Canada | New Commissioner of Official Languages takes office

Raymond Théberge took office as Commissioner of Official Languages on January 29, 2018.

Commissioner Théberge has a PhD in linguistics from McGill University, a master’s degree in applied linguistics from the University of Ottawa and a bachelor’s degree in history from the Collège universitaire de Saint-Boniface. He held a number of leadership positions before coming to the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages, and he has significant experience with official language minority communities. He also has extensive experience in academia and has worked across Canada.

He spent a large part of his career at the Collège universitaire de Saint-Boniface (1985–1995 and 1997–2003), where he was director of the research centre, a professor in the faculty of education and then dean of education. From 2001 to 2007, he was an associate professor at Université Laval in Québec City, and in 2012, he was appointed president and vice-chancellor of the Université de Moncton.

Commissioner Théberge’s background also includes experience as a senior public servant. From 2004 to 2005, he was assistant deputy minister at the Bureau de l’éducation française in Manitoba’s Department of Education, Citizenship and Youth. From there, he moved to the Council of Ministers of Education of Canada, where he was executive director from 2005 to 2009. He was also an assistant deputy minister in Ontario’s Ministry of Education and Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities.

He is the author of twenty peer-reviewed publications, three books, one bibliography and forty-five research projects, which reflect his interest in official language minority communities. He wrote a book called Demain, la francophonie en milieu minoritaire? about the future of French-speaking minority communities and an article entitled “Le développement culturel des communautés francophones de l’Ouest : Vers un plan d’action” about the cultural development of French-speaking communities in Western Canada.

Commissioner Théberge has served on boards of directors of a number of organizations, including the Association des collèges et universités de la francophonie canadienne and the Agence universitaire de la Francophonie. He was director general of the Société franco manitobaine from 1983 to 1985, and president of the Centre d’études franco canadiennes de l’Ouest from 1995 to 2004.

Source: Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages, Canada