The French language must prevail, one year later!

The French language is the foundation of Acadian culture. That was the opening sentence of my opinion piece last year, give or take a day. Based on this year’s successes, we will not be celebrating our beautiful French language for its enhanced vitality in 2025, with a few exceptions (e.g., language policy in Bois-Joli / court ruling forcing the Horizon board to pay damages to a citizen whose language rights had been violated).

On the other hand, the upcoming year, 2026, could bring us some significant gains for the French language in our province. First, under the leadership of Premier Holt, the five-year review of New Brunswick’s Official Languages Act, originally scheduled for 2031, has been moved up to December 31, 2026, and the new Standing Committee on Official Languages has been tasked with conducting the review. In its current form, the Official Languages Act does not allow for significant improvement of the status of the French, as it does not apply to the private/commercial sector. That is where the problem lies.

Despite this, it would be important for legislators and all members of the Legislature to recognize the urgent need for linguistic action to enable the French language to truly flourish in Acadian communities by recognizing/introducing a necessary asymmetry: French is a minority language in our province, in Canada and in North America. This asymmetry, clearly enshrined in the new version of the NB Official Languages Act, would recognise that the two linguistic communities do not have the same needs and that targeted actions are required to maintain the historical balance. The new bill, to be introduced under the chairmanship of the Deputy Speaker of the House and Member for Kent South, Benoit Bourque, will normally include specific provisions to protect and promote our Acadian Francophonie and to counter assimilation.

This will logically be followed by other measures, such as an increase in the language threshold from 20 per cent to 30 per cent, which, once reached, will require municipalities to offer their services in both official languages, in accordance with section 35 of the Official Languages Act. In March 2024, the Association francophone des municipalités du Nouveau-Brunswick (Association of Francophone Municipalities of New Brunswick) already stated that this threshold should be raised, and at that time, the Commissioner of Official Languages, Shirley MacLean, proposed that the threshold be revised at least once every census. The considerable decline of French in the southeastern regions and Kent County requires such a positive measure.

In addition, and as the main focus of the Acadian Circle for the French Language (the signage language), the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure is urged to fully implement the New Brunswick government’s public signage policy so that all government road signs in predominantly French-speaking areas of New Brunswick display French above or to the left of English.

The previous Progressive Conservative government, it should be noted, had already begun this work by replacing Stop/Arrêt signs with Arrêt/Stop signs in the Cocagne, Notre-Dame and Grande-Digue communities of the Beausoleil municipality. Local signage will always remain under municipal jurisdiction and therefore available as a tool for communities that wish to present their linguistic identity differently. Let us hope that in 2026, the municipalities of Hautes-Terres and Caraquet will continue to be champions in terms of road signage with a predominance of French and that others will follow their example.

On another note, the Société de l’Acadie du Nouveau-Brunswick (SANB) recently announced that their General Assembly will be held in Edmundston next June. The SANB has unveiled the five main themes that will serve as the basis for discussion, and surprisingly, none of them specifically address the state of the French language in Acadian communities. The vital importance of the French language for the emancipation of the Acadian people should be the foundation of this General Assembly, and it is certainly not too late to include it more explicitly. The current linguistic emergency does not allow us to say ‘it goes without saying.’ Does rampant assimilation also go without saying? In short, the General Assembly must create real positive momentum for the promotion of the French language in all spheres of Acadian society. We can’t wait for the University of… to be continued, right?

Finally, I applaud Canada’s decision to bid to host the Francophonie Summit in Ottawa in 2028. The final decision will be made in November 2026 at the next Summit, in Cambodia.

To conclude, as we approach 2026, I wish for more commercial signage in French and municipal by-laws to ensure this; a real ‘Francophone’ cinema in Dieppe like those in Caraquet/Tracadie/Edmundston; a revised language policy for the future of the City of Moncton; a positive/favourable decision by the Commissioner of Official Languages regarding the Crown corporation Alcool NB and the obligation of its franchisees to comply with the NB Official Languages Act; and, above all, Acadians who understand the importance of taking more ‘vigorous’ action to ensure the greatest possible vitality of the French language in all Acadian communities.

Based in Cocagne, Mathieu Gérald Caissie is the founder of the Cercle acadien de la langue française. A version of this article was first published by Le Moniteur Acadien in French on January 5, 2026.