Procedure and House Affairs Committee on March 27th, 2018

[Danielle Mager]

It would be a matter of the time involved. Because some of the interpreters have to come from different northern communities, “reasonable request” means whether we would be able to provide them with transportation to the city in a timely fashion.

[David Graham, Liberal, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

How much does this interpretation and translation service cost the Northwest Territories? Do you have a sense of that?

[Danielle Mager]

I don't have the exact number, but our interpreters range from $300 to $450 per hour, and if they are travelling from outside the capital city, we will pay for their travel and accommodation and provide them with a per diem.

[David Graham, Liberal, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

I don't have any more questions. I might come back to you in the general round. Thank you very much.

[The Acting Chair, NDP, Kennedy Stewart]

Thanks very much.

We'll go to Mr. Reid for five minutes.

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON]

Thank you very much. I'm glad to see you in the chairman's position. I think this is your first time there. Well done.

[The Acting Chair, NDP, Kennedy Stewart]

Thank you.

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON]

I want to address my questions to Ms. Mager.

First, you read your standing orders, and the word Chipewyan is in there. I assume that is just another way of saying Dene. Is that correct?

[Danielle Mager]

The Dene language has a family of languages within it. Chipewyan is part of the Dene language: Chipewyan, Cree, and Gwich'in.

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON]

I see. You listed those three separately in the list you went through. Cree and Chipewyan are listed separately, and the third one you mentioned was—

[Danielle Mager]

—Gwich'in.

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON]

Right. Thank you.

On Tlicho versus the others, there's a bit of a hierarchy as things stand now. You can correct me if I'm wrong here, but I'm assuming it's not the case that Tlicho is given some type of priority over other indigenous languages based on a larger number of speakers; it's based effectively on demand because of the fact that the speaker is a Tlicho speaker. Is that correct?

[Danielle Mager]

That's correct.

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON]

Would that likewise be true for the fact that you ask members if there are any unilingual speakers of indigenous languages as a way of figuring out where you should place your priorities? That's also not an attempt to create a hierarchy of languages, but rather to create a practical response to demand?

[Danielle Mager]

Absolutely. If there are members who speak an official language on the floor of the House on a regular basis, we will aim toward those languages more than toward the other non-spoken languages.

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON]

Do you have any members who are unilingual speakers of their language, or who at any rate don't speak English with sufficient proficiency to be full participants in debates unless they're participating in their indigenous language?

[Danielle Mager]

Right now we do not. As Senator Patterson mentioned earlier, when Nunavut was still a part of our territory, we did have some members who spoke only Inuktitut.

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON]

I'm struck that there seems to be, at a practical level, a difference between Inuktitut and all other indigenous languages in Canada. There seems to be the capacity to carry on life as a unilingual Inuktitut speaker, which is something that is not characterized by the other indigenous languages in Canada. It seems to have an advantage in that respect.

I ask this question—I'm not explaining this to you as much as I am to my colleagues—because I think at the federal level we'll experience the same thing. There will be people coming here whose purpose in speaking the indigenous language they bring with them is to serve as part of reinforcing that language as opposed to being part of a practical need for themselves in order to be understood. I think that's a relevant consideration that we're going to have in the future.

I have one last question. You mentioned the Tlicho interpreter who's available on demand. Is that person a resident of Yellowknife?

[Danielle Mager]

Yes.

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON]

With the other languages, if the need for an interpreter arises, is it the case that you have Yellowknife residents who could be used as interpreters, or would you have to go elsewhere in the territory to find people who are capable of being interpreters?

[Danielle Mager]

We would have to go outside of the capital city, because there are not many official language speakers who could capture that broad a language base. We would have to go outside of Yellowknife.

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON]

I have one last question in that regard, then. You don't have to answer this right now. Perhaps we could draw upon our analysts to do some research for us in this regard.

I think we would face a similar situation at the federal level if we had a request to speak one of the languages that.... I think it might be easier with Inuktitut. There are many Inuktitut speakers in Ottawa. But if we had a Salish speaker, for example, it might be difficult to find a translator; I just pulled that language out of a hat. We're going to face issues as to the practicality of how to do that. You have experience, so I'm hoping we could simply draw upon your experience in order to find a model that would guide us a little bit and give us some idea as to costs.

[Danielle Mager]

Absolutely. I don't have those numbers right now, but it's something I could definitely work on with your analysts.

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

Mahsi.

Mr. Stewart, I just wanted to make sure you knew that there was no free ride being vice-chair.