebec and in regions with a strong Francophone presence (RSFPs). The proposed regulations specify the minimum number of employees and the definition of RSFP.

Minimum number of employees

The UFPBA would apply to all of the following businesses:

• In Quebec: all FRPBs with 25 or more employees; and
• In RSFPs: all FRPBs with 100 or more employees across Canada.

Under the proposed regulations, the number of employees for the purposes of these thresholds would be the number of employees on January 1 of the previous year.

Demographic criteria for designation of RSFPs

The designation of RSFPs is based on data from the 2021 Census and input gathered during consultations. The goal is to target areas where there is a sufficient concentration of Francophones to support a viable regime.

This approach was guided by two key elements:

• the strength of potential demand for French-language services in a region; and
• the capacity of the private sector workforce to meet that demand.

Stakeholders stressed the importance of a balanced approach that combines quantitative criteria (such as population thresholds) and qualitative criteria (such as community vitality), without favouring one over the other.

With this in mind, here are the demographic criteria used to establish the list of regions with a strong Francophone presence:

In Quebec, the UFPBA would apply throughout the province, subject to the applicable exclusions and exemptions.

However, elsewhere in Canada, RSFPs need to be defined by regulation.

Regions with a strong Francophone presence (i.e. where there is sufficient potential demand) have been designated as geographic areas that meet one of the demographic criteria set out below. The criteria are presented and applied in descending geographic scale, with the narrower criteria excluded whenever a broader criterion is met:

First criterion: Potential demand for French-language services of at least 20% in a province or territory.

Second criterion: Potential demand for French-language services of at least 20% in a Statistics Canada census division.

Third criterion: Potential demand for French-language services of at least 10% in census tracts with at least 1,000 inhabitants and located within a census metropolitan area (CMA) with potential demand for French-language services of at least 30,000 people. Census tracts and CMAs are defined by Statistics Canada.

Choice of regime in Quebec and obligation of FRPBs to provide information

Under section 6 of the UFPBA, FRPBs operating in Quebec may choose between the provincial regime (Charter of the French Language) and the federal regime (UFPBA). FRPBs already registered with the Office québécois de la langue française may continue to be so registered. If opting for the Charter of the French Language regime, FRPBs operating in Quebec are required to notify the Minister of Canadian Heritage (the Minister) of that choice in writing.

Registration and administrative requirements

An FRPB opting for the UFPBA regime in Quebec would be required to provide an initial declaration containing information on its operations in Quebec. Every year thereafter, the FRPB would then be required to provide the Minister with an annual statement confirming or updating that information. In return, the Minister would issue a certificate of registration on an annual basis.

An FRPB operating in one or more RSFPs would similarly be required to provide an initial declaration containing information on its operations in RSFPs. With the exception of FRPBs located in New Brunswick—where the entire province would be designated as an RSFP—the business would also be required to provide additional information, including the addresses of its points of service, workplaces and websites, the names it uses on its social media platforms, and its telephone numbers. The FRPB would be required to confirm this information to the Minister on an annual basis. In return, the Minister would issue a certificate of registration on an annual basis.

Rights with respect to communications and services

Service in French, active offer and commercial signage

Under the UFPBA, all consumers in Quebec and RSFPs would have the right to communicate (both orally and in writing) in French with, and receive services in French from, FRPBs operating in that region. This would apply to all forms of communications and services.

Businesses would therefore need to ensure that consumers are able to exercise their rights by actively informing them that they can communicate in French with, and obtain services in French from, the business at all points of service with duties in Quebec or an RSFP.

The UFPBA also provides that these rights would not preclude consumers from communicating with or obtaining services from a business in English or another language other than French if the business is able to communicate or provide services in that language.

In Quebec, French must be markedly predominant on any commercial signage that is in French and another language.

Passenger transportation

With respect to interprovincial transportation (by aircraft, coach, train or ferry), the proposed regulations specify that these rights would apply to any route originating in and/or terminating in Quebec or an RSFP. Thus, the federal regime would apply to domestic routes linking Quebec or an RSFP to another point in Canada or linking points within Quebec or an RSFP.

International routes would be excluded from the UFPBA.

Rights with respect to language of work

Rights of employees

What the Act says

The UFPBA provides that FRPB employees who occupy a position in a workplace located in Quebec or in an RSFP would have the right to work and be supervised in French. Such employees would also have the right to receive, in French, all communications and documents from the FRPB, including employment application forms; offers of employment, transfer or promotion; individual employment contracts; documents related to the conditions of employment; training documents produced for employees; notices of termination of employment; collective agreements and their schedules; and grievances.

However, the UFPBA would not prevent an FRPB from communicating with or providing documents to an employee exclusively in English or another language other than French if the business and the employee so agree.

What the proposed regulations specify

The proposed regulations define “employee” as an individual who represents the employer, a person who performs, for an employer, activities whose primary purpose is to enable the person to acquire knowledge or experience and a person who has been placed by a temporary help agency.

The proposed regulations also exclude from the concept of “workplace,” any means of transportation.

Committees for the fostering of French

The UFPBA requires FRPBs to establish a committee to support the business’s management group in the fostering of French and its use within its workplaces.

The proposed regulations lay out the criteria for the establishment and operation of such committees in Quebec and in RSFPs:

In Quebec

FRPBs subject to the UFPBA with 100 or more employees in Quebec would be required to establish a committee for the fostering of French.

FRPBs with fewer than 100 employees would not be subject to this requirement.

In RSFPs

FRPBs with (1) at least 100 employees across all RSFPs and (2) at least 500 employees across Canada would be required to establish a committee for the fostering of French.

Other FRPBs would not be subject to this requirement.

The proposed regulations indicate that an FRPB would be required to establish a committee within six months of becoming subject to the UFPBA.

The committee would be required to:

• meet at least twice per calendar year;
• be composed of an equal number of employer and employee representatives, with at least two members representing the employer and two members representing the employees; and
• once in place, produce, at least once every three years, a report^{Footnote 1} on the measures it has taken to carry out its mandate.

That report would need to be retained for at least 12 years, and a copy given to any employee who requests one.

The proposed regulations specify that a francization committee established under the Charter of the French Language (CFL) by a business subject to the CFL in Quebec would be able to serve as the committee for the purposes of the UFPBA if that business is required to establish such a committee in RSFPs.

In developing measures, the committee would be required to consider the needs of employees who are close to retirement, have many years of service or have conditions that could impede the learning of French.

The proposed regulations define:

• “many years of service” as “at least 20 years of employment with the same employer”; and
• “conditions that could impede the learning of French” as “any long-term or recurring physical, mental or learning impairments that could, despite accommodation, impede the learning of French.”

Special obligations of committees in Quebec

Under the proposed regulations, committees in Quebec would have special obligations and would be required to produce an overview of the language situation in the business in order to obtain a certificate of generalization of the use of French.

If the Minister is satisfied with the overview and the programs put in place to ensure the use of French at all levels of the business as a whole, the Minister would issue a certificate. The Committee would then have to prepare a new report within three years of the issuing of that certificate. If the Minister is not satisfied with the situation of French in the business, the Minister could refuse to issue a certificate. The business would have one year to provide an update on its progress and submit a new report for certification. An FRPB that does not hold a certificate of generalization of the use of French would be required to produce a report every year.

If an FRPB holds a certificate, that certificate could be suspended or revoked if the use of French ceases to be generalized.

Exemptions from the regime

Exemptions relating to Indigenous peoples and businesses

The proposed regulations would harmonize certain exemptions under the new federal regime with those under Quebec’s CFL regime.

The UFPBA already excludes a council, government, corporation or other entity that is authorized to act on behalf of an Indigenous group, community or people that holds rights recognized by section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982. The proposed regulations take this a step further, exempting, from the UFPBA, any business under the control of such an entity.

The proposed regulations also exempt FRPBs in relation to their activities and workplaces in an “Indigenous territory,” defined as:

• a reserve or any lands that are to become a reserve under a treaty land entitlement settlement agreement; or
• any settlement areas or settlement lands—including Category I or Category I-N lands within the meaning of the Act respecting the land regime in the James Bay and New Québec territories, CQLR, c. R-13.1—that are referred to in a modern treaty.

Similarly, a business would be exempt from the language-of-work provisions if:

• registered as a First Nations, Inuit or Métis business by an Indigenous organization recognized under a modern treaty; or
• controlled by a council, government, corporation or other entity referred to in paragraph (d) of the definition federally regulated private business in subsection 2(1) of the UFPBA.

Other exemptions

The proposed regulations fully exempt the activities of FRPBs that are directly related to the production or distribution of cultural property with linguistic content that is exclusively in a language other than French.

The proposed regulations exempt, from the language-of-work provisions:

• FRPBs whose activities are exclusively related to the conduct of international business if the use of a language other than French is predominant in the conduct of such business; and
• workplaces whose activities are governed primarily by research protocols or international standards that require the use of a language other than French.

Businesses intending to invoke any of the above exemptions would need to inform the Minister of that intention in the first instance and every five years thereafter.

Review of regulations

The proposed regulations provide that the 10-year review of the UFPBA would also apply to the regulations.