[1] Section 20's specific function is to establish a right to English and French services from the governments of Canada and New Brunswick.
(1) Any member of the public in Canada has the right to communicate with, and to receive available services from, any head or central office of an institution of the Parliament or government of Canada in English or French, and has the same right with respect to any other office of any such institution where
[3] As constitutional scholar Peter Hogg notes, other provinces are not required to provide bilingual services under section 20, but some choose to do so under provincial legislation.
[3] In the Supreme Court of Canada case Société des Acadiens v. Association of Parents (1986), Justice Bertha Wilson remarked that the limited rights in section 20 seemed to contrast with section 16, which encourages growth in government bilingualism.
In Professional Institute of the Public Service v. The Queen (1993),[5] it was added that relevant factors for requiring bilingualism should include the number of people in a minority language community, interest among the population, and relations between the people and the government.