Official Languages Committee on March 31st, 2009

[Jean-Claude D'Amours, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Do you find it acceptable to say that there will be francophones who will express themselves in French to varying degrees? A francophone from France and a unilingual francophone from New Brunswick express themselves differently in French. These French speakers might not be understood by these francophones with their varying degrees of French. The service will not be adequate. Do you agree?

[Suzanne Bossé]

Absolutely, I think that good French must be spoken.

What do you think, Serge?

[Serge Quinty, Director of Communications, Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada]

I agree with you, Mr. D'Amours. To answer your question, we have to focus on the result. So what is the result we are looking for? We want all services to be provided in both languages. This is the how we should judge the volunteers' ability to speak French. We have to determine whether they are able to provide service in French to French-speakers.

[Jean-Claude D'Amours, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Period.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you very much, Mr. D'Amours.

We will continue with Mr. Nadeau.

[Richard Nadeau, Bloc, Gatineau, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Good morning, Ms. Bossé and Mr. Quinty. It is refreshing to hear what you have to say. It is a change from government yes-men, who have told us not to worry because everything is on track for the Olympic Games. They practically put French on a pedestal, or at least they said it was on the same footing as English in VANOC.

But let us get down to business. We know that there are some problems, particularly in broadcasting. In its response to the fifth report of the Senate Standing Committee on Official Languages on August 13, 2007, the government said the following about the broadcasting of the games: "The government is of the view that incomplete OTA coverage does not constitute an equitable access issue and that the existing legislative framework does not necessarily require free universal access to broadcasting signals." That is the position of our Conservative government. It is very ugly, thank you.

I would like to know what you think of the television broadcast of the Games.

Further, I would like to talk about the “Countdown” show. It must be said that the master of ceremonies is not responsible for pointing out that we have French artists.

I would like to know what you think about the radio and television broadcast of the “Countdown” show. What do you think of VANOC's attitude towards French at the Olympic Games?

[Suzanne Bossé]

It is clear that there has been progress, fortunately, since the government made that statement in 2007. As we indicated in our presentation, we are fairly satisfied with the broadcasting as presently planned, apart from the fact that we would have liked coverage to start six months before the Games, and not only one month before. Last January, it was still a problem, but fortunately a lot of progress has been made.

As for the Olympiad show, we find it unacceptable that no French-speaking groups were invited. There are many such French-Canadian groups. We could easily provide information on that, if it is needed. However, VANOC has not shown any real interest in including French in its program, at least not until now.

[Richard Nadeau, Bloc, Gatineau, QC]

Well, that is clear.

Mr. D'Amours talked about something that is included in the documents we received from the committee's research analysts. As it now stands, approximately 15% of volunteers speak French, and 10% have some knowledge of French. If a person knows the words "cheveux" and "cheval", but does not know that one means “hair“ and the other means “horse“, that is a problem. In China, we can be sure that Chinese athletes have access to services in their country's language. The same applies to France and Australia. However, Canadian francophones do not have access to services in one of their country's languages.

Have the Fédération des francophones de la Colombie-Britannique, the Fédération culturelle canadienne-française and the other organizations heard about the efforts that VANOC must undertake to ensure that French is placed on an equal footing with English?

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

You have about 30 seconds left, Mr. Quinty.

[Serge Quinty]

We have a lot of discussions with VANOC, but, as we can see, the results are not always convincing.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Nadeau.

Mr. Godin.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to our witnesses.

There have been discussions with representatives from VANOC, but what have they said about the opening ceremony? Are we ready? Artists do not only come from Quebec, but from everywhere in Canada. We certainly know of artists from where we come from who would like to gain some exposure. When the winter games were held in Bathurst, the French part of the opening ceremony was broadcast at two in the morning. Will the same thing happen again? Who is going to broadcast the ceremony? Will it be given the same degree of importance? It should be opened six months in advance, not one month. That concerns me.

What do VANOC representatives tell you when you meet with them? I have no problem with the fact that it is hard for them to do some things, but it is not hard to find artists.

[Serge Quinty]

You talked about artists. If I understood correctly what the Fédération des francophones de la Colombie-Britannique told me, after the February 12 show, VANOC recognized that there were shortcomings in that area. The choice of artists for the Cultural Olympiad tour is fairly complex and involves provincial and territorial governments, as well as the Canada Council for the Arts. Nevertheless, in our view, VANOC has a role to play, which, at the very least, is that francophone artists should not have to jump through hoops to get a spot in the Cultural Olympiad.

As to signage, I have some information which you might find interesting.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

I would like to hear it.

[Serge Quinty]

Based on my conversations with my colleagues from the Canadian Foundation for Cross-Cultural Dialogue, I have learned that, as it now stands, at the Olympic Oval, one of the new venues for the 2010 Olympic Games, signage is mainly in English. VANOC has assured us that everything will be in both languages by the time the Games open, but that is not the situation now.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

I know you are not responsible. You are the federation that represents francophones and Acadians in Canada.

I do not understand. How can VANOC say that the official language will be English, whereas the Olympic Games are bilingual? We are not talking about French-Chinese or French-Japanese here, we are talking about French-English. Why is this still an issue at VANOC? The Olympic Games are less than a year away and people are still debating which language information will be posted in.

[Serge Quinty]

That is an important issue, Mr. Godin. And that is why we are here today.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Should the Department of Canadian Heritage not tell VANOC and Olympic organizations, once and for all, that if they want to get money from the Government of Canada, a government that has agreed to our country being bilingual—we do not want to be difficult, we do not have time for that—there are guidelines to follow, and if they will not follow them, their funding will be cut, it is as simple as that.

[Suzanne Bossé]

Earlier, I heard Ms. Mounier's answer about the mechanisms in place. It seems a whole host of mechanisms had been put in place to make sure that VANOC properly complies with the contribution agreement. However, what I would like to know—in any case, it is one of the questions we will certainly be asking—is what are the timelines? What would be the point in issuing a report six months from now? That would be five months before the Games. I think it is clear it needs to be done right now.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

It is worrisome because, earlier, I was discussing third parties and the government says it will insist on them doing what was agreed to. Insisting is not enough. Either they do it or they do not.

[Suzanne Bossé]

That is right.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you very much, Mr. Godin.

We will continue with Mr. Lemieux.

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

Thank you very much. Good morning and thank you for your attendance here today.

This is not the first time we have discussed the Olympic Games here. To me, it is a complex and complicated issue because of the size of the organization and because some parts of it do not report to the Government of Canada. For instance, when we discussed broadcasts, the contract is looked after by

the Olympic committee, not by Canada. It's sold to a television station as a package. And so we don't have a direct role to play. What I do like

is that we are able to work together in a spirit of cooperation here, I hope, but also with government, associations such as yours, broadcasters. We are able to come up with solutions without legislation, without penalties, etc.

I am very encouraged to see what's been accomplished through working together. We see that particularly with television, where a real effort has been made to better serve the official language minority communities across Canada. But it's also tied to results or, more exactly, expectations.

Mr. Quinty, you referred to results and expectations. Expectations need to be realistic.

We need to focus on what can realistically be achieved through this spirit of cooperation. We can have all sorts of expectations, but not all of them are realistic, or achievable. It's important to be realistic, to concentrate on what can actually be accomplished.

I would like to ask you one question. What do you think would be realistic expectations for the way in which the federal government and the organizations work together to obtain realistic results; as opposed to all the results and expectations we would like to see met?

[Suzanne Bossé]

I think, as we mentioned in our presentation, that the cooperation and openness on the part of cable companies has made a difference to date. I think you described what is really needed, a real effort. All that we are asking of VANOC is to make a real effort to deliver services in French. I think that is very realistic. It is so realistic that the government itself included the requirement in the contribution agreement.

I think it is important to discuss schedule A. The question was not fully answered earlier on. Perhaps there are two versions of this schedule.

[Serge Quinty]

To add to what Ms. Bossé just said, you raise a good point, Mr. Lemieux.

In 2005, we ended up in a somewhat strange situation whereby the consortium, having obtained the contract as the official broadcaster for the Games, did not have the necessary infrastructure in place to ensure that everyone would have free access to the signal to watch the Games.

Since then, best practices have been implemented. Obviously, we would ideally like 100% of francophones to get the signal. It is very important for everyone involved in the process, including CBC and the consortium, to continue to try to find solutions so we can build on this momentum.

Aside from that, I would say results are important. Francophones attending the Games need to be served in their own language; they need to feel that the Games are happening in their own country, and that they feel represented throughout the programming and events. People coming from abroad to attend the Games need to see all the richness of Canada's two official languages.

Those would be our real expectations.