Ghislaine Saikaley

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Ghislaine Saikaley (born 1962 in Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec) is a Canadian public servant who served as the interim Commissioner of Official Languages from December 19, 2016, to January 29, 2018. She studied criminology at the Université de Montréal.

Saikaley began her public service career in 1986 at the Rouyn-Noranda Correctional Centre, where she quickly became manager. She later worked in Granby and then Hull as the parole office manager. During this time, she received death threats from criminal groups, and her home was placed under police surveillance.

In 2008, she joined the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages as Assistant Commissioner, handling investigations into breaches of the Official Languages Act.

When Graham Fraser retired, Saikaley became interim commissioner for six months. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau nominated Madeleine Meilleur to replace her, but Meilleur withdrew in June 2017. Saikaley’s term was extended for another six months, but no permanent appointment was made, leaving the office without a full-time commissioner for a time.

During her tenure, Saikaley called for modernization of the Official Languages Act to suit the digital age. She also suggested raising minimum bilingualism standards for managers in the federal civil service and criticized the Treasury Board Secretariat’s English-French proficiency requirements for being too low and leading to uneven application of Part V of the Act.