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Legislation - Interpretation - Whether s. 20(1) of Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and Part IV of Official Languages Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. 31, read in light of principle of equality set out in s. 16(1) of Charter, require Industry Canada to provide services of equal quality in both official languages.

The Minister of Industry Canada has the authority to promote economic development in certain regions. To this end, Industry Canada has established and funded an economic development program for Northern Ontario communities that is managed by a federal agency. Ontario’s community futures development corporations (CFDCs), which are non-profit organizations independent of the federal government, provide various services related to economic planning, support for small and medium-sized businesses and access to capital. Since 1986, residents of North Simcoe County have been served by the North Simcoe CFDC, which has five full-time employees and a few volunteers.

The Appellant Desrochers is the president of Corporation de développement économique communautaire CALDECH, which was created in 1995 to establish and maintain the institutions and programs needed to enable members of the region’s Francophone minority to resist an increasing rate of assimilation. In March 2000, Mr. Desrochers and CALDECH filed a complaint with the Commissioner of Official Languages criticizing North Simcoe’s dearth of services in French. In September 2001, following an investigation under Parts IV and VII of the Official Languages Act, the Commissioner made a report in which she concluded that North Simcoe was not in full compliance with its language obligations and that the Department had failed in its commitment to support the development of the Francophone community. In two subsequent reports in 2003 and 2004, the Commissioner concluded that the French-language services provided by North Simcoe were not equal in quality to those provided in English and that Industry Canada was still not in full compliance with Parts IV and VII of the Act. Mr. Desrochers and CALDECH then applied to the Federal Court under s. 77(1) of the Official Languages Act, but they were unsuccessful.