Under-the-table service

A Francophone woman attended the Skills Ontario Competition in May 2025. This multi-day event offers students from across the province the opportunity to compete in skilled trades and technologies. Several Ontario ministries had information kiosks at the event, but the woman told us she saw no French materials or bilingual staff at the Ontario Employment Standards booth. She told us the people staffing the booth said information in French was only available online, which she found “insulting.”

Measure 6 of Ontario Regulation 544/22 says if an agency publishes information in English about its services, “a French version containing the same information shall also be provided at the same time and in the same format.”

Result
We raised this case with the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development. The Ministry acknowledged that the employees who were present at the booth that day were not bilingual and not aware that French versions of brochures were actually available in a box under the table.

The Ministry committed, as part of an action plan, to guaranteeing the quality of French language services through, among other things, having French-speaking personnel at events and updating internal resources and tools. The Ministry also indicated that it has set up a review team for future events that will review documents in French and ensure this material is available and visible.