Evidence of meeting #43 for Official Languages in the 39th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was bilingual.
A recording is available from Parliament.
NDP
Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB
I accept your apology, Mr. Chair.
I'd like to quote a passage of your report:
The Royal Military College in Kingston, already bilingual in theory, then became a centre for training fully bilingual student officers. Despite the efforts of officials in Kingston, there was a slight decrease in the number of francophone student officers by 1995. It would be interesting to know the current number in attendance.
Can we ask the commissioner's office to do a study on this?
Commissioner of Official Languages, Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
There are some...
Commissioner of Official Languages, Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
We'll certainly think about it and see what our priorities are, and what studies are currently under way. Training is indeed one of our priorities, as is monitoring.
Commissioner of Official Languages, Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
Great.
NDP
Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB
A little earlier, Mr. Lemieux said 7 out of 15 people had to be bilingual. This is not a personal remark directed at you, Mr. Lemieux.
Now as far as bilingual units are concerned, that means that of the15 people that make up the unit, only one person has to be bilingual, is that right? If everyone in a 15-person bilingual unit speaks French and 7 of these people are bilingual, does that mean the bilingual individuals would be anglophone? Could we have a study on this? What about bilingual units where the 15 members speak English and 7 of them are bilingual? When it comes to our country's two official languages, what are the proportions? Do you have an answer to these questions? If you don't have any answers, I'd ask you to get some.
Commissioner of Official Languages, Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
I don't have any answers. I don't know if my colleagues have an opinion about the table you're referring to, with the 15 and the 7.
NDP
Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB
Are you telling me you don't know if they understand what I'm saying?
Commissioner of Official Languages, Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
No.
Commissioner of Official Languages, Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
I don't know, perhaps my colleagues...
NDP
Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB
What's a bilingual unit? Where are these units? Are we talking about Ontario, Quebec? I know that the individual who wrote that particular book referred to Canada's three national defences: Quebec's, Ontario's and the west's. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be one for the Atlantic region.
Commissioner of Official Languages, Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
They're land forces.
NDP
Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB
Could the commissioner's office, the office of the advocate for official languages, get us these figures?
Commissioner of Official Languages, Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
This will be a part of our follow-up. We will take a close look at how this policy is applied, to get a better idea of how it works in practice.
NDP
Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB
Earlier, you spoke of waiting for five years. Did you mean the implementation or the achievement of results?
Commissioner of Official Languages, Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
I spoke of the implementation, but I did not speak of 35 years.
Commissioner of Official Languages, Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
Oh, I thought I heard “35 years”.
Commissioner of Official Languages, Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
No, there is no violation of this law. The act is stable. The review was a part of this process. Mr. Sauvageau complained that the law had not been respected. We investigated the matter and we made recommendations based on the obligations laid out in the act.
NDP
Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB
Earlier, Ms. Boucher misunderstood what I said. She thought that I was speaking about internal documents, whereas I was speaking about training manuals.
Will your study show whether we can also obtain the training manuals? What percentage of the manuals is meant for anglophones and what percentage is meant for francophones? Mr. Lemieux said that a francophone can receive his entire training in French. I would like to know whether this is true.
Commissioner of Official Languages, Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
Myself as well.