Ottawa is being asked to make official languages training compulsory for federal public service managers. The recommendation comes from Commissioner of Official Languages Kelly Burke, who tabled her office's 2025–2026 annual report in Parliament on Oct. 8, 2026. The Office's release on the report was issued from Gatineau.
What the Commissioner is recommending
The report asks the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat to act by March 31, 2028. By that date, the Commissioner recommends, the Secretariat should make a specific course mandatory for public service managers.
The course is FON 413: Managing Official Languages Obligations, which is offered by the Canada School of Public Service. The recommendation is worded plainly: the course should be "mandatory for public service managers."
The material released with the report does not say how many managers would be affected, how long the course takes or what it would cost. Those details have not been announced, and the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat has not yet responded in the information available.
A second recommendation on artificial intelligence
The report makes a second recommendation, this one with an earlier deadline. The Commissioner asks the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat to incorporate official languages into its approach to artificial intelligence by March 31, 2027, so that they are systematically taken into account.
The report does not spell out in the release what that approach would look like in practice, and no specific AI tools are named in the recommendation.
The complaints behind the report
The Office of the Commissioner received 4,110 admissible complaints in 2025–2026. That is the volume of work behind the annual report, which the Commissioner's office frames under the title "Turning commitment into action."
The release does not break those complaints down by institution, region or language, so it is not clear from it how many came from the Ottawa area.
A change of commissioner
The report covers Commissioner Raymond Théberge's final year in office. Burke, who tabled it, said the full implementation of the modernized Official Languages Act is essential to ensuring the sustainability of Canada's language policy.
What happens next
The Commissioner's recommendations are just that: recommendations. Nothing in the release says the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat has agreed to either one, and neither the mandatory course nor the AI approach is in place today.
The two deadlines give a rough timeline. The AI recommendation is due by March 31, 2027, and the mandatory course for managers by March 31, 2028.
Sources: Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages (CNW release)
