This guide is not legal advice. It summarizes the Official Languages Act; the language obligations that bind you on a given project are in the solicitation and the contract.
What the Act covers
The Official Languages Act makes English and French the official languages of Canada and gives them equal status in federal institutions, including in communicating with and providing services to the public (section 2). It applies to federal institutions: departments, Crown corporations and the other bodies it defines.
The sections that reach a project
- Notices and advertisements. A notice or advertisement that a federal institution must publish for the public appears in both official languages, in publications in general circulation in the region (section 11).
- Services to the public. Every federal institution must ensure the public can communicate with and obtain services from its head office in either official language, and from its other offices where there is significant demand (section 22).
- Services on its behalf. When another person or organization provides services to the public on a federal institution’s behalf, the institution must ensure they are available in either official language wherever it would have had to provide them itself (section 25).
What it means for consultants and contractors
The Act does not, by itself, set the language of drawings and specifications. Federal owners do: many, including Public Services and Procurement Canada, Defence Construction Canada and Fisheries and Oceans Canada, issue project documents in both languages, and the solicitation and the contract say what you must deliver and in which language. Where your work reaches the public on the owner’s behalf, such as notices, public consultation material or signage, section 25 applies.
When the contract calls for both languages, Technitrad translates the drawings and specifications in either direction, under ISO 17100 and CAN/CGSB-131.10, the Canadian standard for translation services.
Federal projects in Quebec
On a federal project in Quebec, the owner is a federal institution under the Official Languages Act. Your own firm, as a Quebec enterprise, remains subject to the Charter of the French language in its own operations. See our guide to Bill 96 and construction documents.
Start with your terms
Federal project documents are read in both languages by people who compare them. A term that differs between the English and the French is the first thing they see. One approved term, used the same way in both languages from the bid to the last drawing, gives them nothing to flag.
Upload a recent translated document or AutoCAD drawing and we return a short report of every inconsistent term in it, free and confidential. Need the drawings and specifications in both languages? Request a quote. We answer within one business day.