Official languages ​​in NB: Blaine Higgs denounced by a French-speaking organization

PETIT-ROCHER, N.-B. — The Société de l’Acadie du Nouveau-Brunswick (SANB) denounces the silence of Premier Blaine Higgs since the tabling last December of a report on the review of the Languages ​​Act New Brunswick officials.

On Thursday, Premier Higgs announced that he was pushing back his official response to the report until next fall, when he was supposed to deliver it before the end of June.

SANB President Alexandre Cédric Doucet says the Acadian and Francophone community in Canada’s only bilingual province no longer accepts such delays and demands immediate responses. He calls for an emergency meeting with the prime minister.

Mr. Doucet acknowledges that the COVID-19 crisis may have explained some delays, but he adds that taking beyond six months to read a 40-page document and announce that the answer will come another three months later, c is laughing at the world.

The SANB president argues that Premier Higgs does not take seriously New Brunswick’s Official Languages ​​Act, a quasi-constitutional law and the foundation of New Brunswick’s social contract, he says.

In a statement, the head of government explains that an appropriate and detailed response to the report’s recommendations should not be hasty. In his view, the recommendations are complex and may affect the daily lives of all New Brunswickers, including workplaces, the education sector and municipal operations.

Blaine Higgs adds that a more detailed analysis of standardized language proficiency assessments is also needed.

Judge Yvette Finn and John McLaughlin were appointed commissioners by the New Brunswick government to review the law.