Official Languages Committee on March 24th, 2009

[Hubert Lussier, Director General, Official Languages Support Programs, Department of Canadian Heritage]

To repeat what the minister said earlier, it is the responsibility of the board of Radio-Canada to manage that corporation. However, to respond to your question, Radio-Canada is a designated institution for the purposes of the administration of Part VII of the Official Languages Act, which the Department of Canadian Heritage is responsible for coordinating. In other words, this is an institution with which we constantly work and which has reporting and planning obligations concerning its obligations towards those communities, as do some 30 other institutions. Public servants regularly communicate with Radio-Canada regarding the issue of official languages and these communities.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you very much, Mr. D'Amours.

Thank you, sir, for those clarifications.

We will now move on with Mr. Petit.

[Daniel Petit, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Good day, gentlemen.

Earlier you heard our minister talk about the money granted to the Department of Immigration. In Quebec, immigration is an area that falls under joint jurisdiction. Several Quebec organizations, whose role is to help immigrants learn another language in addition to their mother tongue, complained. They said that the sums transferred by the federal government that were supposed to be used to teach immigrants English or French—French, in this case—had been paid out, but that it hadn't worked because the money had been put into the partner's consolidated funds, meaning the provincial partner.

You meet with the provinces and territories. I would like to know whether you have kept track of the funds granted by the federal government, by the taxpayers, to see whether the services enabling immigrants and newcomers to learn one of the official languages have in fact been provided. I don't know which of you will be able to answer me.

[Tom Scrimger]

I don't know whether we will be able to respond specifically to your question, but I can tell you that it is the duty of the department responsible for those funds, in this case Citizenship and Immigration Canada, to keep track of the funds to ensure that they are spent in accordance with the contribution agreements reached with the partners. The secretariat has some knowledge of the programs, but this knowledge is not detailed. If you have a specific question, we could always ask our colleagues at CIC to provide us with a more complete answer. I will let my colleague Mr. Moisan add his comments.

[Jérôme Moisan]

I would like to make a clarification. The Roadmap refers to amounts to be used solely for francophone immigration. So this affects all provinces, with the exception of Quebec.

The Roadmap is concerned with francophone immigration, so essentially outside Quebec. In short, with regard to this program, the amounts for immigration are not for the Government of Quebec.

[Daniel Petit, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Do I have any time left, Mr. Chair?

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

You still have two minutes.

[Daniel Petit, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Mr. Moisan, I want to continue along these lines. It seems that some things are not working with the COFI. Perhaps you are better informed than I am about this. Had you heard that the money was not going out fast enough? Do you know if it's going to the right place? Have you been advised about such a problem?

[Jérôme Moisan]

Honourable member, I would invite you to speak to our colleagues at Immigration Canada. The COFI are perhaps part of the programs and the relationship between the Department of Immigration and Quebec. We do not have any specific information about this.

[Daniel Petit, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you very much, Mr. Petit.

We are now going to hear from Mr. Nadeau.

[Richard Nadeau, Bloc, Gatineau, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Good day, gentlemen.

Approximately two weeks ago, I took part in a meeting with people from the Canadian Institute for Research on Linguistic Minorities at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Gatineau. Perhaps you were there. The conferences were excellent. Some of your former colleagues, among others, and people working in research told us about very interesting analyses on the 40 years of the Official Languages Act. The commitment of the machinery of government was one of the issues raised during the discussions. This relates to one of the four nerve centres of the federal government with regard to the official languages. I won't give you a detailed overview of everything that was said. Unfortunately we don't have the time.

Someone whom you know raised a point that I find extremely relevant. I would like to hear your reaction to this. Someone talked about the recruitment of new employees to the federal public service. There is an unease in this area, and consequently this entire issue is being studied by the committee. We are looking at the issue of bilingualism in the public service. Among other things, we are looking at the learning of official languages at the elementary, secondary and university levels. However, this speaker stressed the fact that, during recruiting, the federal government is not presenting itself as a bilingual employer. This realization was made by someone who is extremely familiar with the federal public service.

I would like to hear your suggestions on this subject, to hear how you think this could be improved.

[Tom Scrimger]

Mr. Nadeau, I did not have the opportunity to take part in this conference. Consequently, it is difficult to answer this question without knowing more about the context. You say that the government is not highlighting the fact that it is a bilingual employer, but what does that mean? It would probably be more appropriate to address the question to my colleagues of the Treasury Board Secretariat or the Public Service Commission.

Having acquired 30 years of experience within the public service, I can certainly say that bilingualism is a key element in any government recruitment campaign. Increasingly, we need to ensure that we are able to provide Canadians with services in both official languages. I just spent five years at Sports Canada. Within my small group, the number of bilingual positions has gone from 56% to 98%. I don't know whether this is representative of all government. It is extremely difficult for us to say how the situation might be improved. Canadian Heritage has a bilingual environment; our recruiting efforts comply with official languages needs and our requirements, as well as ensuring the promotion of linguistic duality.

[Richard Nadeau, Bloc, Gatineau, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Let me say that I am somewhat disappointed with the answer, but I will not hold that against you. Employees of the federal state, of agencies, crown corporations or departments who live in this region, in Gatineau, are telling me that they have to do their work in English because otherwise, some things could not be communicated as easily. This is due to the fact that some people do not understand French. This is the situation, once we get inside the organization. No one can make me believe the opposite. I hear such comments fairly regularly. I am also told that some senior officials in the federal apparatus do not speak French or are not able to communicate adequately in French. This is also a major problem. Should we shed more light on it?

In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, let me tell you a joke about two senior federal officials. The one says to the other: "Hi, how do you do? How was your weekend?" And the other answers "My weekend was very good." And then one of the two says: "Now, let us speak French because that must remain as a secret between the two of us." The comedy troupe Les cyniques were telling this joke 40 years ago. I find that this joke is all too real in the federal structure. I am submitting it to you for reflection, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you for this humorous interlude, Mr. Nadeau.

I would like to have some advice from committee members. Two of you had things to say. Do you want us to continue? If you want to intervene, we can do another round.

Mr. Lemieux, you have the floor.

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

Thank you very much for being here this morning. We hear in the news and from my colleagues of the other parties that the Roadmap is criticized because no funds are provided for communities. I would like to put some questions regarding this.

Does the Roadmap provide any funds for our minority official language communities? If so, how much do these funds amount to?

[Jérôme Moisan]

If we look at the Roadmap initiatives as a whole, we see that large sums will be provided for communities, for instance, all the economic development funds that will go through the economic development groups such as the RDÉE Canada, which has branches such as RDÉE Ontario. In turn, these groups all have internal subgroups in various regions. For example, for matters regarding health, they have networks which are in fact community organizations.

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

If an organization receives money from the Roadmap, could you tell us how much, if the information is available?

[Jérôme Moisan]

I can give you overall figures, but I do not have the figures for each organization. For example, regarding the Enabling Fund for Official Language Minority Communities, where the funds go directly to economic development groups outside of Quebec and in Quebec, we are talking about $69 million over a five-year period. These funds will eventually end up in the hands of the Regroupements de développement économique.

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

Currently, funds are being distributed in accordance with the Roadmap.

[Jérôme Moisan]

Yes, absolutely.

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

Are you sure of that?

[Jérôme Moisan]

Absolutely. We are collating the figures for 2008 and 2009 and they will be published later. We know very well that this year, in accordance with the Roadmap, more than $180 million are being allocated to fund various initiatives by various departments. These funds are granted to community projects or organizations, which include economic development, but there are also funds for health and for various other things such as immigration.

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

I just have one point to clarify. It is inaccurate to say that no funds are being granted to communities.

[Jérôme Moisan]

Exactly.