Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I would like to welcome you all here.
First, I want to make a comment to Ms. Kheiriddin. Ms. Kheiriddin, all the minority language groups, both francophone and anglophone ones, that we have met with to date—and believe me, I think that this committee has met almost all of the minority groups—have underlined in red ink the need and importance of the Court Challenges Program.
Since I came from somewhere else, I can relate. Canadians have developed a way that they do things, which is involving groups primarily affected by a program or a measure in the consultation process, in order to identify what the problems are and what the solutions may be. So, these groups, which are at the heart of the problem and which suffer the consequences, as Ms. Pilon said so well, have clearly told us their position. The only groups that we have met with to date that seem to have an opposing position, for all sorts of reasons, both yours and Mr. Benson's, are groups that do not represent minority language groups, with all due respect.
I have no questions for you, but I wanted to make this comment. The groups that are primarily impacted, which are suffering the consequences, have in fact told us just how important this program was.
If I may, I would like to address my question to the Quebec English School Boards Association. Just recently, there was a symposium here in Ottawa, sponsored by the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada. At this symposium, Ms. Verner, the Minister for La Francophonie and Official Languages, said that she intended to...
I will read it in English because my notes are in English.
“Canadian Heritage will launch a wide consultation with linguistic minorities from across the country.”
Then, it says that:
Ms. Verner said that she would be asking francophones about the government's overall vision on official languages and linguistic duality.
My reaction to that is this.
It's like closing the barn door after the cow and the horse have already left.
But I would really like to hear from you, Mr. Tabachnick and Mr. Birnbaum, where you stand on this, whether before the government in place actually got rid of the court challenges program, you as a minority group, a language minority group in Quebec, were consulted in any way. And I'd like to know what suggestions you have made to Madame Verner as the minister, and whether you would be willing to take part in such a consultation if and when it does occur.