Canada’s defense minister has announced a review of a directive from 2025 that dictates which languages can be used in military workplaces due to recent concerns. The Department of National Defense (DND) and the Canadian Armed Forces made changes in January 2025 regarding the languages required for internal activities and services within the workplace. Previously, units were categorized as English, French, or both, causing challenges for organizations in unilingual regions to fulfill language obligations and leading to complaints and frustrations.
The directive, officially named DAOD 5039-2, came into effect in January 2025, aligning internal language requirements with the language designation of the office location under the Official Languages Act. This resulted in only workplaces in designated bilingual regions like New Brunswick, the National Capital Region, and parts of northern Ontario being mandated to use English and French exclusively for communication.
The modifications did not impact communication with the public or military families. The military still promoted the use of both official languages to enhance inclusivity and uphold Canada’s linguistic diversity. Following a blog post that attracted criticism from advocates and opposition parties, Minister of National Defense David McGuinty stated that he is taking concerns about the directive seriously and has initiated a review of workplace language designations.
McGuinty emphasized that the review will assess the application of language-of-work requirements, ensuring they meet operational needs and uphold the language rights of the Defense Team. The timeline for the review was not specified in the announcement. Subsequently, the Conservative Party urged McGuinty to revoke the changes promptly, highlighting the importance of Francophone members being able to work, lead, and progress professionally in French regardless of being stationed in predominantly English-speaking regions.