If you're a Quebec Anglo, the name Raymond Théberge may not mean much to you.He's Canada's Commissioner of Official Languages. His job is to defend Canada's Official Languages Act. His mandate, and that of his Office, includes ensuring equality of English and French in federal government agencies and society at large, including at the provincial level.Quebec Anglos likely don't know much about Mr. Théberge since there's largely been crickets from his office while their minority language rights have been trampled on.Which is strange, given all the noise about Bill 96. And, especially once you see how very active, forceful and insistent his Office has been in defending francophone rights outside of Quebec.Bill 96, which is now a provincial law, takes away rights of Anglos in Quebec to use English in many contexts, ranging from the courts to health care to the workplace. It's a big, messy and noisy issue. It's become a hot potato in the provincial election campaign.But more importantly, several legal challenges have been launched against the Bill, by lawyers, by the English Montreal School Board, and by the judges of the Court of Quebec. More challenges are expected in the weeks and months ahead.A federal body, financed by taxpayer money, and charged with defending minority language rights, is silent in the midst of a huge debate over language rights in Quebec. Something's not right here, and it needs to change.In the absence of the federal government stepping up and challenging what's clearly an unjust and unconstitutional law, these private sector groups have stepped up in its place. And on their own dime at that. When lawyers have to turn to GoFundMe because the government does nothing, you know there's a public policy failure somewhere along the chain.This is wrong. Mr. Théberge needs to step up to the plate.  If there ever was a time and an issue where the Commissioner of Official Languages should play a leading role in defending minority language rights, this is it.Mr. Théberge took office in January of 2018. Bill 96 was first tabled on May 13th, 2021. A year later, on May 24th, 2022, a majority in the National Assembly of Quebec adopted the Bill and it became law.Throughout all of this, what would Anglos in Quebec hear from Mr. Théberge?Crickets.The Office's 2021-2022 Annual Report timidly offers up one line on Bill 96: “This bill, which is expected to be adopted by the fall of 2022, has raised concerns among Quebec's English-speaking minority communities.”That's it. Nothing more.Now, let's compare that with what the Commissioner has been doing in defence of francophone rights outside of Quebec.There, his Office has been busy. It's been aggressively intervening in court cases to champion French language rights, with interventions in 8 different court cases since 2018.All of these interventions were on the pro-francophone rights side. Several of the cases concern provincial issues, rather than purely federal ones, like the Bessette case, involving language rights in the BC provincial justice system.There's absolutely nothing wrong with the Commissioner intervening to promote francophone language rights. But there needs to be balance. Canada has two official languages, and two official language minority communities. Why is the Commissioner so eager to get involved in litigation over francophone rights, yet so reluctant to do the same thing when anglophone rights are under attack in Quebec?Some might say it's all a matter of timing, and that the federal government is waiting for the case to make its way up through the justice system. But there is nothing that requires the federal government  to wait until Bill 96 goes to the Supreme Court.In the 1980s, the federal government actively intervened to support litigation by Quebec's anglophone community, and was present to support the lawyers challenging the justice system provisions of Bill 101 from the very beginning. Those provisions were struck down at trial, on appeal, and in the Supreme Court of Canada. And the federal government was there all the way.Needless to say, that same kind of initiative has not happened with Bill 96.That's wrong, and needs to be corrected.The same article of our constitution – section 133 to be exact – that protects the English language in Quebec protects the French language at the federal level throughout Canada. Strong protection for English in Quebec means strong protection for French elsewhere.It's time for Mr. Théberge to make some noise. We have a Commissioner with a track record of intervening to support francophone minorities outside of Quebec. That is honorable and should be continued. Yet when the anglophone minority in Quebec is suffering a once-in-a-generation attack from its provincial government,  he has been silent. That is dishonourable and needs to end.It's time to shake off the crickets. The Commissioner can and should intervene in Bill 96 litigation.Rick Peterson is founder and chair of Peterson Capital, a capital markets advisory firm with offices across Canada, including in Quebec, and in Europe.