Justice in Official Languages - Newsletter
(No05 | June 2012)

Capsule 41

This new column in the Newsletter will present the profiles of various coordinators responsible for the implementation of section 41 of the Official Languages Act in their program, sector or region. This first edition of Capsule 41 highlights Diane Dagenais, Coordinator responsible for section 41 at the Department of Justice Canada’s Ontario Regional Office.

Biographical notes

Diane Dagenais
Diane Dagenais

Born in Montreal, Diane Dagenais studied at the University of Ottawa, where she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Administration in 1984. Diane then returned to Montreal where, two years later, she completed a Bachelor of Arts in Modern Languages (B.A.) in Modern Languages at McGill University. Interested in law, she decided to pursue her studies at McGill, and obtained her Bachelor of Law degree (LL.B.) in 1993.

Diane then moved to Toronto where, in 1995 she began her career with the Department of Justice Canada’s Immigration Law Division at the Ontario Regional Office. Today, she is Deputy Regional Director and Senior Counsel in this Division. She is also currently the acting Deputy Regional Director for the Ontario Regional Office.

Her role as Coordinator

Diane Dagenais has been responsible for coordinating the implementation of section 41 at the Ontario Regional Office since 2009. This responsibility represents about five to ten percent of her workload.

What she appreciates most about this role is that she gets to meet stakeholders who, through their various initiatives, help improve access to justice in both official languages for the members of their community.

Did you know?

Some of you may have had a chance to talk to Diane at various activities. But did you know that you could have done this in five languages? No kidding! Diane speaks French, English, Ukrainian, Russian and Spanish.

Contact

If you have questions about the implementation of section 41 in Ontario, or if you wish to invite Diane to attend an activity, don’t hesitate to contact her!

Diane Dagenais
Telephone: 416-973-9711
Email: diane.dagenais@justice.gc.ca