Correct.
Evidence of meeting #45 for Official Languages in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was aboriginal.
Evidence of meeting #45 for Official Languages in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was aboriginal.
9:40 a.m.
Legal Advisor, Languages Commissioner of the Northwest Territories
Correct.
9:40 a.m.
Legal Advisor, Languages Commissioner of the Northwest Territories
Correct.
9:40 a.m.
Liberal
9:40 a.m.
Legal Advisor, Languages Commissioner of the Northwest Territories
You could. You certainly could file a special report. I did that because the one area, when I did a bit of an historical overview of files, not just the files I dealt with.... Because I really didn't receive that many complaints.
But if you were to look historically at the kinds of comments you'd hear if you were doing a presentation, health care was huge—
9:40 a.m.
Legal Advisor, Languages Commissioner of the Northwest Territories
—so I did a special report on health care.
9:40 a.m.
Liberal
Mauril Bélanger Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON
And those are all accessible through the government website?
9:45 a.m.
Legal Advisor, Languages Commissioner of the Northwest Territories
They are.
9:45 a.m.
Liberal
Mauril Bélanger Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON
Thank you.
What's the budget of the commissioner's office?
9:45 a.m.
Commissioner, Languages Commissioner of the Northwest Territories
It's about $240,000.
9:45 a.m.
Commissioner, Languages Commissioner of the Northwest Territories
Well, there's me, as the languages commissioner, and there's my legal adviser, Shannon, who is part-time. I also have an admin assistant in Inuvik, who is part-time, and another admin assistant here in Yellowknife when and as needed.
9:45 a.m.
Liberal
Mauril Bélanger Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON
There's an area that intrigues me a bit, and I want to see if I can understand it. Is there a category of public service employees or positions that are deemed bilingual?
9:45 a.m.
Legal Advisor, Languages Commissioner of the Northwest Territories
Yes, there are certain positions where you would have to be bilingual. There's a competency test if you wanted—
9:45 a.m.
Liberal
Mauril Bélanger Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON
In that case, which of the languages are we talking about?
9:45 a.m.
Legal Advisor, Languages Commissioner of the Northwest Territories
It would depend. For example, if you were looking for a job at Stanton Territorial Hospital, there are interpreters or translators there. You would have to—
9:45 a.m.
Liberal
Mauril Bélanger Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON
Here's what I'm trying to understand. Are there bilingual positions that are English and French, or English and an aboriginal language, or are there trilingual positions?
9:45 a.m.
Legal Advisor, Languages Commissioner of the Northwest Territories
I don't know if there are any trilingual positions, but there are certainly bilingual positions. There's also a bilingual bonus that—
9:45 a.m.
Legal Advisor, Languages Commissioner of the Northwest Territories
English and French, for staff--
9:45 a.m.
Liberal
Mauril Bélanger Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON
Would you know if this is something the commissioner has had to look at in terms of determining or helping to determine or reviewing the number of bilingual positions that are in the territorial public service?
9:45 a.m.
Legal Advisor, Languages Commissioner of the Northwest Territories
Sorry, can you say that again?
9:45 a.m.
Liberal
Mauril Bélanger Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON
There are, I'm told, 4,700 public servants in the Northwest Territories. Would you have stats on how many of those are deemed to be bilingual positions?
9:45 a.m.
Legal Advisor, Languages Commissioner of the Northwest Territories
That could be obtained.