Procedure and House Affairs Committee on March 29th, 2022

[The Chair, Liberal, Bardish Chagger]

You're welcome.

We'll continue with Ms. Idlout.

You have two and a half minutes, give or take. Please take your opportunity.

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

[Member spoke in Inuktitut, interpreted as follows:]

Thank you.

In looking at these communities, 170 different languages are being used. It's clear that we use our language strongly.

Colonialism has a big share of the blame. It destroyed our language. We lost our language. I'm asking you how you can get help to revitalize indigenous languages and Inuit languages?

To revitalize them, how can you help us? This language of ours, Inuktitut, is very precious and important to us, and we do not want to lose it.

[Stéphane Perrault]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I appreciate the weight of those words. I think that obviously Elections Canada has a limited impact, in the sense that it will take efforts by many institutions working together to revitalize that, but I do think that, symbolically, having indigenous languages used around the political process, around the electoral process, is important.

It was mentioned, I think, by another member. It means that these languages have political weight. It means that indigenous people are welcome in their language in the political community, and that's why I say it's at the core of reconciliation.

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

What do you need?

[Stéphane Perrault]

Well, as I said, I'm looking to improve and to expand. I think I have the tools right now in the legislation, in terms of doing the facsimile. I think that from there we'll need to learn about capacity, translation and turnaround for production, and report back to this committee and see how it was received—whether the members of the community appreciate it or want something different from what we're doing, and whether it's feasible.

It's the beginning, quite frankly, in that regard. We have to accept that we know little and that there's a lot to do. Our role is to begin that process and to come back to this committee with more information.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bardish Chagger]

Ms. Idlout, I'd like you to know that the next Conservative slot has been given to you. You have five additional minutes.

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

[Member spoke in Inuktitut, interpreted as follows:]

Thank you very much for this opportunity.

I have a question for you. It is the first time I've heard about electoral issues. How can we help each other to handle our responsibilities for elections? We Inuit and indigenous peoples look very carefully at issues. Can you please tell me more about how you can help to communicate to the indigenous peoples of Canada instead of them not being heard, especially about elections?

[Stéphane Perrault]

Madam Chair, as much as I don't like to do this, I'll turn the question around: How can you help me? How can you convey to me the challenges that your communities face? How can you be the voice of those communities in terms of their experience?

I'm sitting here in Gatineau and Ottawa. I don't have this daily experience, and I'm not there on polling day at the polls. I have staff there.

I think you're right. We need to hear from the communities. As elected representatives in particular, your experience is critical for us to understand how we can improve.

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

[Member spoke in Inuktitut, interpreted as follows:]

Thank you very much. I have a question.

Like he said earlier, they're working hard to meet the needs of indigenous people, especially elders. Can you please tell us about your support, because it's very interesting and it impacts us and impacts the communities.

[English]

Very briefly, I'm hoping you can describe the elders and youth program you mentioned earlier, because I think it's a great opportunity to inform indigenous Canadians about this program that I didn't know existed. I think if more people are aware of it, there's going to be more appetite to use it.

[Stéphane Perrault]

Madam Chair, in a nutshell, very simply—and my colleague can intervene and add as necessary—it is a program whereby, in indigenous communities, we hire an elder and a young member of that community to be present at the polls to welcome the voters and assist them through the process, including by providing translation where it is required. It's a program that has been in existence for several elections now.

Monsieur Roussel, who's been here longer than I have, may know the exact time that it was put in place. I've heard anecdotally that we're having more trouble staffing it and the take-up is not as great. That's something I want to look into, because I think it's a very valuable program.

[Michel Roussel, Deputy Chief Electoral Officer, Electoral Events and Innovation, Elections Canada]

Madam Chair, what the Chief Electoral Officer said is true. Over the past 10 years, when we recruit election officers at the polling stations, we also emphasize more and more recruiting in the communities. We're looking for a system in which Canadians serve their neighbours. There are other Canadians...and it's something that we strive for in the indigenous communities as well.

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

How much more time do I have?

[The Chair, Liberal, Bardish Chagger]

You have another minute.

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

[Member spoke in Inuktitut, interpreted as follows:]

Thank you.

Perhaps if I tell you a bit of a story, you will understand more of what I'm talking about. It was good working through papers...and also with other issues that are of concern to the indigenous people of Canada.

I need help with this. Our language, through the computer, through technology, is available. It's a great tool to revitalize our language and to teach and show people that we have a real, live language. Indigenous people's languages are available through many communications.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bardish Chagger]

I think that was more of a comment.

[Stéphane Perrault]

Yes. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bardish Chagger]

It was a very thorough exchange and very much appreciated.

Before I hand the floor over to Mr. Gerretsen, we have a witness list that we agreed to. We have witnesses who are not able to join us or have not responded. Mrs. Block made a suggestion, and that invitation has been sent out.

Mr. Therrien provided us with a couple of other names of people he would like to see invitations go to, and before we extend those invitations, I wanted to bring that to this committee. Are we okay with those invitations going out, so we can have a high diversity of representation for the study?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bardish Chagger]

To the clerk, please send out those invitations, and let's see if we can get them here for the April 7 meeting.

Mr. Gerretsen, you have five minutes.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Thank you.

Madam Chair, if I understood Mr. Perrault correctly when he was answering Ms. O'Connell's questions and trying to address some of her concerns, he talked about engaging with members in the individual communities. I thought I heard him say that he would make sure that the RO is engaged.

Can he confirm whether or not it will actually be the ROs engaging, or him and his office directly? I think the latter is more important.

[Stéphane Perrault]

I will be doing some direct engagement. It is a very large country. As I said, I'm going to Iqaluit this summer, and I'm hoping to have some meetings there with members of the community, but the returning officers play a central role in their community.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

I can appreciate that, Madam Chair, and I think that the information to get back from the returning officers—if he is going to be utilizing returning officers to do that—is important, but I think it has to feed into the overall strategy. I don't think the information can be left in the returning officers' hands, assuming that they will utilize it. He is committed to, if not engaging directly, making sure that all that information is funnelled back to him so that we know where the buck stops.

[Stéphane Perrault]

Yes, of course, absolutely.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Okay.

In terms of the consultation that he's doing, I want to think that he is doing it proactively.

Can we have some assurance that this work is going to happen in anticipation of trying to determine problems, as opposed to always just reacting to problems that might have happened already?

[Stéphane Perrault]

Of course, the goal of making sure that we engage is to anticipate the needs and avoid the problems. It's to anticipate not the problems, but the needs.