At the beginning of the interview, participants were asked if they were aware that each person in Canada has the right to vote in their preferred official language of choice; that is, either English or French.
With the exception of English OLMC participants who were less than completely satisfied with the language in which they were served in the 44th General Election, the large majority of participants were aware that they had the right to be served in their official language of choice.
Among the less than completely satisfied English OLMC participants, half said they were aware of this right, while the other half either were not aware or were uncertain whether or not this right applied in Quebec because of the province's language laws:
Participant Quotes:
"With the language laws and Bill 101, not sure what services we are allowed to actually get in English."
"I don't ever remember reading it anywhere or being explicitly told to me, but just my understanding of Canada and federal services, I figured that it would be the case."
The following summarizes comments, each heard from one or two participants, who were either not aware or uncertain of the right to vote in their preferred language of choice:
Using a four-point importance scale (very important, somewhat important, not that important, not at all important), participants were asked how important it was to them to be served in their preferred official language when voting.
By way of background to this question, as part of the screening, participants were asked which official language(s) they speak well enough to have a conversation. With the exception of two participants in the French OLMCs and two participants in the English OLMCs, everyone said they were able to converse in both English and French.
During the interview, participants were asked which official language they would prefer to use in conversations with people working at the polls.1 In French OLMCs, the large majority of participants said they would prefer to converse in French. Only two participants said it did not matter if the interaction at the polling station was in French or in English. The same pattern was true for English OLMC participants—the large majority said they would prefer to converse in English and only one participant said the language did not matter.
Therefore, regardless of their stated ability to converse in both languages, the large majority of participants indicated a clear preference to receive services at the poll in French among those in OLMCs outside Quebec and in English among those living in OLMCs in Quebec. This was true both among those completely satisfied with the language(s) in which they were served when voting and those who were less than completely satisfied.
With regard to the rated importance of being served in their preferred language, most French OLMC participants said it was at least somewhat important to be served in French and the majority said it was very important. Only two participants said it was not important. Most English OLMC participants said it was important for them to be served in English, but slightly more said it was somewhat important than very important. Only one participant said it was not important.
Participants were asked why they gave the rating that they did. Regardless of their rating or whether they were completely or less than completely satisfied with the language in which they were served at the polling station, the reasons given by those who said it was very important and somewhat important to be served in their official language of choice were very similar. These reasons are summarized below.
The main reasons given for stating that it is important to them to be served in French were as follows, in descending order of mentions:
"It's very important in a way—and not just in terms of the elections, but generally speaking. It's a matter of culture for me, and I personally believe that culture and language go hand in hand. If the language is not allowed to persist, then the culture won't persist either. I am a Franco-Ontarian, and that's important to me." (Translated from French) (less than completely satisfied)
"If, for convenience's sake, we spoke English, like everyone else, it would mean the loss of a culture, and that would be much worse. So, generally speaking, there are many organizations and people who are fighting to promote the importance of the French language in Canada. So, to honour their efforts and honour their love for my language, I think it's important to do that and to speak the language." (Translated from French) (completely satisfied)
"Around here [B.C.], it's not really enforced, so I force the issue a bit; whenever I walk into a business involved with the government, I always speak French as a test." (Translated from French) (less than completely satisfied)
As noted above, a few participants said they could accept being served in either French or English. Two of these participants said they were fully bilingual and felt comfortable in either English or French. One of these participants also said they will speak whichever language the other person seems more comfortable in.
Another two participants said they would like to be given the option of speaking in either language, and one of these participants said they would choose French over English if given the choice, since they are more comfortable in their mother tongue:
"It's my mother tongue. Even if I feel very comfortable using English, French is still my mother tongue. It's the language I'm the most comfortable using to chat, express myself and have things explained to me. If I had the choice, I would prefer to always be served in French because I don't need to instantly translate everything in my little head as much." (Translated from French) (less than completely satisfied)
The main reasons given for stating that it is important to be served in English were as follows, in descending order of mentions:
During the election period for the 44th General Election, Elections Canada mailed out a Voter Information Card (VIC) to all registered electors and a Guide to the Federal Election booklet to all households in Canada.
Participants were asked a series of questions about each of these print materials, which are summarized below separately for the VIC and for the Guide. Importantly, none of the participants who recalled these materials said there was anything confusing or hard to understand in either of these print communications. A few participants during the interview spontaneously commented on the high quality of the official languages in the print materials produced by Elections Canada.
Receipt of VIC: Everyone recalled receiving the card; however, one person received it after election day because they had moved a week before the election.
Name and address on VIC: With only three exceptions, the participant's name and address on the VIC was correct. In one case, the last name was incorrect and in two instances, the address was incorrect. All three participants lived in French OLMCs and fell into the less than completely satisfied group.
These three participants were asked how they went about correcting the information to be able to vote and about their perception of how easy or difficult it was to make the correction. All three were able to resolve their issues. Notably, none of these participants indicated there was a language barrier with poll workers when trying to sort out these situations.
Other information looked at on VIC: With only four exceptions, participants said they looked at some information on the VIC in addition to their name and address. Most checked their polling station location and the dates for voting. A few also recalled reading about what ID is required to vote and about other options for voting—namely, advance polls or by mail.
The following were each mentioned by one participant as other information they read on the VIC:
Language read: There were some differences among participants in which language they read on the VIC:
Receipt of the Guide: With the exception of English OLMC participants who were completely satisfied with the language in which they were served, the large majority said they did not recall receiving the Guide. Most of the completely satisfied English OLMC participants said they received the Guide.
Information looked at in the Guide: Among the few participants who recalled receiving the Guide, most said they either did not read any of the information in the Guide or just skimmed it. The few who read any part of the Guide in either or both languages said the information in the Guide was straightforward and easy to understand.
Participants were asked if they had gone to their local Elections Canada office to talk to someone about any questions they might have had before going to vote.
None of the participants had gone to their local Elections Canada office, primarily because they did not have any questions. Only two participants said they needed more information, and in both cases they went to the Elections Canada website. In both cases, they found the information they were looking for:
Participants were asked a series of questions about their experiences particularly related to the language(s) in which they were served when they went to vote:
To put these results in context, the interviews took place between October 13 and November 29, roughly one to two months after the 44th General Election. Given the time lag, some participants were unable to recall some aspects of their voting experience.
For reference:
Participants were asked the following question: Polling locations usually have some signs outside that identify it as a place where people can vote and to help people know where to go in the building. Were there any such signs where you went to vote? Were all the signs bilingual or in your preferred language?
The following summarizes the results by language community in terms of satisfaction with the services received from Elections Canada at the polls. Importantly, although some participants recalled the language of the signage at the polling place while others did not, none of the participants said they had any problem finding where to vote.
About two-thirds of participants said the polling place signage was bilingual and the remainder could not recall the signage, other than one participant who said there were only arrows pointing out where to go.
Among this group of participants, a large majority recalled some signage at the polling place and the remainder could not recall any specific signage.
All but one participant said the polling place signage was bilingual. That one participant said they did not recall any signage other than some arrows pointing to the entrance of the building.
Among this group, some could not recall any signage, some said all signage was in French, and some said the signage was bilingual:
"I guess maybe they wrote elections in the French way, because it's written the same way in English. So maybe they figured they didn't have to write it twice. Except the accent. It wasn't something that was confusing and honestly I'm not one to cause a ruckus over something so minute as this."
Another participant suggested that while they are bilingual, for the benefit of people in their community who are not, it would have been better to have bilingual signage:
"I am bilingual but it would have been nice if it was in both languages. I'm talking about maybe for other people in the area, because it's an English community."
Participants were asked the following question: When you arrived at the poll, did you generally feel welcome or not really?
The large majority of participants felt welcome at the polling place. This included everyone who said they were completely satisfied with the services they received from Elections Canada and the large majority of those who said they were less than completely satisfied.
Among those who did not feel welcome, the following reasons were given by one or two participants each:
Participants were asked the following main questions:
Were you greeted by an Elections Canada official when you arrived to vote?
Were you completely satisfied or less than completely satisfied with the official language or languages in which you were greeted?
Participants could not always clearly recall at what stage in the voting process they were initially greeted by an Elections Canada official. To some extent this may be attributable to the time lag between the election and the interviews.
All participants said they were greeted either when they arrived or at the reception desk.
The following details the official language in which people were greeted, grouped by OLMC and satisfaction level with the services offered by Elections Canada officials:
All the participants were satisfied with the language in which they were greeted. The majority of participants were greeted in unilingual French. Two were greeted bilingually and one was greeted in English only. The latter participant did not ask to be served in French because they said given that they live in Alberta, they would not have expected to be addressed in French or bilingually, and did not expect there would be any French-speaking poll workers.
One participant suggested that in the future, Elections Canada officials should actively ask people what language they would prefer to be served in, rather than assuming their preference based on an accent or response to a bilingual greeting. This participant also pointed out that if the conversation starts in English, people may feel obligated to continue in English out of politeness or lack of knowledge that services can also be provided in French.
The majority of participants reported being greeted in English only; about one-third said they were greeted bilingually, and the remaining participants were greeted in French only, but in one instance the participant said that the French spoken by the poll worker was not good, but understandable.
Among those who were greeted in English only, everyone said they were dissatisfied with the unilingual greeting. They would have preferred a bilingual greeting, even though the English greeting did not present a problem for most of them because they are bilingual. Some said if there had been a verbal offer to continue in French, i.e. a bilingual greeting signaling they could have a conversation in French, they would have responded in French. Several participants also said they looked for but did not find anyone wearing a badge to indicate bilingual services were available at the poll.
"If they say, 'Hello! Bonjour! Sorry I don't speak French, I can find you someone,' that's already a good start; it's saying the official language isn't just English, but French too. And there might be someone else who can help. That would have been nice. It would have been 'the least they could do,' and I didn't even get that." (Translated from French)
The following comments were each made by several participants:
One participant stated that services provided by Elections Canada as a federal agency should be in both languages:
"So, to me, working in the federal government and not speaking both languages is unacceptable. If you work in the federal government, you have to be bilingual." (Translated from French)
Only two participants requested to be served in French, and in both cases they were told that there was no one at the polling place who spoke French:
"I asked to be spoken to in French. I'm know I'm a pain in the butt... But the thing is, if no one asks, nothing will change. The two ladies said, 'Hello!' 'Do you speak French?' 'Sorry, not today/sorry, too bad!' It's the story of my life, really, and it ended right there." (Translated from French)
As noted, most of the participants were bilingual and at this stage did not request to be served in French despite their preference for service in French. Several also stated that since they are bilingual and they did not see any indication (e.g. a badge) that bilingual services were available, they did not ask for service in French. One participant said that given where they live in Canada, they thought it unlikely that there was anyone at the poll who could speak French:
"The poll workers only ever approach you in English, especially in a city like Calgary. Given that I'm a Francophone, it's far from the first time that I've had to ask for service in French, but, after a while, you start to realize that they aren't able to speak French so you say to yourself, 'I'll just do it in English.' So, unfortunately, my whole voting process had to be done in English." (Translated from French)
Among the minority of French OLMC participants who were greeted bilingually, all but two were satisfied with the greeting. Neither of those participants felt that it was a true offer of service in either language—it was their impression that the poll worker did not really speak French based on their accent and hesitation. In one case, the poll worker immediately switched to English after the bilingual greeting.
The small number of participants who were greeted in French were satisfied with the greeting, although one participant noted that the French spoken by the poll worker was obviously not their mother tongue, but understandable.
Participants made a number of suggestions for what Elections Canada should do in future elections in terms of how people are greeted at the poll. This is important because the greeting is the first point of contact in the voting process and sets the tone and expectations for the availability of service in one's preferred official language.
The following are suggestions were made by two or more participants, in descending order of mention:
One participant suggested that there should be a separate line that says "For service in French, go to that line," because this would not hold up the main line and would speed things up. Another suggested that if service is requested in French, then the poll worker should direct the voter to someone who can provide service in French.
None of the participants reported being greeted bilingually. The majority were greeted in French only and the rest were greeted in English only, the latter being the language they preferred. In one case, the participant was greeted in French but, because the poll worker had an accent, the participant switched to English for the rest of the conversation.
All the participants said they were satisfied with how they were greeted, including those who were greeted in French; that is, being greeted in French only did not really matter to them because they were bilingual.
Two participants who were greeted in French were asked what they think would have happened if they had at that pointrequested to be served in English. Both participants said they did not think this would have been an option—it was their impression that no one at the polling place spoke English. One participant also said that the poll worker heard them speaking in English while they were in line, but they were never offered service in English.
Only one participant reported being greeted bilingually; all the other participants said they were greeted in French only. While this did not present a problem for participants, as they are bilingual, they nonetheless would have preferred a bilingual greeting.
None of the participants who were greeted in French only asked the poll worker to speak to them in English. They did not want to make a fuss on election day, hold up people in the line behind them or be disrespectful to poll workers. Out of respect, they responded to the poll worker in the language in which they were addressed:
"She spoke to me in French, it isn't the end of the world, I continued in French, but would have liked to be greeted in French and English, like, you know how the government today makes you do it when you're answering a phone call at a business or whatever? Am I going to cause problems? No."
"It's not time on an election day that you want to start making any problems."
"I didn't know. I assumed I could, but I didn't push the issue because of maybe... I don't know, backlash or just try to make the best of it and speed up the process. So I didn't know that I could ask to be serviced in English."
Two participants said that if they had been greeted bilingually, they would have responded in English, and another participant pointed out that it should have been obvious that French was not his first language—he had an accent in French but was also speaking to his partner in English while in the line-up at the polling place.
Participants were also asked two other questions related to the service they received at the polling place:
Overall, thinking about the types of services you received from Elections Canada at all stages during this recent election, was it in line with the services you expected? If not: How was it different from what you expected?
Overall, would you say your experience voting in this federal election when it comes to services being available in your preferred official language was better, the same or worse than in previous federal elections?
The majority of participants were greeted in unilingual French, and two others were greeted bilingually (these participants were in New Brunswick or Ontario). Only one participant received service in English only throughout the voting process, but they said it didn't matter because they were bilingual. Another participant was served in French at reception but in English at the voting station.
The large majority did not have to ask to be served in French:
The participant who was served in French at reception and then in English at the voting station said they addressed the poll worker at the voting station in French but were answered in English. The participant did not ask the poll worker to speak in French and continued in English. They described the poll worker as flustered and judged that they were more comfortable in English than French.
None of the participants who were served in French reported a problem with the quality of the French spoken by the poll workers.
With only one exception, all the French OLMC participants who were completely satisfied said the services they received from Elections Canada during the 44th general election were in line with their expectations, and the majority also said their experience was the same in this election in terms of services being available in French. The exceptions were:
The majority of participants reported being greeted in English only; about one-third said they were greeted bilingually, and the remaining participants were greeted in French only.
With regard to the service they received, a large majority of participants were served in English only and did not request service in French, for varying reasons. Participants fell into one of the following four categories:
Served in English only; did not ask to be served in French: This was the largest group, with about half of the participants saying they were served in English only and that they did not ask to be served in French. They gave varying reasons for not doing so:
Related to this point, one participant ran into a problem at the voting station where they were served in English only. This participant was new to voting in Canada and had some trouble understanding the instructions on how to vote. However, the participant said they were embarrassed and did not want to create a fuss, so they continued in English.
Served in English only but had the option to be served in French: Three participants said that they had the option to be served in French but for different reasons opted to be served in English.
"It was best not to insist or it would have caused a diplomatic incident, and I didn't want to cause a diplomatic incident. So it was only to keep up appearances." (Translated from French)
Served in English only, even though there was some indication that bilingual services were available: Two participants fell into this category. They were both greeted bilingually at the voting station, and in both cases there was a sign on the table offering bilingual services.
Neither of these participants went on to request service in French. One participant summed up his reason: "I live in B.C. and I'm used to letting it go and not demanding service in French." This participant also went on to say that it would have been better to have had no signage offering bilingual services, so as not to raise people's expectations if the service was not being offered.
Served in English only, even though they requested French: Two participants said they explicitly asked to be served in French but were instead served in English only. Both participants said the poll worker they talked to said they didn't understand French and were apologetic about this. Neither of the participants wanted to make a scene or make the poll worker uncomfortable and, out of respect, conversed with the poll worker in English. However, they were not satisfied with this situation:
"I was not satisfied. They should have known when they greeted me that I spoke French. They should have found a French speaker or told their supervisor that someone spoke French. Election Canada employees should be able to do that (e.g. if you hear a voter speak French, so-and-so is the person who can speak both languages). It should be part of their training; every Canadian has the right to expect service in either language." (Translated from French)
When asked to compare their experience this election to previous elections, half of the French OLMC participants who were less than completely satisfied said the services they received from Elections Canada this election were in line with their expectations, and a large majority of these participants also said their experience was the same in this election as in previous elections in terms of services not being available in French. Some participants attributed the lack of availability of services in French to the fact that their province or city does not have a large Francophone population, so Elections Canada may have difficulty finding bilingual or French-speaking poll workers.
The other half of the French OLMC participants who were less than completely satisfied said their experience at the polls in terms of services being available in French was not what they expected. The majority of these participants also said their experience with services not being available in French was worse in this election than in previous elections. Some had lived in other parts of Canada where they had been served in French or had the option to converse in French with poll workers. A few other participants felt the COVID-related protocols added another level of difficulty to the voting process that was not present in previous elections.
As discussed in the previous section, the majority of participants were greeted in French only and the rest were greeted in English only. At reception and the voting station, the reverse was true—the majority were served in English and the remainder were served in French.
None of the participants who were served in English had to ask to be served in English. Two participants said the poll worker automatically responded in English when the participants addressed them in English. One participant said the poll worker detected they had an accent in French and switched to English.
Among those served in French, none of the participants requested service in English—either because they acknowledged that most people in their community are unilingual French or because they are bilingual and it did not present a problem for them to vote.
None of the participants reported a problem with the quality of the English spoken by the poll workers.
With only two exceptions, all the completely satisfied English OLMC participants said the services they received from Elections Canada during the 44th general election were in line with their expectations, and the majority also said their experience was the same in this election in terms of services being available in English. The exceptions were:
All but one participant said they were greeted in French only. The other participant was greeted bilingually. None of the participants greeted in French only asked the poll worker to speak to them in English.
With regard to service received at reception and the voting station, only one participant said they were served in English without having to ask, both at reception and at the voting station. The participant said the poll worker was obviously bilingual and spoke English very well, albeit with a slight accent:
"What happened was when I went there, I gave her my card. And I said hi. So obviously, she knew right away I was English. So she answered me in English, which was very nice."
One participant was served in French only, their preferred language. However, they were less than completely satisfied because their family members who speak English only would have had difficulty voting on their own, as there was no one at the polling place who spoke English.
Of the remainder, the majority ran into some language problems, but only one participant specifically requested service in English:
Two participants were served in French only and did not have a language problem. They would have preferred service in English but did not ask for it. One of these participants did not know they could ask for service in English, and the other did not want to create a fuss.
The majority of the English OLMC participants who were less than completely satisfied said the services they received from Elections Canada this election were in line with their expectations and that their experience was the same in this election as in previous elections in terms of services not being available in English. Most of the remaining participants said the services received this election were not as expected and were worse compared to their experience in previous elections. In previous elections, bilingual services had been available and they had been served in English, and they had expected the same explicit offer of English in this election.
One participant said that the services he received this election were better than expected but worse than in previous elections. Specifically, it was better than expected because there was at least some attempt by the poll worker to speak English to the participant when he did not understand the instructions being given to him in French. However, it was worse than previous elections because the participant felt that right from the beginning of the voting process, "poll workers [in previous elections] were more sensitive to the language of the voter and there was a more fluid transition from French to English when required."
Later in the interview process, participants who were less than completely satisfied with the language in which they were served in this election were asked for their reaction to two options Elections Canada provides to voters in the event that there is no bilingual person at a polling place:
Telephone Interpretation Service
"Elections Canada prefers to have a bilingual person at all polling places, but this isn't always possible. An alternative that the poll worker could offer to use if there is nobody able to offer services in both official languages is a telephone interpretation service. This could be used if you have cell phone with you. The poll worker would call Election Canada's interpretation service, and then also call you to join in the call. The interpreter is bilingual and would translate what each of you say. Would this be acceptable to you if there is not a bilingual staff person on site? Would you use it? [If applicable:] Was this option offered to you?"
Bilingual Information Cards
"Another alternative that poll workers can offer is bilingual information cards. There is one bilingual card that tells you what information you should provide in order to get a ballot, and then what the process is to mark and return the ballot. Would this be acceptable to you if there is not a bilingual staff person on site? Would you use it? [If applicable:] Was this option offered to you?"
Because these questions were added after a number of interviews had already been completed, they were asked of only three of the eight English OLMC participants who were less than completely satisfied and 11 of the 22 French OLMC participants who were less than completely satisfied.
It is our understanding that both of these options were available to voters in this election. However, none of the participants were offered either of these services and none seemed to be aware of them. Among participants not served in their preferred language, few explicitly requested service in their preferred language, for reasons noted earlier. According to Elections Canada's procedures, these options should be offered proactively by poll workers when they identify that an elector wants to be served in the minority official language, or at the request of the elector. The lack of awareness of these options suggests that perhaps how they are offered or publicized should be reviewed.
French OLMCs who were less than completely satisfied did not feel either of these services would be personally useful to them, and that is because without exception they were bilingual. While they might prefer to be served in French, they would switch to English rather than use either the telephone interpretation service or the bilingual information cards.
As stated above, participants said that they themselves would not use the telephone interpretation service—they are bilingual and would switch to English. Related to this, one participant said that if he had to wait five minutes, he would switch to English rather than wait to get an interpreter on the line.
Other reasons given for not using the service included:
"No. I find it hard to believe that they won't use bilingual people from our community and would rather save money by using a telephone service." (Translated from French)
Although none of the participants would personally use the telephone interpretation service, some did have positive comments about such a service being available:
Participants also said that they personally would not find the bilingual information cards useful, mostly for the same reason as they gave for not finding the telephone interpretation service useful—they are bilingual and would switch to English rather than reading a card. Two participants felt that cards cannot replace human interaction or address specific questions a voter may have. For one of the participants, it was about fairness: that is, the right to be served by a person in their mother tongue:
"No, my expectations are that, in a bilingual country, I should have access to people with whom I can speak to in my mother tongue. To me, being given a card in my language versus being offered in-person service is a matter of fairness." (Translated from French)
The following are positive comments about the availability of bilingual information cards, each made by one participant:
All three participants said the telephone interpretation service may be a good alternative, although each participant qualified their answer:
The interviewer asked the participant if he would use this service if the call took place at a separate table, so that he would not be holding up the line. His response was "maybe":
"I still might feel a bit of anxiety for being singled out as the individual who can't speak French, but I wouldn't feel bad for holding people up."
In our view, it is unlikely that any of these participants would use the telephone interpretation service for themselves because they are bilingual, and while they might not like that service is not available in English, they would likely switch to French rather than use the service.
All three participants reacted positively to the bilingual information cards, but one of the participants said it would be fine only in circumstances where it would be extremely difficult to find someone who speaks English. He preferred the telephone interpretation service, not only because he would rather speak to a person than read a card, but also because the cards might not answer the questions a voter might have.
The other two participants liked the idea of bilingual information cards and preferred it over the telephone interpretation service—they viewed the latter as a useful backup if someone really got stuck at the polling place (e.g. problems with ID or address). Both participants assumed the cards would cover 90 percent of the required information.
One of these participants also said the card would be easier because you can read it independently while waiting in line and that this would be a good alternative for people with hearing impairment.
The other participant felt it would be a good reminder of the voting process, because there are typically long gaps between elections or if there is a change to the voting process.
Participants in each type of OLMC were asked how difficult or easy they thought it would be for Elections Canada to provide services in the minority language—that is, in French in the French OLMCs and in English in the English OLMCs.
About two-thirds of participants believed it should be easy for Elections Canada to provide service in their preferred language in their community. There were, however, some differences between the two OLMCs and also within the French OLMCs in terms of how satisfied participants were with the language in which they were served in this election.
For reference, the large majority of these participants were served in unilingual French or a combination of bilingually, in English only or in French only during the voting process. Only one participant was served in unilingual English.
All the participants who said they were completely satisfied with the language in which they were served at the poll in this election felt it should be easy for Elections Canada to provide services in French in their community. All but one of these participants lived in either Ontario or New Brunswick, the two provinces with the largest Francophone populations outside of Quebec.
With the exception of one participant, they estimated that between 30% and 90% of the population in their community was French-speaking. The other participant estimated that less than 5% of the population in their area are Francophones, but said there are communities within a 30-minute drive where they estimate 20% are French-speaking. As such, they felt it should be easy for Elections Canada to recruit people from nearby communities to work at the polls.
Among less than completely satisfied French OLMC participants, no one was served in unilingual French. About one-third received services in both languages; that is, some services were bilingual, in English only or in French only during the voting process. The remainder were served in unilingual English.
The participants who said they were less than completely satisfied with the language in which they were served at the poll in this election were split on whether or not they believed it should be easy for Elections Canada to provide services in French in their community—half of them said it should be easy and the other half felt it would be difficult. By province:
Among those who felt it should be easy for Elections Canada to provide services in French at the polls, the participants estimated that between 17% and 70% of the population in their community are French-speaking. One participant estimated that about 3% of the population in their immediate area are Francophones, but added there are French-language schools in their community from which Elections Canada could source volunteers to work at polling places. Two participants reinforced their view that since we live in an officially bilingual country, it should be easy for Elections Canada to find people who speak both languages, so as to be able to provide services in whichever language a voter prefers.
Among those who felt it would be difficult for Elections Canada to provide services in French at the polls, the majority estimated that between 5% and 35% of their community is French-speaking. The remainder estimated that the French-speaking population in their community is under 5%. One participant from Alberta acknowledged that it is generally hard to find volunteers for elections, but that given the sizeable Francophone community in that province, Elections Canada should be able to find one for each polling place. Another participant from British Columbia suggested that being able to provide services in French is less about the availability of volunteers who are able to speak French and more about how well an Anglophone hiring temporary volunteers is capable of assessing the language capability of these volunteers.
Among English OLMCs, only one participant (who was completely satisfied) was served in unilingual English. About half the participants were served in unilingual French and the other half received some services bilingually, in English only or in French only during the voting process.
Regardless of their satisfaction level with the language services provided by Elections Canada, about two-thirds of participants believed it should be easy for Elections Canada to provide services in English in their communities. Estimates of the percentage of English-speaking people in their community ranged from 10% to 90%. The following are additional comments, each made by one participant:
Among the minority of participants who felt it would be difficult for Elections Canada to provide services in English, two estimated that between 10% and 50% of their community are English-speaking. The other two did not provide estimates but commented that they live in predominantly French communities, with one stating that in the small rural community where they live, only four or five families speak English and the rest of the community is unilingual French.
At the end of the interview, participants were asked, based on their experience voting in this federal election, if they will use the same method again (i.e. advance poll, the poll on election day, or some other method) in the next federal election, whenever that election may be.
In this election, the majority of French OLMC participants said they voted on election day, although a sizeable group voted at an advance poll. The majority of English OLMC participants voted at an advance poll and the remainder on election day. None of the participants who qualified and agreed to participate in the study voted by mail or at an Elections Canada office.
With the exception of French OLMC participants who were less than completely satisfied, a large majority said they will use the same voting method in the next election—that is, participants who voted at an advance poll said they would vote in the same way and those who voted on election day will do so again.
Among French OLMC participants who were less than completely satisfied, there were some shifts and indecision about what method they would use to vote in the next election. The majority would either change to voting at an advance poll or by mail (because of COVID) or were undecided about which in-person voting method they would use, depending on their schedule at the time of the next election. A minority said they will continue to vote on election day.
Among all the participants who said they would/might change their method of voting, most gave reasons unrelated to language. Only two participants (one English OLMC and one French OLMC) cited language as a factor. Both were less than completely satisfied with their experience in the September 20 general election, and both said that since service at the polling place was not available to them in their preferred language, they would vote by mail next time in order to be able to vote using their preferred language.
1 This question was also asked in the online screening questionnaire. The results were largely consistent with what people said in the interview, but there were some participants who said "no preference" in the online screening questionnaire but stated a preferred language in the interview. The focus here is on what participants said in the interview, since it allowed them to explain their views in their own words.