Bad experience, better service

A Francophone woman contacted us to share an experience she found particularly distressing. She had visited a ServiceOntario location near her home in the greater Toronto area to renew her Photo Card. While in line, she asked for service in French from the receptionist, who responded in English.

The woman told us she felt ignored. She said she subsequently went up to the receptionist several times to ask, in English, to be served in French. She said she was uncomfortable during these interactions and told us she was also subjected to negative comments from other clients at the ServiceOntario location. She finally received service in what she described as “very rough” French, and she reported the incident to the location manager.

RESULT: We raised this matter with the Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement. Although this ServiceOntario location is managed by a private service provider and is not in an area that is designated under the French Language Services Act, it is located at an intersection that borders two designated areas.

The FLSA gives people the right to receive service in French from government offices and agencies and third parties that are located in or serve a designated area.

While we were analyzing this case, the Ministry informed us that the service provider had hired a full-time bilingual employee for this location. The service provider also accepted the Ministry’s request to install signs stating that service in French is available and to greet clients in both English and French as stipulated in the “active offer” regulation. Lastly, the ServiceOntario web page for this location was updated to make it explicit that service is available there in French.


Learn more about the French Language Services Unit which answers questions and takes complaints about services in French.
Read about how we helped other people in our Selected cases.