Official Languages Committee on March 8th, 2011

[Liseanne Forand]

For us, the priority is to provide the best possible service to the Canadian public. This is why our priority will be to make sure that a person will be able to get service in the language of their choice, whether the service centre be unilingual or bilingual. If a francophone person comes to a unilingual anglophone office...

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

What I want to know is on what basis you determine that an office is unilingual. I do not want to know if I will get an answer in French when I come to one of your offices. I want to know what you base your reasoning on when there are plenty of francophones in the neighbouring province. This is what I want to know.

[Liseanne Forand]

Our basis is the Official Languages Act; the provisions and regulations we need are set out in section 32. A regulation under section 32 of the act describes the situations and the circumstances in which the service must be provided in one language or both.

The regulation states that there must be a bilingual service at places where the demand is substantial. There are actually some quite accurate ways to determine the places where the demand is substantial. This is what we base ourselves on when we decide whether a local office is unilingual or bilingual. This is why we have 136 offices in Canada and five outreach sites that are bilingual. The Official Languages Act defines the extent of the demand there must be.

Earlier, I was going to say that, even in a unilingual site, the first thing that the person at the counter will say to someone who arrives to get service in the other language, will be where the nearest bilingual office is to be found. Otherwise, a telephone service will be provided so that the client can be served in their own language.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

So where is the closest place in Nova Scotia where you can be served in French otherwise than over the telephone?

[Liseanne Forand]

It depends on where the person is in Nova Scotia. Earlier, we mentioned the fact that, on Cape Breton Island, for example, we have an office in Inverness and another in Port Hawkesbury, both bilingual. Cape Breton is a region of Nova Scotia. It depends where you are in Nova Scotia. They will tell the person where the nearest bilingual office is located.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

There is a problem with service in French, but it seems that there is also a problem with service in English in Quebec, for which your mark was a D.

My question is for all the representatives of the departments testifying before us. In Quebec, there are anglophones in Montreal, there are a few in Quebec City, there are also some in Gaspé and Sherbrooke. There are also some in other places like...

[An hon. member]

The Pontiac.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

... the Pontiac. When you offer a unilingual English position, are you limited in your recruiting? Do you have to post it in a region where there are a number of anglophones or do you do it everywhere, such as in the universities? Our young people are increasingly bilingual; they are more bilingual than we are. Can you ensure that anglophones in Quebec receive the same service as they would receive elsewhere?

[Liseanne Forand]

We are making great efforts to try to attract and recruit anglophone employees in Quebec. You are right to point out the fact that we did not get a good mark there.

We have made some small progress. We have increased our numbers of bilingual employees by 20%. This is not very significant because it was 4% and now it is 5%. This is not enough.

To answer your question, let me say that our positions are advertised nationally. When a position is offered, we go to the universities. We have participated in career fairs in anglophone universities such as McGill University in Montreal where...

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Mauril Bélanger]

Thank you. I am sorry, but we have already gone way over the allocated time.

Mr. Godin, you have the floor.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Let me come back to the topic of your activities in the Atlantic region.

Is the region designated as unilingual francophone?

[Liseanne Forand]

The Atlantic administrative region is designated anglophone.

Within that administrative region, the province of New Brunswick is bilingual.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

I know, I come from there. I do not need to be reminded.

In New Brunswick, there are 235,000 francophones. In the rest of the Atlantic region, there are 215,000 francophones. With a population of 450,000 francophones, you are telling me that the Atlantic... You are saying that you use section 32 of the Official Languages Act to decide that, administratively, the region is not bilingual but anglophone.

[Liseanne Forand]

The designation of the Atlantic region is compliant with the requirements of the Official Languages Act.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

What are these requirements? Could you remind me of what they are, except section 32?

[Liseanne Forand]

It depends on the size of the demand and the presence of francophones.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

But does a population of 450,000 people mean nothing for the Government of Canada—oh, excuse me, for the Harper government?

[Liseanne Forand]

Proportionally, taking into account the overall population of the entire region...

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

All right.

There is a province in the Atlantic region that is officially bilingual under the Constitution. It's in section 88. When the province of New Brunswick has to deal with the Atlantic administrative region, you are telling me that it has to deal with an anglophone administration.

[Liseanne Forand]

This is more or less what I was saying earlier.

First, there is the issue of serving the public. Because New Brunswick is a bilingual province, they are set up to provide bilingual services wherever there is demand.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Tell me about the administrative aspect.

[Liseanne Forand]

In terms of the administrative aspect, the Atlantic region is a unilingual region but, once again, under the provisions of the act dealing with languages of work, there is an obligation to be capable of supervising bilingual positions in the language of choice.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

How can that be done if all the supervisors are unilingual anglophones?

[Liseanne Forand]

Perhaps they have anglophone names...

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

No, I have spoken with them and they do not speak a word of French.