Evidence of meeting #96 for Procedure and House Affairs in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was translation.
A recording is available from Parliament.
11:45 a.m.
Liberal
Ruby Sahota Liberal Brampton North, ON
Thank you, sir, for being with us here today.
I know that everyone tries to do the best they can. Even as a committee, we're looking at figuring out whether we can provide perfect interpretation services right off the bat or whether there will be some growing pains as we hopefully move forward with this. When you were giving your introduction, I couldn't help but notice that you said that some documents do not get translated for some time. I'm interested in knowing whether you have members who can speak only one language. That's my first question: are there members who can speak only one given language well?
11:45 a.m.
Clerk of the Legislative Assembly, Legislative Assembly of Nunavut
Yes, we do have members who are fluent in English and speak Inuktitut, and we do have some Inuktitut members who do not speak Inuktitut whatsoever, just English.
11:45 a.m.
Liberal
Ruby Sahota Liberal Brampton North, ON
And then you have Inuktitut members who cannot speak English?
11:45 a.m.
Clerk of the Legislative Assembly, Legislative Assembly of Nunavut
We have Inuktitut members who do not speak Inuktitut. That's correct.
11:45 a.m.
Liberal
Ruby Sahota Liberal Brampton North, ON
My question is around having meaningful debate, discussion, and conversations. If the interpretation is not simultaneous, or even if you're in committee and there's a document presented and another member on that committee cannot understand the document, doesn't democracy lose out and the system and the process fail due to the inability to provide that service as quickly as possible?
11:45 a.m.
Clerk of the Legislative Assembly, Legislative Assembly of Nunavut
That doesn't happen. When we're holding a committee meeting of the members, every document for the members will be in both languages. When a minister is tabling a document in the house and he has only the English or only the Inuktitut, we allow the minister to still go ahead, to table that document, with the understanding that the second language is coming. We follow up on that. We want to make sure we get that document, because that document could be subject to a standing committee review. In all our standing committee meetings there's never been an issue of not having the documents in both languages.
11:50 a.m.
Liberal
Ruby Sahota Liberal Brampton North, ON
Does this present delays? How long are the delays? If there is something a little bit more technical, and that's why the report from the ministers perhaps take more time, do proceedings also get held up because some language might be more technical?
11:50 a.m.
Clerk of the Legislative Assembly, Legislative Assembly of Nunavut
I can't give you a definitive answer in terms of a time frame, but I would say within a month. No meeting has ever been delayed for lack of a document being translated.
11:50 a.m.
Clerk of the Legislative Assembly, Legislative Assembly of Nunavut
When we have our meetings, all the stuff that comes from me and my staff is in English and Inuktitut. The government brings in their materials and it's made very clear to them that when they're coming in as a witness, their opening comments.... If I were doing this with one of my standing committees, they would be in both languages automatically. If they're not, if the minister does not bring his opening comments in the two languages, members will just say, “That's it. Come back in half an hour with your translation” type of thing. We have a very strong routine and process.
11:50 a.m.
Liberal
Ruby Sahota Liberal Brampton North, ON
When a minister tables a report, have there ever been any issues or problems—you said it could take a month—with members having the right notice of the intention in the legislation? Would it be a piece of legislation or would it be something else? I think at that point you would have the right to be able to comment and act on that legislation and have knowledge of it.
11:50 a.m.
Clerk of the Legislative Assembly, Legislative Assembly of Nunavut
It's never been an issue when it comes to the tabling of documents, and we're talking about annual reports that are required by legislation, etc.
In terms of the bills, now all bills have to come in three languages. In the first assembly, what happened in the first year of our operation was that the government was just bringing in bills in English and French, which it was required to do. However, at that time I had four unilingual members who said, “We don't understand what we're approving,” so then the government was forced to bring in an Inuktitut version in the next sitting.
Then, when the government changed the Official Languages Act, it allowed for the bills to come in. So, they come in on day one in the three languages: English, French, and Inuktitut.
11:50 a.m.
Liberal
Ruby Sahota Liberal Brampton North, ON
There was something else that you had said, something about a split in the day, language spoken in the morning versus in the afternoon. At the very end, you mentioned something about splitting days, and I didn't quite understand.
11:50 a.m.
Clerk of the Legislative Assembly, Legislative Assembly of Nunavut
In terms of interpreters, when they come into the office, that's from 8:30 until 6. The session is from 1:30 to 6, so they're in the booth. In the morning, they will either be doing translation of documents or doing simultaneous translation for committee meetings. That's what I meant by the split.
11:50 a.m.
Liberal
Ruby Sahota Liberal Brampton North, ON
Okay, I was thinking of something else, and I didn't know how that would logistically work, but that makes a lot more sense.
Thank you.
I think my colleague, David Graham, has a question.
11:50 a.m.
Liberal
David Graham Liberal Laurentides—Labelle, QC
I have a couple of questions.
I'm not completely clear on the answer to Ruby's first question. Do any members not speak any English in the current legislature?
11:50 a.m.
Clerk of the Legislative Assembly, Legislative Assembly of Nunavut
All the members speak English. In the previous assembly, one member didn't speak English.
11:50 a.m.
Liberal
David Graham Liberal Laurentides—Labelle, QC
Do you ever provide translation between the two languages other than English? Have there been circumstances where you've provided translation between Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun, between the two languages and not to English?
11:50 a.m.
Liberal
David Graham Liberal Laurentides—Labelle, QC
Here on the Hill you can't get a job doing anything at all outside of political jobs if you don't speak both English and French. Are there hiring requirements like that in the Nunavut legislature? Are people required to speak at least one other language to work there?
11:50 a.m.
Clerk of the Legislative Assembly, Legislative Assembly of Nunavut
Okay, now we're getting into the Constitution and into the land claim agreement. In Nunavut, 85% of the people are Inuit. The government would want 85% of the civil service to be able to speak Inuktitut, and it's working towards that goal.
I just mentioned that I just did an interview for one of my staff, and I said that in that particular position Inuktitut is desirable. That was enough to screen out a lot of people.
There are positions where you definitely need Inuktitut. The government, of course, rewards those staff members by giving them a bilingual bonus. Obviously, when we hired the language commissioner, Inuktitut or Inuinnaqtun was extremely important to us.
