Bill C-13

An Act for the Substantive Equality of Canada's Official Languages

An Act to amend the Official Languages Act, to enact the Use of French in Federally Regulated Private Businesses Act and to make related amendments to other Acts

Part 1 amends the Official Languages Act to, among other things,
(a) specify that all legal obligations related to the official languages apply at all times, including during emergencies;
(b) codify certain interpretative principles regarding language rights;
(c) provide that section 16 of that Act applies to the Supreme Court of Canada;
(d) provide that a final decision, order or judgment of a federal court that has precedential value is to be made available simultaneously in both official languages;
(e) provide for Government of Canada commitments to
(i) protect and promote French,
(ii) estimate the number of children whose parents are rights holders under section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms ,
(iii) advance formal, non-formal and informal opportunities for members of English and French linguistic minority communities to pursue quality learning in their own language throughout their lives, including from early childhood to post-secondary education, and
(iv) advance the use of English and French in the conduct of Canada’s external affairs;
(f) clarify the nature of the duty of federal institutions to take positive measures to implement certain Government of Canada commitments and the manner in which the duty is to be carried out;
(g) provide for certain positive measures that federal institutions may take to implement certain Government of Canada commitments, including measures to
(i) promote and support the learning of English and French in Canada, and
(ii) support sectors that are essential to enhancing the vitality of English and French linguistic minority communities and protect and promote the presence of strong institutions serving those communities;
(h) provide for certain measures that the Minister of Canadian Heritage may take to advance the equality of status and use of English and French in Canadian society;
(i) provide that the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration is required to adopt a policy on francophone immigration and that the policy is to include, among other things, objectives, targets and indicators;
(j) provide that the Government of Canada recognizes the importance of cooperating with provincial and territorial governments;
(k) provide that the Treasury Board is required to establish policies to give effect to certain parts of that Act, monitor and audit federal institutions for their compliance with policies, directives and regulations relating to the official languages, evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of policies and programs of federal institutions relating to the official languages and provide certain information to the public and to employees of federal institutions;
(l) enable the Commissioner of Official Languages to enter into compliance agreements and, in certain cases, to make orders; and
(m) enable the Commissioner of Official Languages to impose administrative monetary penalties on certain entities for non-compliance with certain provisions of Part IV of that Act.
It also makes a related amendment to the Department of Canadian Heritage Act .
Part 2 enacts the Use of French in Federally Regulated Private Businesses Act , which, among other things, provides for rights and duties respecting the use of French as a language of service and a language of work in relation to federally regulated private businesses in Quebec and then, at a later date, in regions with a strong francophone presence. That Act also allows employees of federally regulated private businesses to make a complaint to the Commissioner of Official Languages with respect to rights and duties in relation to language of work and allows the Commissioner to refer the complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board in certain circumstances. It also provides that the Minister of Canadian Heritage is responsible for promoting those rights. Finally, Part 2 makes related amendments to the Canada Labour Code .

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Minister, I am going to change questions, because you do not seem to want to answer my question.

Mr. Chair, you can restart the clock.

Minister, Senator Pierre De Bané, a big Liberal, had warned the then Minister of Canadian Heritage that he would be unable to implement the Official Languages Act effectively; he foresaw that "all that provision will do is cause you frustration."

We have known for close to 35 years that Mr. De Bané was right. Bill C-13 exacerbates the problem by expanding the role of the Minister of Canadian Heritage of promoting and encouraging coordination in the implementation of the entire act.

When the government claims to govern based on evidence, why is it working so hard to extend an implementation model, one that has been shown to be ineffective for over three decades, to the entire act?

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Madam Chair, here's what Minister Joly's white paper says about the Treasury Board:

The Treasury Board already has considerable powers concerning Parts IV, V and VI of the Act, but the use of these powers has declined over time, contributing to a weakening of oversight. With this in mind, the Government intends to proceed with a series of reforms to strengthen coordination and accountability for official languages. Legislative proposals Strengthen and expand the Treasury Board’s powers, notably the power to monitor compliance with Part VII of the Act as appropriate, by providing the Treasury Board Secretariat with the necessary resources so that it assumes the role of a central body responsible for ensuring the compliance of federal institutions and by examining cases where permissive provisions would be made mandatory. Assign the strategic role of horizontal coordination to a single minister in order to ensure effective governance and implementation. Create the authority to enact policies, directives and other policy instruments to clarify guidelines on positive measures taken by federal institutions under Part VII, and as proposed in section 3.3 of this document.

Madam Chair, can you tell us why this wording doesn't appear in Bill C-13 right now?

[Mona Fortier, President of the Treasury Board]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I feel very honoured to be here today.

Before I begin, I would like to acknowledge that I am speaking to you from the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people.

I have defended and promoted the official languages and linguistic duality all my life. As a proud Franco-Ontarian who has worked in this field for the past 35 years, I am very honoured to be here with you today to advance the first major modernization of the Official Languages Act in more than 30 years.

As you know, English and French, together with the Indigenous languages and cultures, are central to Canada's history and identity. They contribute to our diversity, our inclusivity, our social cohesiveness and our resilience.

According to the results of a recent poll released by the Commissioner of Official Languages, the population of Canada is very much in favour of the act's objectives, and 87% of Canadians across the country support it.

The current Official Languages Act dates back to 1988, and it really needs to be updated to reflect changing realities. Bill C-13 modernizes the act, proposing major improvements that would help address challenges facing the French language in Canada and official language minority communities.

Notably, it will help clarify and strengthen the part of the act that supports the vitality of minority communities, including the English-speaking communities of Quebec, and it would provide more robust tools for the Commissioner of Official Languages to address shortcomings. Importantly, it also clarifies and strengthens requirements for institutions to take positive measures to promote official languages.

As this committee knows, Mr. Chair, the Treasury Board Secretariat shares a responsibility for the implementation and the administration of the Official Languages Act with other federal institutions. Under the current act, the Treasury Board is responsible for the general direction and coordination of policies and programs relating to communications with and services to the public in part IV, the language of work in federal institutions in part V, and the participation of English-speaking and French-speaking Canadians in the federal public service in part VI. The Treasury Board Secretariat establishes and interprets official language policies, directives and regulations, and monitors federal institutions’ compliance with them.

Under Bill C-13, the Treasury Board would play a more significant central agency role. This is in response to a major request that stakeholders and parliamentarians made during the consultations.

The Treasury Board Secretariat would play a greater role in better supporting and monitoring federal institutions' compliance with their linguistic obligations.

Bill C-13 would also require the Treasury Board to provide directives and establish policies for the federal institutions. This would include, for the first time, responsibility for monitoring the manner in which the federal institutions take and implement positive measures to improve the vitality of the minority communities. As a central agency, the Treasury Board is ideally suited to holding institutions accountable, a fact that will reinforce the positive measures taken within government.

The implementation of our new responsibilities would result in the creation of an official language policy centre integrating parts IV, V, VI and VII of the act. The Treasury Board would report on compliance in its annual official languages report.

Our legal measures are supported by administrative measures such as a new second-language training framework for the public service and the new Official Languages Regulations, under which we anticipate that approximately 700 currently unilingual offices will become bilingual in the next few years.

Mr. Chair, for the past half century, the Official Languages Act not only provided Canadians with fundamental language rights, but also shaped our identity. Quasi-constitutional, it is a law of fundamental importance to the social fabric of the country.

Bill C-13 modernizes and strengthens Canada’s official languages legislation. Simply put, official languages need to be an all-of-government effort.

I want to thank the committee for its contribution to the modernization of Canada’s official languages.

My colleagues, Carsten Quell and Sonia LeBris, whom you have already introduced and who are with me today, can also answer your questions.

Thank you very much for allowing me to be part of this historic moment.

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

That doesn't just concern francophone immigrants. We do the same thing new with anglophone immigrants who have graduated from a Canadian English-language institution.

I'm open to the committee's suggestions for improving the ability of anglophone and francophone immigrants to settle in Canada and be granted permanent residence. We should conduct a study on the relevance of these tests.

I don't think this will be an issue that comes up with regard to Bill C-13. If the committee makes a recommendation on this, that will be an opportunity for me to introduce some effective strategies.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Thank you for being with us today, Minister.

I had a chance to speak to your parliamentary secretary, Marie-France Lalonde, at the Sommet de la Francophonie in Djerba a week and a half ago.

She was accompanied by a group of individuals representing francophone organizations from across Canada, including Yukon, Ontario and New Brunswick, which was well represented. Those people wanted us to pass Bill C-13 as soon as possible. They were clearly concerned about the bill now before us compared to what already exists.

What do you think is the fundamental difference regarding immigration between Bill C-13 and the act that has been around for 50 years?

What is the fundamental difference in this bill that will facilitate your work in future?

[The Acting Chair, Bloc, Mario Beaulieu]

Pardon me, I'm going to interrupt you.

Yes, we're seeing a significant decline in French in Quebec. Do you acknowledge that francophone immigration is important to Quebec?

One of the main factors that made it possible to improve the situation somewhat was the Couture-Cullen Accord. Other agreements followed enabling Quebec to select immigrants who had knowledge of French.

Do you agree that immigration is also important for Quebec?

That doesn't appear in Bill C-13, but we're going to try to get it included.

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

This is important because we're developing an ambitious strategy under which we will welcome larger numbers of francophone newcomers. The obligations under Bill C-13 wouldn't be just for me or for now; every future minister would be required to continue developing a strategy on targets, public indicators and departmental obligations over the coming century. If every discussion is an opportunity to consider the demographic weight of francophones, ministers will obviously have to continue ensuring that the number of francophones in Canada outside Quebec increases. That's essential if we want to protect the francophone community.

Without Bill C-13, it would be easy for ministers to say that this is the problem, to have few discussions and to take other measures concerning other immigration issues. Under these statutory obligations, it would be impossible for ministers to forget their duties. It's important to move this bill forward now in order to protect the future of the culture and identity of francophones in Canada.

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

There's no doubting that progress has been made, and it has happened in a single year. I congratulate you on that.

Now let's discuss Bill C-13. You would obviously have obligations under section 41.1.

What do you think will change within your department if the bill is passed as is?

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

First of all, I want to congratulate you. This is the first time in 20 years that this has happened. I therefore withdraw the remarks I made on March 28. Thank you very much.

You also mentioned that we had opened an office in Yaounde to process these applications and to do promotional work in francophone Africa. I think that's important, since that's where the young people are. We also read this week that the acceptance rate for study visa applications had risen 14% in one year. All that has happened before Bill C-13 is even passed.

What steps have you taken within your department to ensure that the necessary work is done to meet objectives and that francophones have access to our post-secondary institutions?

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

The Commissioner of Official Languages and the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne, the FCFA, which represents many organizations, say that Bill C-13 should focus more on restoring the demographic weight of francophones. We need to offset the declines of the past.

Do you agree with those two organizations, which claim that this bill wouldn't help to meet the established targets or provide you with the tools you need to do so?

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

First of all, the number of times the department is mentioned in the bill won't make much of a difference.

The bill requires the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration to establish objectives, targets and indicators. To that end, we've had discussions within my department for the purpose of introducing ambitious strategies. Under the bill, this isn't merely an option: our department would be required to adopt measures to increase the number of francophone newcomers in order to protect the demographic weight of francophones outside Quebec.

We want to protect the francophone culture and identity of communities large and small. To do that, we have to introduce immigration strategies, but that won't be possible without francophone newcomers. My department can't continue to take in larger numbers of newcomers in general. Under Bill C-13, all future ministers will now have to adopt the same approach to welcoming many francophone newcomers.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Minister, I'm very happy to listen to you speak French. I'm in a similar situation. I work very hard to learn English, but now I'll switch to French.

Mr. "first minister to come and see us", I know that the burden of respecting both official languages doesn't rest on your shoulders alone. Nevertheless, how many times is your department mentioned in Bill C-13? The Minister and Department of Citizenship and Immigration are mentioned four times.

Immigration is important. Many organizations, including the Fédération des communautés francophone et acadienne, the FCFA, and the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages, have clearly shown that francophone immigration, among other things, is failing. Many years ago, you introduced mechanisms to remedy that. My intention isn't to criticize past actions, but we must have a vision for the future, as you said in your presentation.

This bill states that the policy that the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration adopts must include objectives, targets and indicators.

Minister, with all due respect, we know perfectly well that indicators alone will lead us to a dead end. We don't need to know that. Targets are important, but we have to do more. We're setting objectives and targets, but there's no obligation to achieve a result. How will this bill, once passed, provide you and us with more tools to do our job?

I may have to cut you off because my time is limited. I must obey the instructions of our chair, whom I very much respect.

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

Mr. Chair, I want to thank the members of the committee for inviting me to appear here today.

Before I begin, I want to mark the anniversary of the tragic incident that took place at the École polytechnique de Montréal. I want to tell everyone who is concerned about violence against women that we will not forget that incident, which unfortunately has now become part of Canada's history.

I would also like to acknowledge that we are gathered on the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people.

First, I would like to thank Minister Petitpas Taylor for introducing Bill C-13, the Commissioner of Official Languages, Raymond Théberge, and his team for their work regarding the vitality of francophone minority communities, and the member for Orleans, Marie-France Lalonde, who is my parliamentary secretary and an ardent advocate of our two official languages.

Although I'm not a francophone, as a proud Canadian, I believe in the importance of promoting French across Canada. I acknowledge the positive impact that the French language continues to have on our country.

Immigration is essential to all our communities. The growth of the labour force in recent years is almost entirely attributable to immigration. Furthermore, today's immigration will help us meet our demographic challenges.

This past August, Statistics Canada reported that the demographic weight of francophone minority communities was declining across the country, which explains why the immigration-related measures contained in Bill C-13 are so important.

Our present francophone immigration strategy was launched in 2019, and it's purpose is to support the vitality of francophone minority communities. To do that, we have set a target of 4.4% of francophone immigrant admissions outside Quebec by the end of next year. We have also adopted additional measures to support the integration and retention of francophone newcomers.

I'm delighted to announce that, from January 1 to August 31 of this year, Canada admitted more francophone newcomers outside Quebec than in any other year since we began compiling statistics. We have actually doubled the number of admissions since the same period last year.

The number of francophone immigrant admissions to Canada outside Quebec has just now exceeded 4%.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, or IRCC, has made significant investments in the francophone immigration strategy. To leverage those efforts, I expect to announce a new francophone immigrant admissions target, which will guide our efforts after 2023. I intend to set a new target of more than the current 4.4% in order to offset the demographic decline of francophone and Acadian communities. However, we need to adopt a long-term vision in order to have an impact. To that end, the adoption of a francophone immigration policy will ensure that the government is committed to future francophone immigration.

We have made changes to assist newcomers in adjusting to their new lives once they arrive in Canada. For example, we have implemented the francophone immigration pathway and launched the welcoming francophone communities initiative so that newcomers feel welcome and integrate into their communities.

To attract more francophone and bilingual newcomers to Canada, we are expanding and targeting our francophone immigration promotion activities. This past August, for example, we opened a new office in Yaounde, Cameroon, which will enable us to increase our promotional activities in western and central Africa.

Immigration will play an essential role in Canada's economic future. We have also understood the need to raise immigration thresholds in future and to increase assistance to support the vitality of francophone minority communities.

I am pleased to support the various recommendations that have been made to modernize the Official Languages Act, which will improve our immigration system and enable all our communities to enjoy the benefits of immigration.

In closing, I want to thank my colleagues from all parties for their support of my efforts to learn French, particularly Mr. Godin, whom I regularly see in the corridors of Parliament, as well as my Liberal colleagues. I am very happy to be learning a second language. When I began my political career, I was incapable of carrying on a conversation in French. However, I have made progress with the help of my colleagues, who have encouraged me. I still make a lot of mistakes, and I'm not perfectly bilingual, but I will have learned another language by the time I finish my political career. That's a real positive for me.

Thanks to all my colleagues.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

I call the meeting to order.

Welcome to meeting number 43 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Official Languages.

Pursuant to the order of reference of Monday, May 30, 2022, the committee is resuming consideration of C-13, An Act to amend the Official Languages Act, to enact the Use of French in Federally Regulated Private Businesses Act and to make related amendments to other Acts.

Before we go any further, just a reminder to the members that, if they wish to draft amendments, they should contact Isabelle D'Souza, the new legislative advisor, who is replacing Alexandra Schorah. I will provide members with her contact information a little later.

To ensure an orderly meeting, I would like to outline a few rules for the witnesses and members.

Pursuant to our routine motion, I wish to inform the committee that all witnesses completed the required login tests prior to the meeting.

I would now like to welcome the witnesses, that is…

Official Languages

[Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Liberal, Minister of Official Languages and Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency]

Mr. Speaker, I would really like my friend and colleague from La Pointe-de-l'Île to stop spreading misinformation about Bill C-13.

We are the first government to recognize the decline of French and that is the reason for introducing ambitious legislation. The federal government wants to do its share to protect and promote French across the country, including in Quebec. I hope once again that members of the House will work with us because stakeholders across the country want this bill to be passed as quickly as possible and we have a lot of work to do.