Canada Gazette, Part I, Volume 160, Number 12: Official Languages Administrative Monetary Penalties Regulations

March 21, 2026

(Erratum)

Statutory authority
Official Languages Act

Sponsoring department
Department of Canadian Heritage

Notice is hereby given that the Regulatory Impact Analysis Statement of the above-mentioned Regulations published on page 270 of the Canada Gazette, Part I, Vol. 160, No. 10 (PDF, 1.3MB), dated Saturday, March 7, 2026, needs to be updated. Accordingly, the following modifications are made.

On page 275, the first three paragraphs under the “Range of penalties” section, which were written as follows:

• The modernized Act allows the Commissioner to impose administrative monetary penalties, thereby strengthening his powers as they relate to the health and safety of the travelling public. During the preliminary consultations, many stakeholders stressed the importance of recognizing due diligence on the part of the entities subject to the proposed Regulations and of having a system of graduated, proportionate penalties. Stakeholders identified a number of mitigating and aggravating factors that should guide the determination of penalty amounts. Aggravating factors included the duration of the violation, the extent to which it was repetitive, the impact on passenger rights, the weight of the evidence, and the consequences for public health and passenger safety. In the case of services provided pursuant to a contract, the penalty for breaches — with the exception of breaches involving health and safety — would be more lenient, reflecting the operational constraints involved in providing the services and the lower level of control exercised by the subject entity over the services.
• The proposed Regulations will therefore provide for a range of penalties, with the Commissioner determining the exact amount of each penalty on the basis of the type of violation, the size of the entity and the Commissioner’s assessment of any aggravating or mitigating factors.
• Violations will be categorized as follows:
  • Type A: Violations involving services provided pursuant to a contract (subsection 23(2) of the OLA and paragraphs 12(1)(a) and 12(1)(b) of the regulations under Part IV of the Act);
  • Type B: Violations of other provisions of Part IV of the OLA and its regulations, including those involving services provided on behalf of federal institutions (section 25 of the OLA) and paragraph 12(1)(c) of the regulations under Part IV of the Act; and
  • Type C: Violations involving health, safety and security (paragraph 24(1)(a) of the OLA, section 8 of the regulations under Part IV of the Act and section 26 of the OLA).

Should be replaced by the following:

• The modernized Act allows the Commissioner to impose administrative monetary penalties, thereby strengthening his powers as they relate to the health and safety of the travelling public. During the preliminary consultations, many stakeholders stressed the importance of recognizing due diligence on the part of the entities subject to the proposed Regulations and of having a system of graduated, proportionate penalties. Stakeholders identified a number of mitigating and aggravating factors that should guide the determination of penalty amounts. Aggravating factors included the duration of the violation, the extent to which it was repetitive, the impact on passenger rights, the weight of the evidence, and the consequences for public health and passenger safety. In the case of services provided pursuant to a contract, the penalty for breaches would be more lenient, reflecting the operational constraints involved in providing the services and the lower level of control exercised by the subject entity over the services.
• The proposed Regulations will therefore provide for a range of penalties, with the Commissioner determining the exact amount of each penalty on the basis of the type of violation, the size of the entity and the Commissioner’s assessment of any aggravating or mitigating factors.
• Violations will be categorized as follows:
  • Type A: Violations involving services provided pursuant to a contract (subsection 23(2) of the OLA);
  • Type B: Violations of other provisions of Part IV of the OLA and its Regulations, including those involving services provided on behalf of federal institutions (section 25 of the OLA); and
  • Type C: Violations involving health, safety and security (paragraph 24(1)(a) of the OLA, section 8 of the Regulations and section 26 of the OLA).

In addition, on page 276, Table 3: Range of penalties should appear as follows:

Type of violation	Amount
A	Up to $25,000
B	Up to $50,000
C	$5,000–$50,000

Note: The HTML version has already been modified accordingly.