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 .

[Michael Rousseau]

Mr. Chairman, with respect to the first part of the question, we will provide the exact numbers on francophones. I don't have them right now. We'll provide a breakdown whichever way you would like it as soon as possible.

To the second part of the question regarding what we're doing about it, again, we have a very sophisticated and aggressive plan to train our employees in the second language and to hire as many bilingual personnel as we possibly can. We interact with francophone groups around the country to try to find that source of bilingual employees. It starts there. It starts with hiring a bilingual employee. To my earlier comments, that's why we're encouraged by the draft Bill C-13, which speaks about enhancing immigration and education, because that would help us hire more bilingual employees so that a larger percentage of our staff would be bilingual.

But I would say to the question that we do have a large number of bilingual staff within the company: 50% of our customer-facing employees are bilingual, which I feel is a fairly strong number. It could certainly get better with some of the suggestions I just mentioned.

[Michael Rousseau]

Mr. Chair, we believe in a culture of continuous improvement and not penalties. We are a heavily regulated industry, with one of the primaries being safety, and so our focus would be more on continuous improvement.

If I can, I would like to defer that question to David Rheault, who is much closer to Bill C-13.

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

Mr. Chair, the Government of Canada is probably the slowest learner when it comes to respect for official languages, in every one of its departments. It constantly makes mistakes across all its websites. There are always things that don't work.

What's your take on the fact that, under Bill C‑13, the government would impose penalties on organizations subject to the Official Languages Act without itself being subject to that act? It's as though the teacher is worse than the student. It wants to punish the student, but not itself. That's one question.

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

Mr. Rousseau, earlier you told us that you preferred the Official Languages Act. So you understand that there's a distinction between the two. You confirmed the view of the Bloc Québécois, which condemns the fact that application of the Charter of the French Language would be optional under Bill C‑13. Our understanding is that, if you had to choose between the two, you would choose the Official Languages Act.

In 1976, the first commissioner of official languages, Keith Spicer, wrote this about Air Canada: "Seven years, roughly 371 complaints and some 232 recommendations later, one hardly knows what else to suggest for improvement."

That was also the view of Graham Fraser and all other commissioners of official languages. Complaints filed against Air Canada by francophones have constantly accumulated since 1969.

How do you explain that?

[Michael Rousseau]

Mr. Chairman, I did not personally consult with the commissioner on Bill C-13, but, if possible, I would like to delegate the question to David Rheault, who would have been much closer to that situation.

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

Pardon me for interrupting, but I only have one minute left.

Did you consult the Minister of Official Languages or members of her staff when Bill C‑13 was being developed?

Official Languages Act

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

Mr. Speaker, on Tuesday, I had the great honour of being in Grand‑Pré with our Minister of Official Languages to participate in announcing the introduction of Bill C-13, an act for the substantive equality of Canada's official languages. I do not think we could have picked a better place to make the announcement than Grand‑Pré, which many people think of as the historical and spiritual heart of Acadia.

The act was last reformed over 30 years ago and must be modernized to better reflect Canada's linguistic realities and promote substantive equality between English and French while contributing to the vitality of official language minority communities.

This achievement was made possible thanks to the involvement of many actors and stakeholders who contributed to conversations about modernizing the act over many years. I want to thank them, and I look forward to working with my colleagues to get this important bill passed.

Official Languages

[Mona Fortier, Liberal, President of the Treasury Board]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his important question and especially his hard work for his constituents in Laval—Les Îles.

Respecting official languages is not only an obligation, it is also essential to delivering our services more effectively to Canadians. Bill C‑13 on the modernization of the Official Languages Act will strengthen the powers of the Treasury Board with respect to official languages to ensure that federal institutions are compliant. It will provide for an enhanced role in monitoring, auditing, and evaluation.

The right to work in French within the federal public service is and always will—

[Carol Jolin, President, Assemblée de la francophonie de l'Ontario]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Good afternoon, everyone.

I would first like to thank you for inviting the Assemblée de la francophonie de l'Ontario to appear before you as part of your work on francophone immigration to Canada. As an organization, we represent nearly 744,000 Franco‑Ontarians.

I would also like to mention that I'm accompanied today by the AFO's executive director, Peter Hominuk, and our policy analyst, Bryan Michaud.

We are pleased to see that the Government of Canada recognizes the importance of francophone immigration to Canada. The survival of the Franco‑Ontarian community depends greatly on the immigration of French‑speaking people.

In addition, I would like to highlight the progress proposed in Bill C‑13. The legislation specifies that the policy must include a target and accountability measures. It would be worthwhile to amend it to clarify the specific objective of the new policy. The legislation doesn't do what the government says it will do on immigration.

In recent years, we have seen initiatives that have had a positive impact on welcoming and retaining newcomers. The reception for francophones at Pearson Airport, improvements to the Express Entry system and the designation of three welcoming francophone communities have had interesting effects in Ontario.

However, there is still work to be done. That's why we're taking this opportunity to highlight some of the challenges facing the Franco‑Ontarian community, since francophone immigration targets have still not been met in Ontario and across the country. In addition, we see that study permits are being denied to international students, especially those from Africa.

A few weeks ago, our university presidents testified before the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration. They pointed out that Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada refused nearly 70% of study permit applications to those wishing to study at French‑language post‑secondary institutions in Ontario. One of the reasons given by the officers who assess the applications is that they did not consider the fact that they wanted to study in French outside Quebec to be an acceptable path.

At a time when we are witnessing the implementation and transformation of francophone universities in Ontario, this type of argument is counterproductive to what we are trying to accomplish in our province. Our universities, in addition to serving francophones and francophiles here, are powerful recruitment tools for francophone immigration. The French‑language post‑secondary pathway in Ontario is valid, and recognized and endorsed by the governments of Canada and Ontario.

The argument made by IRCC officers is a slap in the face to our community and to all students attending our post‑secondary institutions. Furthermore, it would appear that many students are being denied visas because they have expressed a desire to work in Canada after they complete their studies. Francophone immigration nourishes and enriches our communities, and increases the francophone labour pool.

We are currently experiencing a shortage of francophone workers in Ontario, exacerbated by the pandemic, and we believe that welcoming francophone international students to our institutions is an important part of the solution.

Francophone international students who attend our institutions receive Canadian expertise and strengthen our official language minority communities. The training offered in Ontario would ensure successful professional, economic, social and cultural integration should they decide to apply for permanent residence. Their success is a key element to the vitality of Ontario's francophone community and to the future of the province.

The current pandemic has taken a toll on immigration across the country. This situation is even more acute in the francophone minority context in Ontario. The province has set a francophone immigration target of 5%, and the federal government has set a target of 4.4% outside Quebec. It's clear that these two targets are far from being met.

In the third quarter of 2021, in the midst of a pandemic, Ontario welcomed just over 2% of francophone immigrants. This alarming statistic applies to Canada as a whole. However, Ontario had reached 4.09% in 2020, which was encouraging.

For some years, the province of Ontario has been selecting more than 5% of French-speaking immigrants through its single immigration program, the Ontario immigrant nominee program. We are of the opinion that the federal government should give the Government of Ontario the power to select more immigrants through the Ontario immigrant nominee program. In return, the province should commit to continue selecting at least 5% of the French-speaking candidates.

Thank you.

[Mona Fortier, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Thank you for the question, which I am very pleased to answer today.

As you know, the introduction of Bill C‑13 to modernize the Official Languages Act is important to me, because the Act has not been modernized in 50 years. We are getting to it today. I am very happy that this bill has been introduced and I hope it will be passed quickly.

As part of this modernization, the role of Treasury Board is going to change; it will take on the role of central agent and will have greater powers to oversee and enforce the Act. That will also enable us at Treasury Board to see how we can improve the service provided to Canadians in terms of official languages.

Opposition Motion—Representation of Quebec in the House of Commons

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, I indicated earlier, based on what the leader of the Bloc Party has said, how important actions were.

Today we introduced the official languages modernization act. Yesterday we brought forward debate on Bill C-11 in regard to the modernization of the Broadcasting Act. Both of these pieces of legislation, from a national perspective, would ensure the protection of arts and culture. I know that my Quebec colleagues, in fact all of us, see the true value of that industry in the province of Quebec and how it has enhanced the heritage of Quebec.

I am wondering if the member opposite recognizes that one does not necessarily have to be an MP from the province of Quebec, as I am not, as he knows, to advocate for wonderful things for the province of Quebec. I would like to think that members of the Bloc would also advocate for my province when it comes down to the issues.

[Alain Therrien, Bloc, La Prairie, QC]

Madam Speaker, did my colleague really say that Bill C‑13 would increase the francophone population of Canada? Is he unaware of the statistics? Has he not understood that since 1867, French has been disappearing from the rest of Canada? If he wants and perceives his country to be bilingual, the best way to achieve that is for Quebec to remain powerful, because it is the representative of the francophonie and an inspiration to the rest of Canada. Francophones in the rest of Canada are in distress and are suffering death by a thousand cuts, yet my colleague says that the situation is rosy in the rest of Canada.

Seriously, I do not even know why I am wasting my breath answering a question like that.

Official Languages Act

[Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Liberal, Minister of Official Languages]

moved for leave to introduce 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.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)