Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Amendment BQ‑32 proposes that Bill C‑61, in clause 39, be amended by adding after line 17 on page 18 the following:
(a.1) that the corporation must provide its services in both official languages; and
The intention is for services to be provided in indigenous languages when necessary. However, the reason we're specifying that they must be provided in both official languages is because indigenous communities are not exclusively anglophone, and we shouldn't have to tell you that. In many cases, they also use French as a language of reference. That's the case in Manitoba, New Brunswick and Quebec. Indigenous communities are associated with English as a colonial language, but French is useful in many cases. So documents need to be translated into both official languages.
I can't speak for the other territories, but I think it could be English elsewhere. It might even be useful for documents to be in English in certain francophone communities in Quebec or elsewhere, to make it easier for some anglophone members to understand.
We're often overlooked. However, we're very progressive, and people are depriving themselves of what francophone communities can contribute. The Assembly of First Nations learned that the hard way. However, the federal government is just as guilty of the malaise surrounding consultations on funding for first nations children. Nobody bothered to translate the offer that was given to the chiefs to do their consultations. We talked about it last summer. The department did not provide its offer of $47 billion in both official languages. That would warrant a complaint to the Commissioner of Official Languages. We actually received this information in French in September, when the agreement had been signed in July. This is an aberration that's worth pointing out here in committee, and it should never happen again anywhere else.