A Bilingual Organization

Equality and excellence of service

Over the past 20 years, the number of bilingual Canadians has doubled. For a growing number of Canadians, bilingualism has become not only a personal asset but also an important part of their sense of national identity. Proud and conscious of this diversity and eager to improve the equity and quality of their services, many organizations are making the decision to operate in both official languages.

To learn more about the linguistic profile of the communities you serve, please consult the Atlas of Canada!

Did you know that...

Canada's French-speaking population ranks second only to France worldwide. It is larger than the Francophone populations of Switzerland and Belgium combined.

The number of Francophones outside Quebec equals the population of an entire province like Saskatchewan, New Brunswick or Nova Scotia.

One Canadian in four has French as a mother tongue and close to one Canadian in three speaks French.

1.6 million of Canada's French-speaking population have an ancestry other than French or English.

Advantages and impacts

Providing services in both official languages not only represents an open acknowledgment of Canada's bilingual character on your part, it also presents a number of competitive advantages for your organization. Your new stance will allow you to:

• reach a larger portion of your target public,
• increase your membership,
• provide better services,
• access new sources of funding and sponsorship.

In short, offering bilingual services is simply good business. Even though your organization will need to invest considerable time and effort to become bilingual, in the end communicating with your customers in their own language can only be beneficial.