Procedure and House Affairs Committee on May 1st, 2018

[Jérémie Séror]

I will give you a very personal example.

I always keep young people in mind. Adults and seniors are important as well, but we often look to younger generations when we talk about the vitality of languages in communities. For minority language speakers, whether they speak an indigenous language or an official one, it is dangerous to believe at a young age that this language is a game. Even if our parents and grandparents speak to us in the language, we can sometimes believe that this language is a game, or that it is only used in a family environment. That has an impact.

What is interesting is that we often focus on the use of a language to communicate a message, but language is not only used for communication. At all times, it allows us to establish relationships and convey information on the social status of communities. As soon as children see that the language is used outside of their homes and immediate environments, that it is used in public, this tells them that it isn't a game: It is a real language that is recognized and used. Children then realize that they have every right to use it outside of their immediate environments. Also, it sends a message about the value given to the language by everyone in the public space.

This kind of effect is sometimes felt subconsciously. Young people, and even adults, are not aware of the influence it has on the way they see themselves and on the way they themselves use the language. But we know that this effect exists. For example, I grew up in a very English-speaking region of Prince Edward Island, but the fact that I knew that French was spoken in Parliament and in Quebec encouraged me to continue speaking the language. I saw it as a real language with value and a role to play.

In applied linguistics, we sometimes refer to collective imagination. In order to commit to a language, we need to be able to imagine what can be done with it, and envision a world in which this language has a meaning. Each time we lend languages validity and we see them used in all kinds of contexts, we enrich this collective imagination, which has a motivating effect.

[Romeo Saganash, NDP, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

I have about a minute left.

Johanne or Melissa, I'll rapidly give you my three or four questions, which will perhaps take the remaining time.

Are there unilingual members on your council who speak only English, French, or Cree?

What has the positive effect been on Cree youth with the use of language in your institution?

What is the per cent of the budget used for interpretation and translation services? How many people do you have in the bank of interpreters?

[Johanne Lacasse]

Let me answer your first question.

It's true that the majority of the James Bay representatives are unilingual French speakers. As for the Cree representatives, they use Cree as a first language and English as a second one.

We are seeing more and more young, trilingual Cree representatives, but the majority of the people from James Bay are unilingual French speakers. Crees, on the other hand, speak Cree and sometimes English as a language of work.

In terms of the influence these initiatives have on young people, we have seen an increase in the number of young people interested in following this closely, whether by listening to live streams or to community radio. More and more people are contacting us for information on the vocation, mission and directions of the regional government. Young people feel very engaged with all the issues surrounding governance, especially when it concerns the territory where they live, such as the Eeyou Istchee James Bay territory.

Now, on the topic of budget expenditures, the regional government has an annual expenditure budget, excluding the three localities, of approximately $9 million. If we quickly do the math and we include all the costs, that's between $120,000 and $150,000. That is still considerable for a territory with so few taxpayers, so it's important that the council's elected officials and representatives champion interpretation services. Furthermore, the requirement to provide simultaneous interpretation services rests on the necessity of ensuring transparency and accountability, but it is especially a matter of inclusion.

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

Thank you. Meegwetch.

I think we have time for one short question from Scott Simms.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame, NL]

Because we always have time for short questions.

Where were we? One of the things I wanted to talk about is the Cree radio broadcasting that you have. How are they set up to handle this? On a couple of occasions when I've gone abroad about issues, and the issue of first nations comes up and APTN comes up. It seems to be quite famous around the world for what it provides for first nations coverage, but also because they provide it with some of the language services. In Cree radio broadcasting, how does that accommodate the languages?

[Melissa Saganash]

For the territory, actually, there's the JBCCS, the James Bay Cree Communications Society. It's a regional radio broadcasting outfit that's based out of Mistassini but has an antenna that reaches all communities.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame, NL]

Are they online?

[Melissa Saganash]

They're online as well.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame, NL]

Okay.

[Melissa Saganash]

For the purpose of the regional government, when we have sessions, they send over a tech, and the tech comes in and plugs into the board.

I'm using words that I'm not sure what they mean.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame, NL]

That's okay, we're following you.

[Melissa Saganash]

They plug into the board, and it broadcasts to the JBCCS airwaves in Cree because JBCCS, James Bay Cree Communication Society, is exclusively Cree radio.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame, NL]

Okay.

[Melissa Saganash]

When they come into either the Cree Nation Government council meetings or the regional government council meetings, they plug in. They plug into the interpreter's booth, actually, the interpreter's line. That's what they're broadcasting out to the communities, because radio is the way of communication, still, for many of our communities.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame, NL]

It seems to me, then, that what you described in my first round of questioning is the key to disseminating the information you want to disseminate in all the languages and dialects that you have.

[Melissa Saganash]

Yes.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame, NL]

The genesis, the origin of this thing that you had, did you develop that yourself?

[Melissa Saganash]

I wish I could take the credit for JBCCS, but I can't.

The regional government's guidelines and its framework and its agreement are built so that we have to serve in Cree. We have the technology. We're up in James Bay. Sometimes there's no road. Sometimes there's no Wi-Fi—

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame, NL]

Yes.

[Melissa Saganash]

—but we bring it up there. We have it. ECN is the Eeyou Communications Network. It's a fibre-optic company. It's a Cree company, Cree-owned. We call ECN before heading to a community where we don't have Wi-Fi. We say, “Hi, ECN. Can you give us a line, please? We're going to be there for three days.” They plug a line into, literally, the phone pole outside. They drop a line down, we run it into the building, and this is what we use to feed our live stream, our radio, the phone lines, everything.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame, NL]

Can I comment?

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

No.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame, NL]

Saying “please” won't help?

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

No.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame, NL]

Okay. All right.

Thank you very much. It was fascinating.