Official Languages Committee on Sept. 20th, 2016

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

If Canadian Heritage is preparing a strategy, I'd like to know what it is. If not, why isn't the department preparing one? Perhaps it should be.

The situation that the people from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada are going to describe to us might be useful for us. It would at least give us an indication. Generally speaking, Canadian Heritage should be acting on this. If it isn't and we think it should be, we need to know why.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC]

Pardon me, but Mr. Randy Boissonnault is the parliamentary secretary to the Minister. So if he isn't taking action on this, it's because he is following the minister's orders. The orders don't come from Canadian Heritage, but from the minister.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

I just want to remind you that our report is submitted to the House to get answers from Canadian Heritage. Basically, we intervene through our recommendations to the minister of Canadian Heritage.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC]

So we need to meet with her.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

It might be worthwhile to keep this witness. We should make sure we ask a few questions. I'm not saying that Mr. Boissonnault can't answer us, but Canadian Heritage is the department.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

I had set the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages aside.

Listen, if we make them all a priority, we won't get to the end of the list.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC]

That's true. What did we decide for Canadian Heritage?

[Some hon. members]

We are going to set them aside.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Right. We're setting aside the invitation to Canadian Heritage.

As for the national community table on francophone immigration, is it a yes?

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

It's mandatory.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Are we giving it an hour?

[Some hon. members]

One hour.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Where is the organization from?

[An hon. member]

I think it's located in the region.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Is the National Community Table on Francophone Immigration in Ottawa?

[The Clerk]

I'm not sure.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

We'll give them an hour.

Let's move on to the Fédération nationale des conseils scolaires francophones.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

I think the two groups should have an hour each on the same day. It would give us a good picture of the situation.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Okay. We'll spend an hour with the people from the Fédération nationale des conseils scolaires francophones.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

We'll also give an hour to the people from the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada.

Perhaps we should meet with them on the same day because we could make connections between what the different groups have to say.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Right.

Let's move on to the Réseau pour le développement de l'alphabétisme et des compétences.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

I think we could drop them.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

We'll leave them out.

The next group is the Réseau de développement économique et d'employabilité Canada.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

We have to invite them because we'll be dealing with the issue of the economy as it relates to immigration.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC]

Let's give them two hours.