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 .

[Jean-Paul Perreault]

The reason we're here is precisely to invent, think about and reflect on programs or ways to redevelop structures so that French doesn't solely occupy a defensive position. I think the Canadian francophonie and Quebec deserve much more than that. What we need to establish is a position that enables the French language and everything related to it, such as culture and communications, to expand and advance.

You mentioned that French content has a weak presence on social media and that there's an overconsumption of English content. Since we aren't limiting ourselves to Bill C‑13 today, we could look into other issues and consider what steps the federal government can take to increase the presence of French on social media. We can put that question to the municipalities as well, and to the Quebec government and the anglophone governments of the anglophone provinces. Why not? What can they do to increase the presence of French on the Internet?

It seems to me there must be ways. We can do great things, not solely in English. If society wants, it will develop ways, such as presence programs in universities, CEGEPs and high schools. We can consider programs for funding virtual and electronic creation on social media and the Internet. Once the problem has been observed, it must not be used to further inferiorize or trivialize French, but rather to consider what we can do from now on.

That's our mandate, and very much yours as well. You've just identified a serious problem, Mr. Drouin. It's true that young people consume too much social media in English.

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

Now let's get down to business.

You said that Bill C‑13 is a tool but that it isn't the tool that will defend the francophonie. I think the same is true of Bill 96 in the National Assembly. They're important tools, but a set of tools has to be used. I increasingly realize that speaking French is a choice, but that's even truer outside Canada, where we are present, but not in the majority there either. We have the good fortune to speak French with certain members of the committee and with other parliamentarians outside the country, but we realize that's nevertheless a choice that we make.

Since I know you're involved in the defence of the French language, Mr. Perreault, my question will concern young people, who spend far more time on their telephones and in the virtual world, where there are no geographical barriers. How do you think we can ensure that French content is available in a sea of anglophone content?

I'm not pointing my finger at anglophones; I'm merely observing that the digital world is a largely anglophone world. Even in scientific research, we realize that, relatively speaking, French is virtually nonexistent. That's an issue we can discuss both in Quebec and internationally.

What do you think we should do, and could Bill C‑13 help us do it?

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

Under Bill C‑13, a business in Regina, an airport, would have to comply with bilingualism requirements. As you know, that business is facing a labour shortage and access to francophones is a problem. The airport has to provide bilingual service, of equal quality in both languages, but still can't recruit the required personnel after taking the necessary steps and calling for applications. No one answers the call for personnel to go and work in French in Regina. Those people don't have that skill.

What does that airport do?

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My next question is for the representative of the Réseau de développement économique et d'employabilité du Canada.

I understand the whole process. You told us that things were poorly done in the past. As you know, we can't change the past, but we can change the future.

Mr. Parent, what you think are the three priorities that should be established in Bill C‑13?

[Jean-François Parent, Manager, Research and Policy Analysis, Réseau de développement économique et d'employabilité (RDÉE) Canada]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Members of the committee, distinguished guests, witnesses and members of the audience, good morning.

Thank you for this opportunity to discuss Bill C‑13 with you today.

With more than 430,000 francophone businesses in the country, representing approximately 19.5% of national GDP and generating more than $130 billion of economic impact, the Canadian economic francophonie wants and absolutely has to be involved in efforts to restore the economy and to modernize legislation promoting the full development of official language communities across the country.

Expectations are running high in the francophone in Acadian minority communities. In a survey conducted by the TACT organization together with the LégerOpinion online focus group, 77% of respondents said they wanted the government to do more for the economic development of francophone minority communities across the country. francophones have great expectations of our elected representatives.

Now that the restrictions and repercussions of the pandemic are gradually easing across Canada years after the fact and the economic recovery is under way, and since we are now facing unprecedented labour challenges, our organization, the Réseau de développement économique et d'employabilité du Canada, or simply RDÉE Canada, wishes to demonstrate its keen interest in Bill C‑13 and its importance for the full development of francophone communities across the country.

The Canadian government officially introduced the bill on March 1 last. The bill's main purpose is to amend the Official Languages Act and other related acts, and more particularly to introduce legislation on the use of French in federally regulated private businesses. The act would grant new rights for employees and consumers in regions with a strong francophone presence and would recognize the right to work in French and to receive communications and services in French from federally regulated businesses.

The question we ask at RDÉE Canada is this: why weren't these provisions included in the legislation many years ago? After all, the new act would apply, in particular, to banks, interprovincial and international rail and road transportation businesses, air and marine transport businesses, as well as telephone and cable companies. Those businesses are important players in our national economy and affect millions of Canadians every year. According to the latest data from the 2021 census, the vast majority of those businesses regularly deal with some of the 2.7 million francophones living in minority communities.

In the past year, we have witnessed numerous debates in the press and in our communities on the importance of this new bill. This legislation is of paramount importance to us at RDÉE Canada because it's a bill that can potentially be used to leverage the francophone factor in developing businesses on Canadian soil. Historically, the language issue has often been overshadowed by business decisions. We would like to suggest another approach, one in which French has substantively equal status with English across the country.

A passage from an article published in L'actualité on June 9 of this year reads as follows: "The Parliamentary Budget Officer stated in a recent report that, under Bill C‑13, businesses would incur one-time costs of $240 million to hire bilingual supervisors."

That article discusses costs. However, in our view, its logic seems somewhat faulty. We should view those costs instead as an investment, a major investment in the capacity of businesses to adequately meet the needs of employees, the labour force and official language minority communities, something, moreover, that too many private businesses currently cannot do.

We need to build a solid foundation that future generations can rely on to provide support and prosperity for official language communities across the country.

Otherwise, if we fail to give proper consideration to the language factor, as well as the economic and social factors in the equation, we run the risk of perpetuating the decline of the French fact in Canada.

[Jean-Paul Perreault, President, Impératif français]

Mr. Chair and members of the Standing Committee on Official Languages, we are definitely pleased to accept your invitation.

I believe that, in some respects, cultural diversity is now on the defensive all around the world. The concept of nations is increasingly being undermined, and national and international languages are necessarily being shoved aside by the Americanization and anglicization of cultural preferences. We are now involved in a debate that vastly transcends the debates over Quebec, French Canada and Canada as a whole.

Today, we have chosen a more comprehensive approach than a mere study of Bill C‑13. This bill cannot address every aspect of the current inferiorization and trivialization of French, French-language culture, French Canadian identity and Quebec identity. It will take much more than Bill C‑13 to respond to that, and we will have to reconsider our approach and vision in order to do so.

First, I intend to raise a number of points for consideration. We have to understand that, when we discuss the French language, we need to look beyond partisan politics.

Members of Parliament should not limit themselves to the vision of their political parties, imagining that it's the one they should promote. I think we need to look beyond partisanship and try to understand the situation so that every party can develop its own approach to the problem. Consequently, our comments today will reflect that non-partisan stance.

There is little or no recognition of cultural and linguistic asymmetry in Canada. The federal government, in its own way, imposes its vision of bilingualism and multiculturalism on Quebec, while Quebec strives to protect and promote its identity, culture and language within its borders in order to make French the only official and common language in Quebec.

In addition, the symmetrical vision of the status of English and French results in inequality. There is nothing wrong with acknowledging that status. However, when we realize that French, an official language, is a minority language and, what's more, that it is declining and regressing, we need to abandon the symmetrical approach as it applies, not to the equality of status of the languages, but also to the resources that are made available to Quebec and the francophonie outside Quebec.

Furthermore, federal resources are inadequate. If French regresses as it is doing, that is obviously due in large part to the federal vision. Funding for the creation, production and dissemination of a strong culture that can promote and spread the French language must absolutely be increased, and by a large margin.

These thoughts transcend partisan politics. That's true. You need only consider the way English-language post-secondary educational institutions in Quebec are overfunded relative to the historical weight of the minority population, and even the English-mother-tongue population, which represents 7.6% of Quebec's total population, all of which results in an underfunding of French-language institutions. What I'm talking about here are reputation and prestige. As I just said, this results in the underfunding of French-language university institutions since 30% of available funding is invested in English-language post-secondary institutions.

How is it that everyone across Canada, including in French Canada and Quebec, acknowledges that French is declining?

I'm not asking you to answer that question, but how do you explain why the organizations that work to promote and advance the majority official language in Canada…

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

I call this meeting to order.

I would first like to welcome Mr. Dalton back to the Standing Committee on Official Languages, the best committee on Parliament Hill, and to welcome a newcomer, Mr. Brad Vis. I am delighted to have you here. This is a great committee, as you'll see.

Welcome to the 33rd meeting of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Official Languages. Pursuant to the Standing Order of Monday, May 30, 2022, the committee is resuming its study of Bill 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. Today's meeting is in hybrid format, pursuant to the motion adopted by the House on June 23, 2022. Members may take part in person or through Zoom.

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

Before speaking, please wait until I recognize you by name. If you are on the videoconference, please click on the microphone icon to unmute yourself. Please mute your mic when you are not speaking.

For interpretation, those participating through Zoom have the choice, at the bottom of their screen, between three channels: floor, English or French. Members attending in person in the room can use their headset after selecting the channel desired. A reminder that all comments by members and witnesses should be addressed through the chair.

Members in the room who wish to speak need only raise their hands. Members participating via the Zoom application must use the “Raise Hand” function. The clerk of the committee and I will do our best to follow the order. Thank you for your patience and understanding in this regard.

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

I would now like to welcome the witnesses who are appearing in the first hour of the meeting and who form the first panel. First, we have with us the Impératif français organization, which is represented by its President, Jean-Paul Perreault, its Treasurer, Édith Gendron, and its Administrative and Development Officer, Fêmi Abigaïl Houinsou. We also have with us Jean-François Parent, from the Réseau de développement économique et d'employabilité du Canada, the RDÉE, who is participating in the meeting virtually.

Witnesses will have five minutes for their opening statements. Although the members are now used to it, I warn everyone that I am very strict about speaking time because that lets everyone ask more questions.

We will begin with Impératif français.

Mr. Perreault, you have five minutes.

[The Clerk of the Committee, Ms. Michelle Legault]

The first item is the preliminary travel proposal that I sent you last week and that is also in your digital binder. In short, it is very similar to the proposal made by the committee in the spring and submitted to the Subcommittee on Committee Budgets of the Liaison Committee, the SBLI. This proposal covers the trip to Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.

Only the dates have changed. As the committee requested, we indicated that the trip would now be during March break, from March 12 to 18, 2023. Our analyst, Lucie Lecomte, made some minor changes to the travel objectives and rationale to reflect that it is now the fall, and that the trip will be next March.

Very little has changed in the proposal. It still involves informal meetings and visits to sites. The total budget is estimated at between $100,000 and $150,000. I would remind you that this is a very general preliminary proposal, which has to be approved by the committee before Mr. Arseneault can submit it to the SBLI. If the SBLI approves the proposal, we will then proceed to a more detailed budget, which the committee could consider at a later date.

As to the second item, let me say simply that I will consult the committee's logistics officer to ensure that the budget approved by the committee last spring still reflects the committee's real expenses for its consideration of Bill C‑13. I might provide you with a supplementary budget in the coming days if we find there is any shortfall requiring the approval of another budget.

For the time being, you just have to approve the preliminary travel proposal. I will let you discuss it.

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

You said the federal government wanted to negotiate with the Quebec government. Quebec did send requested amendments to Bill C‑13, but there is no trace of them in the bill.

Since 90% of francophones are in Quebec, should the federal government funnel the majority of or at least a good many requests to that province?

[Ania Kolodziej]

As I said earlier, the positive measures have been strengthened in Bill C‑13. A number of provisions specifically refer to supporting non-profit organizations and giving anglophones opportunities to learn French. Many of these provisions are essential for organizations such as ours to continue to exist and offer programs to young people.

The fact remains, however, that as long as departments are not required to take the necessary measures, the right measures will not be taken. The positive measures described at the beginning of Bill C‑13 are good, but we must require federal institutions to take the necessary positive measures, not only those that they think are needed.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Ms. Kolodziej, you talked about the linguistic clauses in part VII, immigration, and the designation of a central agency. For his part, Mr. Larocque referenced the importance of certain proposed amendments to part VII of the Official Languages Act regarding French-language post-secondary education, specifically the University of Sudbury.

We all agree that we want strong positive measures. Do you have other examples to enlighten the committee's work? Can you give us other examples pertaining to part VII that should be included in Bill C‑13?

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Thank you for that. There are a lot of Larocques and relatives in the Sturgeon Falls area that we can talk about later.

I have tried to address this a number of times, because the opposition parties said we would have to wait another 50 years until the Official Languages Act is reviewed again. By the way, my father was an MP in 1969 and voted on the Official Languages Act. As I recall, Bill C‑13 provides for a review of the act every 10 years, not every 50 years.

What is your opinion on that? Are you in favour of that? Do you have any recommendations?

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to the witnesses for being here.

I have questions for both witnesses.

Mr. Larocque, I think you referred to emergency situations two or three times. At present, Bill C‑13 stipulates that the act will apply at all times, including in emergency situations.

Do you wish to comment on that?

[Ania Kolodziej]

Bill C‑13 is a considerable improvement over Bill C‑32. A lot of recommendations have been included, but others have been left out.

We are here today to continue that work. We want the bill that is ultimately adopted to be the right one, and to include all the necessary provisions for the full implementation of the Official Languages Act. We want it to truly help the young people we are working for and to encourage students to use French outside the classroom. We want the act to provide for the training of workers to support our institutions in order to increase the demographic weight of francophones in Canada.

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

Thank you, Mr. Larocque.

Ms. Kolodziej, the FCFA's recommendations to which you referred are not new. I have been a member of the Standing Committee on Official Languages for a number of years and they have been discussed regularly for a number of years.

Why do you think the government did not wish to include those recommendations in Bill C‑13?

They are recommendations pertaining to the bill that was introduced, but these elements have in fact been discussed for several years by this committee and in other direct communications between the FCFA and the minister's office.

I hesitate to use the word “botched”, but to some extent, given all the recommendations made by the FCFA, part of the work has obviously not been done.