Official Languages Committee on March 30th, 2010

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

The opening ceremonies.

[Graham Fraser]

Yes, 38 of the complaints dealt specifically with that, and the rest concerned other aspects of the Olympic Games.

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

Mr. Frazer, during talks that you had with VANOC, were there discussions about the opening ceremonies, such as the agenda of the ceremonies, for example? Did you make any comments on this issue?

I recall that during the Canada Winter Games in Bathurst and Campbellton, the same “mistake” occurred, if you can call it that. Personally, I would not refer to that as a “mistake”, because no one can say it was not discussed in advance. The opening ceremony was terrible, nothing was in French. In the end, I raised the issue in the House of Commons. Parliament was not prorogued for the Canada Winter Games in Bathurst. Perhaps it was not important enough. Nevertheless, things were corrected for the closing ceremonies.

[Graham Fraser]

Yes and no. We mentioned our concerns as far as the opening ceremonies were concerned. The opening ceremonies were prepared with a high level of secrecy. Therefore, every time we raised the issue, we were told that it would be a great surprise for the world and that we would be very satisfied.

As I said, I do not want to comment at this point concerning the complaints that we received. However, all I can say is that Mr. Nadeau quoted me quite accurately. I got very emotional feedback the next day. Afterwards, when the complaints were received, there was a period of time during which we could not comment. Therefore, I no longer comment. Nevertheless, if you want to see the rather emotional reactions that I received the next day... I do not deny the comments I made at that time.

We did indeed make them aware of our concerns and we were assured that it would be a tremendous surprise, that we should not worry and that we would be satisfied.

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

Did you not find that the great surprise was specifically that the two official languages were not respected? That was the big surprise.

Perhaps the government will try and tell us that the games were fine from start to finish, etc. I don't think anyone challenged the games themselves. We do not ask an athlete to be bilingual, and we do not ask everyone to speak both official languages of the country. That is not the issue. We are rather discussing the opening ceremonies of the games, the closing ceremonies of the games, and the front-line services. We have to make a distinction between the two.

I received a letter from the minister in which he tells me that the games were wonderful, that everything was fine. We never challenged that. We're not questioning the games, but indeed the way in which everything was administered. Do you agree with me?

[Graham Fraser]

Yes, like you, I learned of the minister's comments when he appeared before you one week ago. I did not repeat his comments.

However, there is another distinction that must be made: some obligations are to the Olympic Movement and are not part of our obligations. We must remember that there are two official languages and that French has precedence there. If there is a conflict in the statutes or rules of the Olympic Movement, the French version prevails.

Ms. Charlebois said that we received a certain number of comments that were not formal complaints. There were comments on the issue of French during the opening ceremonies, and others who said that there was too much French. We had to explain that during the introduction of the athletes, they were introduced first of all in French and then in English, not because of the Official Languages Act, but because of the rules of the Olympic Movement. In our analysis of the ceremonies, we have to make the distinction between the protocol of the Olympic Movement, which received the very positive approval of Mr. Couchepin, and the essentially Canadian elements.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you very much, Mr. Godin.

It is not every day that one can say they hosted the Olympics at home, but that is the case of our colleague, John Weston. In fact, several of the Olympic sites are in his riding.

Mr. Weston, you have the floor.

[John Weston, Conservative, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I would like to thank you for being with us today. It is a great pleasure as well because we are talking about the Olympics. In fact, I think that they represented a great success for British Columbia. Expectations were not necessarily very high with regard to the use and presence of French, even in the thick of the games.

My friends and I were surprised to hear so much French spoken among the athletes, at the airport, among volunteers and during the ceremonies. People have talked about the opening ceremonies, but we can also mention the opening ceremonies of the Paralympic Games, during which a lot of French was spoken. I attended that ceremony and noted that it was truly bilingual. Could you talk to us about the media and youth, and tell us what you believe the future of British Columbia will look like? In terms of Canadian bilingualism, we might say that the province is in its infancy. What will the bilingual legacy be for the media and our young people?

[Graham Fraser]

I would first like to say how much I appreciated Vancouver's festive atmosphere and welcome. Unfortunately, I was not able to visit Whistler, but from all I heard, the festive atmosphere was so pervasive that no one could remain insensitive to it.

Visitors from all over, truly, were made to feel welcome. I had a conversation with a former Quebec minister who said that the French language had been given an impeccable treatment on the ground, i.e., in British Columbia.

Such a festive experience can have a profound influence on a city and province, although it might take some time to fully define. In terms of influence, young people were inspired by the performances they saw. There were interviews with young athletes who said how they themselves were inspired by Olympic athletes 15 years ago. The speed skating medallists spoke of how they took great inspiration from Gaétan Boucher. That might be the kind of thing we hear about in 12 years, i.e., the extent to which today's young Canadians were inspired by this experience.

The same is true for the games' legacy. First of all, there is the legacy infrastructure. The Richmond oval now has signs in both official languages. There was a time, before the games, when polls showed that the people who were most critical of the games were Vancouverites and British Columbians. They saw the negative side of the preparations, including the traffic congestion, and were quite pessimistic. I think that there has probably been a reversal in attitude today. I think that everyone can be proud of what was accomplished with those games.

As with the experience in federal institutions, we do hope that all this will raise the service standards in both languages. I also hope that this event will have helped instil a sense of pride in our bilingualism.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you, Mr. Weston.

We will move on to the second round of questions with Mr. Bélanger.

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good morning, Commissioner.

I have three questions about the games. I would then like to question you about Air Canada. If I run out of time, I will come back to that in a later round.

Others and myself agreed with the minister, during his appearance before us last week, that there was a good level of compliance with the Official Languages Act at the games overall. However, you yourself noted some shortcomings this morning. I was not aware of them, but I repeat that things went well overall, except for the opening ceremony.

This is not something you want to say this morning, but you have already done so. Could I ask you to repeat what you said the day after the opening ceremony?

[Graham Fraser]

To save you from having to do the research, I said, as Mr. Nadeau quoted, that I had the impression that French was a bit like snow in Vancouver, that it was quite difficult to find and sometimes kept in a box until needed on occasion. I also said that it was my impression that the ceremonies had been conceived, developed and presented in English with a token French song at the end. I cannot deny what I said, even though that will complicate my assessment of the complaints we will now be processing.

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

That leads me to my second question, Commissioner.

Let us suppose that your report will contain the conclusion or remark you have just made, and with which I totally agree, because as a francophone I could in no way identify with the opening ceremony. What preventative measure do you intend to take so that once your report is made public it cannot be condemned for criticizing the ceremony, because you have already commented on that?

[Graham Fraser]

In fact, there are two elements. First of all, the complaints target the Department of Canadian Heritage. We therefore have to uncover the sequence of events that led to the end result. In my view, the important thing is to look to the future. Condemning an institution that will no longer exist once the investigation is completed is not very useful. I think that we have to look ahead and consider how important it is to distinguish between the obligations for federal institutions within the Official Languages Act and the values that are expressed by that legislation.

I think that in this case, everyone agrees with the obligations in terms of services on the ground, thanks to your efforts, in large part, to the efforts of everyone—

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Commissioner, I must interrupt you because five minutes are not enough to reasonably consider these issues. I will do a follow-up during a subsequent round. If your report criticizes the government, I encourage you to draft it in such a way that it can withstand the attacks that will be unleashed because of the comments you made the day after the opening of the games. I urge you to bolster your report's defences, please.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you, Mr. Bélanger.

Mr. Lemay, the floor is yours.

[Marc Lemay, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Since I only have five minutes, I will try to be brief. I have been involved in all of the Olympic Games since 1984, with the exception of Beijing, since by that time I had been elected MP. Don't worry, I will not go over what you experienced in Vancouver.

However, I am very concerned by a sentence in your opening remarks. Allow me to quote the following from the next-to-last paragraph on page 1:

This document will also include my proposals on how best to reflect linguistic duality in the organization of other large-scale events in Canada as well as international events that project the image of the country.

I strongly recommend that you look at what is going on in Toronto for the 2015 Pan American Games. I also invite the committee to do the same. We will have to do so very shortly because the Olympic Games are always a high point. Do you have any authority over international events that are held in Canada, such as a world cup, world championship, Pan American Games, Commonwealth Games or the Olympic Games? I am thinking of a particular world cup and world championship. There will be many such events in Canada between now and the 2015 Pan American Games.

We know that the Canadian Heritage hosting policy contains a section on the respect of official languages. Do you have the authority to monitor international events like a world cup or world championship that are held in Canada, in terms of compliance with official languages?

[Graham Fraser]

Officially, my responsibilities apply to federal institutions and their contractual relations with third parties. Needless to say, it is more difficult to ensure compliance with language obligations in contractual relations with third parties. That said, I do not know what the federal government's relation is with those sporting events.

[Marc Lemay, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

I will tell you. There is the federal government, Canadian Heritage and the Secretary of State for Amateur Sport. As for the international cycling, ski, swimming and diving federations, the World Championships and World Cups are given to the national federations. They are responsible for presenting the events and complying with language obligations. Given that, do you have any compliance authority?

[Graham Fraser]

I have the authority to ensure that contracts issued by federal institutions comply with the Official Languages Act.

[Marc Lemay, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

But if—

[Graham Fraser]

Ms. Tremblay might like to add something to that.

[Johane Tremblay, Lead Counsel and Director, Legal Affairs, Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages]

In cases where Canadian Heritage is a stakeholder in contribution agreements with those organizations, language provisions are included to ensure compliance with the official languages. That is how we can intervene with Canadian Heritage.

[Marc Lemay, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

My question was more specific. Do you exert any control over them? Can you audit them? If you cannot control them, the net result will be that there will be no French outside Quebec. I have been involved in countless world championships outside Quebec, in Ontario. I participated in the 1993 World Championship Road Race. I did them all. English is the only language spoken during those competitions. Preparations are underway for the Pan American Games. Do you have any control there? Do you have enough measures to ensure compliance? I would like to hear you on that.

[Graham Fraser]

I will quote the famous piece of advice given by Deep Throat during the Watergate scandal. He said: “Follow the money”. We can do follow-up when federal funds are involved. Where there is no federal funding, things become quite difficult.