Evidence of meeting #54 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 employees.
A recording is available from Parliament.
9:25 a.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Industry
If you need to do something, yes.
I recently spoke to Mr. Nadeau. Mr. Vincent, from the Bloc Québécois, called me once about some concerns he had. Mr. Julian called me last week.
If you need to do something, and you think that there are problems in my department, you can call me. Obviously, if you are dealing with issues that are a bit more political, I can skate well enough in order to...
9:25 a.m.
Liberal
The Vice-Chair Liberal Mauril Bélanger
I would like you to give this message to some of your colleagues. Indeed, I have twice tried to call two deputy ministers on the phone. These two individuals had appeared to discuss technical issues. I did not want to ask them for anything whatsoever, and every time, I was redirected to the minister's office. I would therefore be grateful if you could ensure that this message gets to your colleagues.
9:25 a.m.
Liberal
Brian Murphy Liberal Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB
Thank you, Chair.
I have a few specific questions in French and in English about the language of work, specifically I have questions dealing with sections 34 to 36 of the Official Languages Act.
You have 59 of 65 points of service across the country that are bilingual. I would take that to mean that services are offered in both official languages.
9:25 a.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Industry
If we had it all, then we'd get an A.
9:25 a.m.
Liberal
Brian Murphy Liberal Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB
Right. I'm more concerned with the back office.
I'm referring primarily to administrative issues. The language of work is a matter of survival for employees.
It's really more about services back to employees so they feel comfortable in getting assistance with EAP, leave applications, anything to do with the administration of their own jobs.
Are you confident that you're meeting the requirements under part IV? You have 65 offices across the country. Is there anywhere in your organization where you have designated a region as unilingual English or French in any of the regions of the country? Do you have any regions where there is a unilingual designation administratively?
9:30 a.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Industry
Maybe one of my two colleagues knows, and they can contribute.
One fact I do know is that we have 3,400 employees who are occupying bilingual jobs. Of those, 2,400 have some contact with the public. The other 1,000 tend to be focused on either supervisory jobs where they have to deal up the food chain of decision making, or are providing corporate services, which would be in HR.
9:30 a.m.
Liberal
Brian Murphy Liberal Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB
I only have four minutes and my question was quite precise.
Do you have regions? Are you separated by a regional office for....
9:30 a.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Industry
We have a multiplicity of regional designs. Not everything is five regions or ten provinces. The office of--
9:30 a.m.
Liberal
Brian Murphy Liberal Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB
I'll cut to the chase. Do you have a regional office in Atlantic Canada?
9:30 a.m.
Liberal
9:30 a.m.
Liberal
Brian Murphy Liberal Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB
Is it designated unilingual anglophone for administration?
9:30 a.m.
Associate Assistant Deputy Minister and Champion of Official Languages, Science and Innovation Sector, Department of Industry
The office is bilingual.
9:30 a.m.
Liberal
Brian Murphy Liberal Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB
And that's appropriate given the number of French speaking, bilingual, Acadian, etc., people in the region, is it not?
9:30 a.m.
Liberal
Brian Murphy Liberal Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB
It seems sensible.
I also note that all but one of your 230 executives meet the language profile required, and I compliment you on that.
Executives also have an administrative function downwards to provide direction to their employees. That aids in your compliance with section 34 of the act, doesn't it?
9:30 a.m.
Liberal
9:30 a.m.
Bloc
Richard Nadeau Bloc Gatineau, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Dicerni, we left off on the issue of service provided to the public and on the fact that you had received a score of D. I found this to be unacceptable, at the very least, and I asked you what the problem was, where the solution lay.
9:30 a.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Industry
As I was saying to Mrs. Boucher, there are a certain number of things that we can do. We will start by cleaning up the office list so that it is perfectly clear and transparent because some of these offices do not really provide services to the public. If someone from the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages were to knock on the office door, he or she may find that the person inside is unilingual, but that should not pose a problem because this employee is not there to provide service to the public. This office is purely and simply administrative. So that is the first step.
As for the second step, we have emphasized the importance of complying with the Official Languages Act to our managers responsible for service delivery. Over the past few weeks we did a brief poll or follow-up investigation in conjunction with Measurement Canada inspections and bankruptcies, and this poll showed that we were able to provide service in both official languages, with three or four exceptions, as I mentioned, namely in Belleville, Penticton, London and Sydney, where we noted recruiting problems. We are currently trying to determine what we can do to enhance service to the clientele in both official languages.
9:30 a.m.
Bloc
Richard Nadeau Bloc Gatineau, QC
Fine.
From what I understand of this process, an organization, business people or citizens can deal with Industry Canada in order to obtain specific information pertaining to the department.
When people contact you, and for all kinds of reasons you cannot reply in the requested language of service, in French, for instance, do you have any mechanism that enables you to put this individual on hold and then transfer him or her to someone else in this office? I do understand that this office may be located in the regions, in the Prairies, the Atlantic provinces or elsewhere. Do you have any mechanism that enables you to provide an adequate response in a reasonable period of time?