Evidence of meeting #142 for Canadian Heritage in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was groups.
A video is available from Parliament.
NDP
Pierre Nantel NDP Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC
Of course. You'll keep me informed.
If necessary, we could discuss the work of the committee in the late evening or whenever you wish. Ideally, it should be before midnight.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Julie Dabrusin
If everyone wants to discuss the witness list at 8:00 p.m. this evening, we can talk a little bit about it.
NDP
Liberal
Saint John—Rothesay, Lib.
Good afternoon. Thank you for being here.
Bill C-91 is a profound bill that I think will do so much to revitalize indigenous languages, communities and culture. It will instill pride in different communities right across this country. I commend our government for moving this forward.
The bill would establish the office of the commissioner of indigenous languages, consisting of one commissioner and up to three directors. That is in clause 12(1). Clauses 13 and 16 stipulate that the commissioner and directors would be appointed by the Governor in Council after the minister has consulted with diverse indigenous governments, other indigenous governing bodies and diverse indigenous organizations.
Can you describe what level of consultation you foresee with diverse indigenous governments, other indigenous governing bodies and diverse indigenous organizations?
Deputy Minister, Department of Canadian Heritage
Thank you for the question.
I want to point out that Mr. Shields also pointed out the use of “diverse” indigenous groups in various places in the legislation. The joint intention that we had with the three main groups.... We did the bulk of the consultations with the AFN, ITK and MNC, the Métis Nation Council, but these groups were very conscious of the fact that there is a diversity of governments and organizations.
What we wanted to make sure of through the use of “diverse” was not so much to point to diversity but to really be clear that the minister, in various places, has to be very inclusive in terms of who they reach out to, and that it's not limited to the three main associations, the AFN, MNC and others. It's to capture the fact that it would be governments and councils that exist under the Indian Act, but other groups as well, like educators, friendship centres and a panoply of organizations that actually have an interest regarding the preservation of languages.
Saint John—Rothesay, Lib.
Just for the record, what indigenous groups do you foresee consulting with for appointment recommendations?
Deputy Minister, Department of Canadian Heritage
It would be a variety of groups, primarily governments and councils but other groups that actually are.... It could be indigenous school boards. It could be groups with whom we have an agreement and who have an interest in making sure that the various directors and the commissioner are representative of the variety of indigenous groups.
February 19th, 2019 / 4:40 p.m.
Saint John—Rothesay, Lib.
I don't know if you can answer this, but in my province of New Brunswick, can you name other groups or organizations that would be consulted?
Deputy Minister, Department of Canadian Heritage
In New Brunswick specifically?
Deputy Minister, Department of Canadian Heritage
A friendship centre, for sure.
Stephen?
Director General, Aboriginal Affairs Directorate, Department of Canadian Heritage
I'm not as familiar with what's going on in New Brunswick, but in Saskatchewan, for example, you have the Gabriel Dumont Institute. They support Métis and Michif language and culture. You have the Louis Riel Institute in Manitoba. Yukon has the Yukon Native Language Centre. There are many language authorities.
I think what we're trying to say is, there are organizations that specialize in language support. You should be talking to them. There'll be self-governing and modern treaty holders that would also be interested in having discussions.
Deputy Minister, Department of Canadian Heritage
It is clear in New Brunswick, for example, that we would go to the Mi’kmaq, as a government, but their school council would probably be consulted as well.
Saint John—Rothesay, Lib.
Okay.
Obviously, my riding is in southern New Brunswick. It's Saint John—Rothesay, and there's not a high concentration of indigenous groups right in my riding. With respect to urban communities, how would you ensure that you reach them? How could they be included?
Deputy Minister, Department of Canadian Heritage
They would be included, in the case of first nations, through the National Association of Friendship Centres, and other cultural groups that would be interacting with us for the purpose of preserving languages. In urban areas, it would primarily be through them.
In rural areas, it would probably be through governments that already exist, or band councils in the case of...but not strictly band councils.
Saint John—Rothesay, Lib.
How would the department select which groups to consult with? Would it just be a good cross-section of different groups?
Deputy Minister, Department of Canadian Heritage
We would probably do a call-out based on the bank of people we're interacting with. We would probably publicize the fact that we are consulting and would welcome suggestions.
We obviously would go with organized groups like the AFN, the MNC and others, but we would be as inclusive as we could.
Saint John—Rothesay, Lib.
The bill will also provide the office of the commissioner of indigenous languages—the office—with the discretionary authority to undertake research and studies, in co-operation with Statistics Canada or Library and Archives Canada.
Would these studies be carried out in collaboration with indigenous organizations? How would that look to the department?
Deputy Minister, Department of Canadian Heritage
The intention is to actually allow the commissioner's office to be able to respond to requests for research that would come from various indigenous groups. The idea is to preserve a form of independence on how the research is done. It would be through them, at the request of indigenous groups, that those studies could be done.
They would liaise with those independent agencies because we know that they have a lot of information. In the case of Statistics Canada, they have already provided a fair amount of information. The groups we consulted with told us that they would like to pursue having better granularity of the state of various languages. We wanted to make sure there was a placeholder and that it wasn't done through Canadian Heritage but rather through the independent agency.
Liberal
Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, CPC
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I appreciated the minister's appearance, but the number of unanswered questions he left us with is higher than I expected.
My question is for Ms. Laurendeau or Ms. Théberge.
In briefings, we were informed that $90 million over three years had been allocated to promoting indigenous languages.
First, I would like to know whether those amounts are currently being used and, if so, how they are being used.
Then I would like to come back to what the minister told us. The bill is sort of like a grab bag. We lack information on the amounts involved and on how things will proceed. This leaves me a little puzzled.
If possible, I would first like some details on how much of the $90 million has already been allocated.