A new report from the Ontario Ombudsman found that ServiceOntario locations have failed French-speaking residents. Given the large population of Franco-Ontarians in the region, the findings have implications for northern Ontario. Residents use ServiceOntario offices to obtain birth and death certificates, various licences and identification cards. Under the French Language Services Act, it’s the law that government services be available in both English and French. However, the ombudsman found that’s not always the case. Starting in April 2025, 100 documents were reviewed, 69 interviews were done and 23 sites were visited. French Language Services Commissioner Carl Bouchard said he found significant issues with how French-language services were delivered. “There was a woman that contacted us and went to a ServiceOntario location in the evening and was told to come back during the day if she wanted to obtain services in French,” Bouchard said. “So obviously this is not the quality of service that anyone would expect from government services generally speaking, certainly not when it comes to French language.” In his report, Bouchard said the act protects “quasi-constitutional language rights.” “These rights are not suggestions, nor are they mere administrative requirements,” Bouchard wrote. Among the problems were confusion among front-line staff about whether French services were required, a reliance on translation tools or staff from other agencies, and little oversight of third-party operators. Bouchard said he found a dozen ServiceOntario sites weren’t offering French at all, including in the District of Cochrane and Algoma. Nickel Belt MPP France Gelinas, who is the NDP’s shadow minister for francophone affairs, said complaints about lack of French services started to come in almost immediately after the government privatized some of the sites in 2024. Frustration, anger “Some people are frustrated, some people are discouraged, but a lot of people get really angry,” Gelinas said. “They get angry that we fought to have the French Languages Services Act. The act passed 40 years ago.” “It has been tough under this government for Francophones,” she added. “The number of complaints coming in continues to escalate, whether that’s health care, education or ServicesOntario. It’s not easy right now being French.” The two ministries involved -- Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement and the Ministry of Francophone Affairs -- have accepted 18 of the 25 recommendations from the report. “They’re relatively easy recommendations to implement although there is work required to go from Point A to Point B,” Bouchard said. “We’ll keep monitoring the progress. The ministries have committed to provide a progress report every six months until I’m satisfied that the recommendations have been considered properly, implemented and that the issues have been resolved.” Both ministries sent an emailed statement to CTV News. “Franco-Ontarians should be able to access the government services they rely on in the language of their choice,” the statement said. “That’s why we’ve taken action to strengthen and expand access to French-language services across Ontario with over 100 designated French-language ServiceOntario locations across the province. We have also strengthened bilingual staffing, enhanced employee training to help maintain services when unexpected issues arise, and increased oversight to ensure French-language services remain consistently reliable.” “These commitments represent an important step toward improving access to services in French throughout Ontario,” Bouchard said.
