Official Languages Committee on June 1st, 2006

[Donald Barabé]

This morning, our colleagues tabled a proposal that should deal with the problem.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Mr. Chairman, the proposal is not clear. Does it state that a job offer that comes in English will not be translated if it has not been revised but that it will be made available to the public? That is another thing: these things cannot be made available to the public. When the government disseminates something publicly, it must be in both official languages. This is not clear. I would like some clarification. When will this come into effect? Immediately? I asked Mr. Brison that question when he was the minister responsible for Public Works. He told me that it would be done immediately, that no information from the Government of Canada would leave his department without being revised. We do not know when this will come into effect. I do not know whether we can call back our witnesses again before the House adjourns so that they can give the committee some clarification.

[The Chair, Conservative, Guy Lauzon]

Thank you.

Ms. Boucher.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

I have two points. First, I'm astounded that in 2006 texts in French are still of such poor quality. Second, if machines cannot translate properly, could there be some human support to correct the errors? Earlier, the representatives from Service Canada said that they did not correct language errors. I am sorry, but we're giving this to francophones or anglophones who live in minority situations. This material must be corrected by someone to make the job offer understandable to everyone. In 2006, we are accustomed to living in a consumer world, but the quality of our language is not something that can be consumed.

I share the opinion of my colleagues who say that when people laugh at the poor quality of our French outside the country, we have a very serious problem. We live in a bilingual world, and material should be available in excellent French. I think this is unacceptable for the francophones of this country, whether they live in Quebec, Manitoba, Acadia or elsewhere.

I come now to my question. How much more would it cost to have Job Bank advertisements translated or revised professionally?

[Francine Kennedy]

I have some difficulty answering that question. The cost indicators for translation are volume, the number of notices and the length of the texts. Are we talking about texts of 300, 500 or 1,000 words? We need to look into this with our colleagues from Job Bank. We must also take the deadlines into account, as they said. Four hours is a cost indicator, because it would take many translators to produce such a volume of work in four hours. Even using technology, the cost is about two million dollars.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

You are telling us that the quality will never be on a par with the quantity. A lot of this material will be produced, because there's a great deal of demand, but the quality is being neglected.

[Francine Kennedy]

You asked me what the cost would be and I told you about the factors that entail certain costs.

Is this feasible? Definitely.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

So we have to try to find a solution that gives priority to quality over quantity.

[Francine Kennedy]

Absolutely. Quantity leads to higher costs, but that does not mean the work cannot be done.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

It is alarming.

[The Chair, Conservative, Guy Lauzon]

We have enough time for a one or two-minute round. Are you satisfied so far?

[Raymond Simard, Liberal, Saint Boniface, MB]

I forgot to make a comment earlier.

If errors of this type were made in English, there would be a significant reaction very quickly. I come back to the issue of respect for the French language. When documents are produced in this way, it is really an insult to the francophones of this country.

[The Chair, Conservative, Guy Lauzon]

I just gave you 30 seconds, Mr. Simard. I will therefore give 30 seconds to each party.

[Vivian Barbot, Bloc, Papineau, QC]

I would like to make a comment. Are machines in charge of us or are we in charge of them?

If the demand is too great, we will simply have to proceed more slowly, because we cannot keep up to the demand. It is not as though it were a matter of life or death. At the moment, there are debates with doctors involving money. Money has to be spent to keep me, my loved ones and everyone else alive. However, when it comes to translating documents we can insist that employers deal with translation professionals and submit texts that are correct, or we can tell them that we cannot deal with any more demand with the means at our disposal.

In no case should this situation result in an expression of contempt for the people who read these texts. Solutions do exist, but we must really look at the problem from this point of view.

[The Chair, Conservative, Guy Lauzon]

Thank you, Ms. Barbot.

Were you wanting to say something, Mr. Godin?

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

I think that Job Bank should follow the same procedure that we use in committees. We have a rule that a witness cannot table documents with the committee if they are not available in both official languages.

This would mean that an employer seeking to place a job offer on Job Bank, who has not found the time to have his advertisement translated, would not be allowed to do so.

Once again, Mr. Chairman, I would ask for clarification on the current position. It was not clear earlier.

[The Chair, Conservative, Guy Lauzon]

I will ask the Clerk to write a letter on this matter.

Mr. Lemieux, is there anything that you would like to add?

[Pierre Lemieux, Conservative, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

No.

[The Chair, Conservative, Guy Lauzon]

Thank you to our witnesses, see you again!

Ms. Barbot, do you wish to table your motion?

[Vivian Barbot, Bloc, Papineau, QC]

Yes, we are ready for the motion.

[The Chair, Conservative, Guy Lauzon]

We are going to suspend the meeting for a couple of minutes.

[The Chair, Conservative, Guy Lauzon]

I will now ask Ms. Barbot to move her motion.

[Vivian Barbot, Bloc, Papineau, QC]

The motion reads as follows:

That the Standing Committee on Official Languages give an official apology to His Excellency Mr. Abdou Diouf, about the treatment which he received upon his arrival in Canada and recommends that the government do the same.

[The Chair, Conservative, Guy Lauzon]

Thank you, Ms. Barbot.

Is there any debate on the motion?

[Luc Harvey, Conservative, Louis-Hébert, QC]

Ms. Barbot, Minister Verner will be appearing before the committee on June 8. We will be able to question her as to what actually happened. I am not asking you to withdraw your motion, but, rather, to postpone introducing it until after we have heard from the Minister. I think that would be in everybody's interest.

It is already about a month since Mr. Diouf was here. I do not think that it will make much of a difference if the motion is tabled five weeks after his visit rather than four. Thus far, members of this committee have worked together well; we understand your position and you have our support; I would just ask that you wait another week before tabling your motion. It would be most appreciated.