Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Commissioner Adam, on behalf of all citizens, I wish to thank you for all of the years that you have served as an officer of the House of Commons, and a representative of this country's two official languages. This is important since one of our country's law states that everyone enjoys the right to be served in both official languages, especially at the federal level.
Similar legislation that applies in New Brunswick means that New Brunswick is the only officially bilingual province in Canada. Despite this, we still have problems, for example with the RCMP. I do not know if they will finally come to an understanding at some point, but both the RCMP and the federal government seem to be passing the buck before the courts. After so many years, it is regrettable that we are still at that point. After 400 years, respect for both languages and bilingual services provided to Canadians is still a subject of discussion. As a member of Parliament, I wish to thank you.
I know that you are at the end of your mandate. Your responsibility is not to give orders, but rather to make suggestions and to report to Parliament on results of your inquiries, with the power to go before the courts. You have assumed your role well, and once again, on behalf of both French speaking and English speaking Canadians, I wish to thank you.
Last week, we talked about translation services. I would like to hear some of your thoughts on that subject. Service Canada said that the Commissioner for Official Languages was against stopping the posting of job offers for which the translation was not done by human translators. Your opinion on this subject is important.
Service Canada intends to set up a system under which if a translation is not done or revised by a human translator, the job offer will not be made public. It is the person in charge of e translation services who made those comments, and she is an expert on the subject.
Would you agree with me that automated translation has its usefulness, but unlike a human being, a machine does not have feelings. For something to be said, it must have meaning. In automated translation, a machine does word for word translation. Madam Commissioner, to allow the situation to go on in the hopes that it will one day disappear amounts to an insult to the language and identity of both anglophones and francophones.
Service Canada told us that the same was happening with English translation. We were told that the automated English translation of a posted French job offer was terrible. I checked to see if this was the case, and indeed it was.
Given the clarity of the Official Languages Act in this regard, how can we tolerate that the government should set up a system that will one day allow humans to be replaced by machines?
The Director of the translation bureau says that this is quite impossible. I would like to hear an expert state the opposite. If it were possible, I am sure that such a system would have already been put in place. In all sincerity, I must say that I am proud that the government has taken a decision to not post any job offer unless it has been revised by a human translator. I hope that the government will maintain its decision. That is what was said at last week's committee meeting. I will monitor the issue closely to make sure that there is full compliance.
Madam Adam, the reason I ask you this question is because you mentioned that you were against that decision, namely the posting of the 13 per cent of job offers translated by machines. That goes against everything you have said since I have known you.