I have to admit to a certain level of discomfort, as a parliamentary librarian, in pronouncing how to decide if somebody is a francophone or anglophone and whether they would qualify. Perhaps that's a question for the official languages commissioner rather than for the parliamentary librarian. It's just a thought.
It seems to me that this would be something that, if the decision were made to have it in statue that it would be alternating, one could build into the process perhaps a self-definition. In the application, you could include questions that would have to be determined. This would be part of the consultation in setting up the program with the official languages commissioner, for example, who sits on the committee. How do we do this? What would be the proper process to respect the terms of the statute, and how can we implement this?
I think it would be something that would certainly have an impact on the process. At this point, I would be hard pressed to say, “Yes, this person would be considered francophone; this person would be anglophone”. I think that is outside my sphere of expertise.
Certainly it would be very helpful to have the official languages commissioner be part of the setting up of the program, should the committee and should Parliament go in this direction. We would need guidance. How would we do that? What does that mean?
How would it work, in this context?
It would definitely have an effect on the process.