By: E&P Staff Graham Fraser, a national affairs writer in the Toronto Star's Ottawa bureau, has been nominated by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to be the nation's "federal commissioner of official languages," the newspaper reported Thursday.
If approved by Parliament, Fraser, 60, would become Canada's sixth languages commissioner with responsibility to protect and promote the national policy of "linguistic duality" between the official languages of English and French.
A language commissioner serves for a seven-year term, and reports directly to Parliament. The Star said the annual salary is the same as a Federal Court judge, now C$231,000, or US$206,057.
Fraser started at the Star in 1968, and has spent most of his journalism career there, with stints at The Gazette in Montreal, and The Globe and Mail. He most recently rejoined the Star in 2000.
His most recent book is "Sorry, I Don't Speak French," described by the Star as an in-depth look at Canada's bilingualism policies. He has lectured and written frequently on the nation's official languages, including as an adjunct professor at Carleton University School of Journalism.
In his nomination, Harper said Fraser would bring a journalist's independence of mind to the post, and that he has a "deep understanding of and sensitivity to Canada's linguistic duality and a profound knowledge of Canada's language policy and its impact on minority language communities."
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