Linguistic Duality Day Message

September 7, 2021 - Defence Stories

On September 9, we will celebrate Linguistic Duality Day. In 2009, former Clerk of the Privy Council Wayne G. Wouters announced that the second Thursday in September would be designated as Linguistic Duality Day in the Federal Public Service.

At the time of that declaration, the Official Languages Act (OLA) was celebrating its fortieth year. Now, twelve years later, this day continues to provide an opportunity for federal organizations to promote linguistic duality and to celebrate our founding principles and our rich heritage as citizens of a bilingual country. With modernization and strengthening of the OLA in view, we all must continue to meet its obligations individually and collectively.

Through fostering the use of both English and French in our daily functions both domestically and abroad, Canadians benefit from linguistic duality and a rich culture where our inclusive and diverse ethos is reflected in our actions.

Within the Defence Team, linguistic duality is an unparalleled asset to our operational effectiveness, mission success, and workforce culture. It enables us to continue ensuring that we include people with diverse perspectives and a broad range of cultural and linguistic backgrounds. We remain committed to maintaining and improving our bilingual culture through the implementation of the Official Languages Action Plan 2017-2022 (OLAP). The OLAP provides direction forward towards achieving and maintaining compliance with official languages policy, organizational structure and culture, and linguistic capacity.

I encourage each of you to celebrate this year’s Linguistic Duality Day by organizing meetings in both official languages, taking the time to learn about the language tools available, testing your knowledge about official languages, and participating in the webcast armchair discussion on the theme of linguistic duality and inclusion.

If you would like to learn more about linguistic duality or the activities taking place on September 9, please visit the Council of the Network of Official Languages Champions’ website.

Thank you.