Evidence of meeting #58 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 rights.
A recording is available from Parliament.
9:50 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Steven Blaney
Thank you, Ms. Folco and Ms. Martin-Laforge.
We will now go to Richard Nadeau from the Bloc Québécois.
9:50 a.m.
Bloc
Richard Nadeau Bloc Gatineau, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen.
Mr. Schafer, I have a few questions for you to help me clarify certain things. Did you do any post-secondary studies in Canada?
9:50 a.m.
Bloc
Richard Nadeau Bloc Gatineau, QC
So you studied law here, in Canada. If I give historical examples of battles in which government assistance would have been appreciated, such as the Georges Forest case, in which a favourable decision was handed down in 1979, causing the repeal of a Manitoba statute passed in 1890, would that mean anything to you?
9:50 a.m.
Bloc
Richard Nadeau Bloc Gatineau, QC
Right. If I mention Ontario's Instruction No. 17, passed in 1912, that abolished French schools, would that mean anything to you?
9:50 a.m.
Bloc
Richard Nadeau Bloc Gatineau, QC
It rings a bell. Do you know that, in Ontario, we were unable to obtain full governance of our schools until 1990?
9:50 a.m.
Director, Canadian Constitution Foundation
Okay, I'll take your word for it.
9:50 a.m.
Bloc
Richard Nadeau Bloc Gatineau, QC
You' re learning something you didn't know, and that's very good. Did you know that, in 1931, Premier Anderson's Conservative government in Saskatchewan abolished the teaching of grade 1 in French?
9:50 a.m.
Bloc
Richard Nadeau Bloc Gatineau, QC
French schools in Saskatchewan have been recognized as legal and equal only since 1995, thanks to courts of justice where parents were able to take on the government on an equal footing to restore a constitutional right. It took 64 years. Is that new to you?
9:50 a.m.
Director, Canadian Constitution Foundation
Again, I'll take your word for it.
9:50 a.m.
Bloc
Richard Nadeau Bloc Gatineau, QC
I am asking the questions here. Thank you.
Ms. Routhier-Boudreau, if possible, I would like you to explain—I know that there is a case before the courts at present—how you view the government's abandonment of the Court Challenges Program, a program that is so important in enabling minority-community citizens in Canada to exercise their rights.
9:55 a.m.
Vice-President, Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada
Thank you.
9:55 a.m.
Vice-President, Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada
Thank you.
The term "abandonment" is exactly the right term. Canada's linguistic duality is a source of immeasurable richness for the country, and to enjoy it to the full, a minority needs access to the same means of recourse that the majority has. The support of the Court Challenges Program has been invaluable in enabling minorities to exercise their rights. With all the progress made in recent years, we have seen how significant the CCP contribution is. Now, since the government cannot recognize in any tangible way the need to provide the capacity to ensure legislation is respected—passing legislation is not enough, we have to ensure it is respected—and is abolishing the Court Challenges Program, we will find minority communities have had their ability significantly undermined when it comes to ensuring such respect in the clarification and interpretation of legislation.
9:55 a.m.
Bloc
Richard Nadeau Bloc Gatineau, QC
Good afternoon, Ms. Foulem. I have a question that may elucidate some issues for our friends the Conservative Party, as well as for Mr. Schafer, who is here today. How do Acadians, and people from the Société des Acadiens et Acadiennes du Nouveau-Brunswick, perceive the inequality brought about by the fact that, when they take their cases to court, the federal government appears with a bevy of lawyers to defeat, or at least try to defeat, arguments made by parents and volunteers who feel their rights are being prejudiced by the government's failure to comply with the Canadian Constitution? How do you suggest we reduce that gap, to ensure there is equality between the government—be it the provincial or the federal government—and volunteer organizations, or parents' organizations, who are fighting for the rights they believe they are entitled to?
9:55 a.m.
Interim Director General, Société des Acadiens et Acadiennes du Nouveau-Brunswick
As I said earlier, the process is somewhat anti-democratic, because when governments appear in court against us, to counter our challenge, our belief that they are not complying with their own legislation, they have vast resources. It's like David against Goliath. We have no resources. So if we don't have support, like the support we had with the Court Challenges Program, to do our research, and prepare arguments as one has to do when presenting them before the court, the whole process becomes very unfair and anti-democratic. Why can the federal machinery of government use taxpayers' money in fighting its own citizens, when we, who are on the other side, have no access to the same means? That is unfair. We need justice and fairness so that we have the instruments we need to defend our rights and ensure that, in practice, we can actually exercise them.
9:55 a.m.
Bloc
9:55 a.m.
Bloc
Richard Nadeau Bloc Gatineau, QC
Thank you.
Ms. Martin-Laforge, do you believe that the federal government is complying with the Official Languages Act in abolishing the Court Challenges Program? I am thinking particularly about part VII of the Official Languages Act, which was amended during the last Parliament.
9:55 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Steven Blaney
I would ask you to give a very short answer, Ms. Martin-Laforge. Perhaps you could answer with a yes or a no. You could perhaps continue later on.