Official Languages Committee on Nov. 29th, 2023

[Anoop Kapoor]

As I said before, when we apply the official languages lens to projects, we see that almost $115 million has been invested over the last five years. In total, we have invested nearly $2 billion over the last five years, so, for official languages, I would say we have invested nearly 5% of our budget during that period. Those are rough amounts rather than exact figures.

[Mario Beaulieu, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

Do you give grants directly to businesses or do you deal only with intermediaries?

[Anoop Kapoor]

We give grants to small and medium businesses directly and to francophone economic development organizations in our region, as I said. Those are not-for-profit organizations, so they use the funds to support other projects from the official language minority communities. We use the...

[Mario Beaulieu, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

So you subsidize businesses directly and you also subsidize intermediaries.

Mr. Traynor, is it the same thing for you? Do you subsidize businesses directly or do you do deal only with intermediaries?

[Stephen Traynor]

It is a combination of the two. First, it is just for the francophone associations.

[Mario Beaulieu, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

However, you also subsidize businesses directly.

[Stephen Traynor]

Yes.

[Mario Beaulieu, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

Right.

How do you go about selecting businesses from the francophone communities? There may be businesses that apply for grants from you but are not really part of the francophone communities.

Is there a criterion for determining that? How do you verify it?

[Stephen Traynor]

In CanNor, we normally have an expression of interest period where everyone applies and we work with them. Prior to that, we have staff, economic development officers, who work with the francophone communities and work with the businesses. We have conversations before that period opens up and during that period. They're in English and in French.

Then, once everyone applies for the oncoming year, we look at them and we take into account the nature of the project, the amount sought, the quality of the economic development, and also the value brought to the community or the territory: an aspect of how much that brings to the francophone community and how much it supports economic development for them.

[Mario Beaulieu, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

So there might be an anglophone business that offers a service on the francophone side. It would not necessarily be businesses that came from the francophone communities.

[Stephen Traynor]

Not necessarily, because we usually work very hard on the ground to understand the francophone community and support the businesses directly. We work with the francophone associations to clearly identify who is francophone with the communities in the north. They're quite tight, and they usually know who's who.

[Mario Beaulieu, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

Is it the same thing for you, Mr. Kapoor? Do you have criteria for determining whether they are enterprises from the francophone communities? Can it be anglophone enterprises that provide services to francophones?

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Joël Godin]

Fifteen seconds left.

[Anoop Kapoor]

For the businesses, they submit their applications to our department, which then evaluates their projects and their proposals. Then it grants funds based on the criteria.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Joël Godin]

Thank you, Mr. Kapoor. Unfortunately, time is already up.

Ms. Ashton, you have the floor for six minutes.

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, MB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I also thank the witnesses.

I am the member for Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, which is in northern Manitoba. I know that some people in my riding are familiar with the work Mr. Traynor did in his previous position. Our region is not one of the regions covered by the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency, but, as a member from western Canada and northern Manitoba, and also a francophile, I would very much like to hear you talk specifically about the work you support on the ground here in our region of Canada.

You talked about an investment in a community centre. That is something very important. In our communities, the biggest needs involve educational facilities and services. I know your work relates to businesses, but I would like you to tell us, Mr. Traynor and Mr. Kapoor, how your programs promote educational opportunities for members of the francophone communities in your regions and in ours.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Joël Godin]

Mr. Traynor can answer first and then Mr. Kapoor, or vice versa. The question is for both.

[Stephen Traynor]

Thank you.

To give you an example for NWT, we provided funding to the Conseil de développement économique des TNO, the francophone community in NWT. They provided entrepreneurial capacity-building tools and training in order to attract investments for the various businesses. We work with the francophone communities directly to make sure they provide the pertinent training for entrepreneurs who are French in NWT.

The same is true for the other territories.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Joël Godin]

Do you want to answer too, Mr. Kapoor?

[Anoop Kapoor]

Under the economic development initiative, or EDI, we work with the Manitoba's Conseil de développement économique, Alberta's Conseil de développement économique and Saskatchewan's Conseil économique et coopératif. Those organizations use the funds allocated for EDI programs to support entrepreneurs, francophone immigrants, and communities, to build the capacities of the communities and create an entrepreneurship ecosystem.

With those projects, the organizations are able to offer training in finance, for learning how to develop networking or knowing how to present a business to investors. These activities have been supported thanks to part of our investment in francophone economic development organizations.

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, MB]

Thank you.

We know that another major need in communities in western Canada is access to early childhood services in French. Some entrepreneurs offer those services at home, for example.

Do PrairiesCan and CanNor offer programs in the field of early childhood services?

[Stephen Traynor]

For CanNor, at this point in time, we do not have any programs that are supported.

[Anoop Kapoor]

For PrairiesCan, our priority is to support entrepreneurs rather than children. I think other FEDOs in our region receive support from the Department of Employment and Social Development for setting up projects in this area.

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, MB]

I understand, but there are people who are engaging in entrepreneurship in this area, so I was wondering whether you supported this kind of work.

I also want to point out that access to this type of services in French is a major challenge in our communities.

Some of our communities in northern and western Canada are receiving new immigrants at present.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Joël Godin]

You have 15 seconds left.