Canadian Heritage Committee on May 23rd, 2024

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you, Mr. Gourde.

Does anyone wish to speak to this?

Yes, Martin.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Madam Chair, if no one else has anything to add, I will indulge in one last comment before we proceed to the vote.

As my colleague Mr. Gourde was saying just a few moments ago, I wish we parliamentarians had a modicum of consistency in our debates, exchanges and positions on the various bills we deal with, particularly in the context of Bill C‑13. After all, the latter has been studied at length and, I would say, well crafted, in collaboration with francophone communities outside Quebec and with all minority language communities. The Official Languages Act was adopted with the text we are proposing today in this amendment. It would be truly inconsistent to reject an amendment that was adopted in the Official Languages Act, almost word for word.

I'll stop there and let you proceed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you.

(Amendment negatived: nays 6; yeas 5 [See Minutes of Proceedings])

The amendment does not carry.

(On clause 3)

We have Mr. Noormohamed.

[Taleeb Noormohamed, Liberal, Vancouver Granville, BC]

Madam Chair, I'd like to propose to amend clause 3 by replacing lines 19 to 21 on page 2 with the following:

5.1(1) The independent organization responsible for administering the program referred to in section 7.1 of this Act and paragraph 43(1)(c) of the Official Languages Act shall, each year, submit to

Then I'd propose to replace line 28 on page 2 with the following:

ous year.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Before we go to vote on this or discuss it, I need to let the committee know that if G-2 is adopted, BQ-4 cannot be moved due to a line conflict.

Mr. Noormohamed, do you wish to speak to your amendment, or do you think it speaks for itself?

[Taleeb Noormohamed, Liberal, Vancouver Granville, BC]

I believe it speaks for itself, but others may wish to speak to it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

I'm going to open the question to debate on this amendment.

Mr. Serré has his hand up.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

The amendment is fairly straightforward: It aims to ensure compliance with Bill C‑13, which, among other things, deals with modernizing the Official Languages Act. Earlier, that wasn't the case at all. It's an administrative amendment, since it deals with dates in connection with the annual report. According to some of the witnesses who came to testify, it was the right thing to do.

Through the clerk, I'd like to present a subamendment to all committee members. The purpose of this subamendment is strictly to add a line to the bill, after “cases that received funding in the previous year.”

I therefore propose to add, following this text, and just before the period, “and any outreach and promotional activities that were conducted with groups affected by these cases.” This is similar to the language used in Bill C‑13. We're also seeking to ensure that the administrative report will have been submitted by November.

So this is a fairly straightforward administrative amendment, and I hope everyone will agree to adopt it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you. Hands are up.

We're going to discuss Mr. Serré's subamendment, so I'm going to entertain discussion from Mr. Lawrence, Mr. Gourde, Martin and Ms. Thomas, in that order.

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Peterborough South, ON]

I understand that we're all busy and that things change based on witness testimony and other issues, and politics is at all times fluid, but I'm, I guess, a little frustrated, to be honest. You guys are the governing party. Your job is to create legislation, and we have an initial proposal that's then being amended by you, and then you table-drop a subamendment to that amendment. We need to get our stuff together here, gentlemen.

If there are any other subamendments to amendments, would you kindly provide them to us now, so that we're not reviewing them on the fly and delaying things?

You guys should have more in the game than anyone else in terms of getting this legislation through. I feel like I have to help you shepherd the legislation through. I'm in the opposition; that shouldn't be my job.

If you have any other subamendments you want to table-drop, could you please just share them with us now? These things aren't controversial; I just want to have a chance to review them.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Mr. Noormohamed, do you have a response to that, or Mr. Serré...?

[Taleeb Noormohamed, Liberal, Vancouver Granville, BC]

I would love to respond.

I would thank Mr. Lawrence for his generosity of spirit. I count him among those whom I believe to be very generous of spirit and those who understand that, sometimes, administrative things need to take place. This is, indeed, very much that.

I am sure that, given the number of amendments we have gone through over the course of the last little while, one subamendment five lines long and administrative in nature shouldn't take up that much time with the committee.

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Peterborough South, ON]

I don't agree.

[Taleeb Noormohamed, Liberal, Vancouver Granville, BC]

Let's continue to work in the spirit of what we've been trying to do and get this done.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

We'll go to Ms. Thomas, then Mr. Gourde and Mr. Champoux.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I want to confirm that my hand is up to speak on the subamendment, and that my hand was also up to speak on the amendment.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

We're speaking about the subamendment now.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Chair, I understand. I just want to confirm that my hand is up for both. I should be on both speaking lists.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

When we get to the amendment, your name is already there. However, we're now dealing with the subamendment.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

I understand. Thank you for confirming.

I'm going to ask the officials to shed light on the significance of this subamendment regarding “and any outreach and promotional activities that were conducted with groups affected by these cases.”

What does this subamendment accomplish? Maybe we'll start there. Why is it significant?

[Blair McMurren]

It appears the subamendment would give the modernized program the opportunity, in its annual reporting, to speak about its outreach with affected communities.

If you consult the contribution agreement, this aspect is part of the mandate of the modernized program to some extent, with some limitations. However, as we know from our interactions with the university, it's clearly something they're conscious of. I believe the expert panels, as well, are interested in doing more of this as the program continues to take root.

I believe the subamendment would give the program, as I said, the opportunity to say more about that in the annual report.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

My follow-up question to that would be this: Who would that include? What groups are affected by these cases?

[Blair McMurren]

I would make an educated guess that it could include, on the official language rights side of the program, official language minority communities in all regions of the country.

On the human rights side of the program, I think it would include a number of different equity-deserving communities that we know, through the current annual reporting, take advantage of the program. I assume a variety of indigenous partners would also be part of that outreach.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Ms. Thomas, did you get your answers? Do you wish to say anything else?

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Thank you, Chair.

Are we talking about groups that would be affected by the cases accepted under the program?