L’Observatoire international des droits linguistiques

In this decision, the Federal Court dismissed the appeal brought by Mr. Régis Beniey under sections 77 and 79 of the Official Languages Act (OLA). The applicant alleged that the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) had violated his language rights by requiring him, in 2017, to sign a unilingual English form in the course of his employment, despite the fact that his preferred official language is French.

On procedural grounds, the Court concluded that the appeal was fatally flawed due to the absence from the record of the complaint filed with the Commissioner of Official Languages. This omission prevented the Court from exercising its jurisdiction, since the remedy provided for in section 77 OLPA concerns the merits of the complaint itself.

In the alternative, the Court analyzed the merits and concluded that no violation of the OLA had been established. It specified that Part IV (communications with the public) does not apply to employment relations, that Part VII, as it existed in 2017, did not confer justiciable individual rights, and that the situation fell instead under Part V (language of work). However, since the applicant worked in a non-designated bilingual region, the Act did not require the Agency to provide the form in the official language of his choice.

The Court also emphasizes that the forms in question had been made bilingual before the complaint was filed in 2024, meaning that the complaint was no longer valid at the time it was filed. In the absence of a violation and proof of harm, no remedy is granted.