Procedure and House Affairs Committee on April 7th, 2022

[Denis Gros-Louis]

The eight nations that are represented by our council are involved in reconciling an education agreement framework that hopefully will be forthcoming. Recognizing our language will be part of the education value-added of the agreement.

[Brad Vis, Conservative, Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, BC]

Do any of those nations plan on making a recommendation that would incorporate some of the points you made today regarding Elections Canada and the process of indigenous participation in federal elections, to your knowledge?

[Denis Gros-Louis]

To my knowledge, we are going to work on safeguarding, protecting, enhancing and defending the rights of our language, whether at the federal and/or provincial level. What we're interested in is to value all of the efforts we're doing to work with our youth to grow in our education programs with pride. When there are barriers, such as not understanding the ballot or having to support the elders in reading the ballots, what you're proposing in your studies will be of value and a step forward.

With regard to going beyond that in a comprehensive modern treaty, it's beyond my mandate today and it's not at the core of what we prepared for.

[Brad Vis, Conservative, Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, BC]

Thank you, and I understand.

At the education council, of the youth you represent, how many can fluently speak their indigenous language or how many are in the process of learning that language as part of their core educational requirements today?

[Marjolaine Tshernish]

Is the question for Mr. Gros-Louis or me?

[Brad Vis, Conservative, Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, BC]

It is for both of you.

[Denis Gros-Louis]

Go ahead, Ms. Tshernish.

[Marjolaine Tshernish]

Each nation has its own rate of speakers. There are indicators of the vitality of the language for each community, and they don't apply to the entire nation.

The Innu nation has nine communities in Quebec and two in Labrador. I would say that in some communities that are remote from the major centres, the rates of language retention may vary between 70 and 90 per cent. That is an approximate picture of the situation for the Innu nation.

What is important to know is that a language can disappear completely in two or three generations, which is not very long.

[Denis Gros-Louis]

From the First Nations Education Council's point of view, of the eight nations we represent, six still have fluent speakers in our schools. We do have immersion up to grade 2 for the majority of our schools. Of the two nations that have lost their language, in one of them we're starting to see, in our elementary schools and when the kids play outside, that some of them are now starting to speak in Wendat amongst themselves. That means the ongoing revitalization process and the investments made by our teachers, by the Canadian Heritage language program and by our own decision to safeguard our languages are working out.

[Brad Vis, Conservative, Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, BC]

That's very helpful.

Ms. Tshernish, have the Innu of northern Quebec asked the provincial government to produce ballots in indigenous languages in provincial elections?

[Marjolaine Tshernish]

We haven't made that specific request to the government. What is interesting is that you are the ones taking these initiatives.

Our organization and the band councils work at the local level to promote the use of the language in the community. To preserve a language, it has to be spoken by the community and be transmitted by the parents. If we want to reinforce the use of our language, it is very important to keep up this community work.

We have an important job to do internally. We would like the provincial and municipal governments to be able to help us promote and enhance our languages.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bardish Chagger]

Thank you for that exchange.

Just because we are going a little bit longer, I would not be surprised if we only have one round of questioning, so I was generous there. I will do the same with Ms. O'Connell.

We go over to you for six minutes.

[Jennifer O'Connell, Liberal, Pickering—Uxbridge, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

All my questions are through you. The first is actually to both witnesses.

Mr. Gros-Louis, you spoke about the 11 languages in Quebec and the different dialects. We also heard witnesses from I believe the Northwest Territories, which also had, I think, 11 various indigenous languages.

In the Northwest Territories, we heard that they were able to provide, in provincial or municipal elections as one example, the language of that particular community or riding, as we would know it, or voter district. But from an Elections Canada perspective, that nimbleness of ballot printing by riding and language translation, I think we can see there are some challenges with the time lines.

To Ms. Tshernish, you also mentioned that all nations must be respected. I wrote that down because if we are able to move forward and there are multiple indigenous languages with multiple dialects, some using syllabics and some of it being translated, how do we best respect all nations and languages given the number of languages to make sure they're reflected in the communities—which I think both of you have talked about—and ensure that residents of those communities are actually using them.

How can we best respect those language rights, or how do we best choose which languages are most commonly used in various parts of the country?

That's a big, long question there, but I'll leave it open to both of you who have some advice and guidance for us.

[Marjolaine Tshernish]

I am going to speak in the Innu-aimun language. We have standardized the writing of the Innu-aimun language in order to develop the corpus. The Innu language consists of three dialects.

The Cree language is standardized. However, if we find a Roman alphabet letter that we also respect, we write it.

For constituencies on the North Shore, ballots are not written in all three dialects; they are only in one. However, it might happen that some words can be written in three dialects.

Another idea would be to write certain words on the voter information card that you send to the communities. It might be titles or subtitles only. It might also be words of welcome placed in the locations where people go to vote. When you do advertising, you could include certain First Nations languages.

[Denis Gros-Louis]

If it's the intent of Parliament to provide guidance to Elections Canada to do that, Ms. O'Connell, I would add that, first and foremost, Elections Canada doesn't have the expertise nor the capacity to do that.

It's a simple fact of reaching out to our communities. They will tell you who wants to have it done in their language. We'll do the translation. As I said, the Atikamekw nation was one member of the First Nations Education Council that has done it.

The process to go through the day and to be prepared and interested in the elections is already done. You know that eventually there will be an election, so therefore you can start working on it right away. You don't need to wait for that. Being proactive is a gesture of reconciliation.

In the previous panel there was a question about pictures. We do work with pictures. A lot of our languages are visual and cannot be translated because of all the stories that are behind them. It would create a sense of respect to have more visuals in the guidelines and preparation. As you see, we have a lot of pictures within the Atikamekw communities that have been used. Therefore, that can be started right away. You don't need to wait for the calling of the election and the writ to drop to do that.

In September 2018 in the Canadian Journal of Political Science, there were three researchers, Dabin, Daoust and Papillon. I guess Daoust was a previous speaker. They said clearly that, “Higher voter turnout in Indigenous communities corresponds with a higher proportion of Indigenous candidates.”

We saw what happened in Kenora in the last election. Three fly-in communities didn't get their ballots on time. There was a first nation candidate who could have had a shot at being voted in.

It's stuff like that, as I said, and being proactive. We'll do the translation for you, no problem. That would be an engagement.

[Jennifer O'Connell, Liberal, Pickering—Uxbridge, ON]

Thank you.

I'm sorry, it's really hard; I don't mean to cut you off.

Madam Chair, how much time do I have? Can I pass it to my colleague Ms. Romanado?

[The Chair, Liberal, Bardish Chagger]

Yes, you can, really quickly.

[Sherry Romanado, Liberal, Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I want to thank both witnesses for their remarks.

Mr. Gros-Louis, you showed us a document earlier. Would it be possible to send it to the clerk so he can distribute it to the committee members?

I have asked the witnesses several times whether the Commissioner of Canada Elections had communicated directly with the partners to ascertain whether already translated documents could be used. I'm thinking, in particular, of a poster that read "Vote Here", but in the local language. It would seem that this is not the case.

Thank you very much for your testimony and for saying you are prepared to work with anyone for accessibility to be possible for all indigenous electors.

Thank you very much.

[Denis Gros-Louis]

Ms. Romanado, the document I have here is an Elections Canada document. It was translated in collaboration with the Atikamekw nation. So I will be pleased to send a government document, an Elections Canada document in this case, to the clerk.

[Some hon. members]

Ha, ha!

[The Chair, Liberal, Bardish Chagger]

Thank you for that exchange.

Ms. Gaudreau, you have six minutes.

[Marie-Hélène Gaudreau, Bloc, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Good morning to our witnesses. I am really very happy to have your hear this morning.

We have just witnessed one of the noteworthy moments in our meetings. We saw that a lot of tools were already available. During our meetings, we have learned that there were already 16 documents translated into different languages. I hope this meeting will lead you to believe that we want to build, establish and continue the dialogue with you. This is particularly true of the Bloc Québécois.

In fact, in the riding of Laurentides—Labelle, there are three First Nations communities: the Atikamekw, the Algonquin and the Mohawk. A cultural centre is going to be created that will enable Caucasians to better understand and know about the various indigenous cultures.

I heard you talk about the first step. We have met with Mr. Gray-Lehoux and Mr. Vollant of the First Nations of Quebec-Labrador Youth Network. I think you know them. They told us that there was training and accompaniment for having an experience. But I would like to know whether that first step will be really decisive, since, from what they said, a lot has to be invested for each community to be able to reappropriate its language and culture, or preserve them.

I would like to hear from our two witnesses on that subject.

Mr. Gros-Louis, you have the floor.

[Denis Gros-Louis]

Thank you.

In fact, the work of negotiating a regional education agreement between the federal government and the 22 member communities of the First Nations Education Council virtually ended 20 minutes before this meeting started.

I hope I am not revealing a scoop, but progress was made thanks to an important gesture of reconciliation: the fact that in the approach to education, we are catching up, to enable the communities to have the same tools as in the Quebec provincial system.

One of the pillars of the First Nations Education Council's approach is to incorporate the very important component concerning languages and cultures in our schools, in addition to the provincial curriculum. We absolutely insist that our youth...

[Marie-Hélène Gaudreau, Bloc, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

Mr. Gros-Louis, forgive me for interrupting you. We have just opened a big door concerning what is happening in Quebec, but I absolutely have to ask you another question that has more to do with the federal government.

Ms. Tshernish, you have the floor.

[Marjolaine Tshernish]

Is this a question concerning language or is it a broader question that also has to do with inclusion?