Canada’s Minister of National Defence has announced a review of a directive from 2025 that dictates the use of languages within military workplaces due to recent concerns. The Department of National Defence (DND) and the Canadian Armed Forces made changes in January 2025 regarding language requirements for activities and services within the workplace, such as internal meetings and documents.
Previously, units were categorized as English, French, or both, leading to challenges for organizations and units in unilingual regions in meeting language obligations, resulting in complaints and frustrations. The directive, referred to as DAOD 5039-2, took effect in January 2025, aligning internal language requirements with the language designation of the office location under the Official Languages Act.
The new directive mandated that only workplaces in designated bilingual regions, like New Brunswick, the National Capital Region, and parts of northern Ontario, must communicate solely in English and French. However, these changes did not impact communication with the public or military families.
Despite the directive, the military still promoted the use of both official languages to enhance inclusion and uphold respect for Canada’s linguistic diversity. The DND’s blog post on this matter last month received criticism from advocates and critics of official languages, with concerns raised about the potential weakening of French language protection within a major federal department.
In response to the feedback, Minister of National Defence David McGuinty acknowledged the concerns, emphasizing that a review of workplace language designations would be conducted to assess how language requirements have been implemented and if the current approach aligns with operational needs while respecting the language rights of the Defence Team.
The timeline for the review was not specified in the announcement. Subsequently, the Conservative Party urged McGuinty to reverse the changes promptly, highlighting that Francophone members should not be disadvantaged in working, leading, or advancing professionally in French, even in predominantly English-speaking regions.