To me, the level of the later-acquired language doesn't have to be quite that high, but it has to be approaching it. I wonder if that's because of growing up close to Ottawa and bilingual often meant closer to "fluent enough in the later-acquired language for the Canadian government to recognize your ability to work in that language."

I would have considered myself bilingual (by my definition) at one point. I don't know whether I would now. Not that it has much practical application, now that I live in Virginia. The only time I hear French is when I am watching/listening to Canadian TV/radio. I also know that it comes back quickly if I'm around it. But I also know it doesn't come back to quite the same level.

That said, when I checked dictionary.com, they defined bilingual as "able to speak two languages with the facility of a native speaker."