Evidence of meeting #16 for Official Languages in the 40th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was languages.
A recording is available from Parliament.
9:30 a.m.
Bloc
Monique Guay Bloc Rivière-du-Nord, QC
You said earlier that 41 out of 100 municipalities have included one or more francophones—
9:30 a.m.
Executive Director, Canadian Foundation for Cross-Cultural Dialogue
Up to this point.
9:30 a.m.
Executive Director, Canadian Foundation for Cross-Cultural Dialogue
Give me some time.
9:30 a.m.
Executive Director, Canadian Foundation for Cross-Cultural Dialogue
We are forming groups. A person in our office is working full-time on this issue. Thirty other municipalities are currently in discussions at the local level to see how they are going to proceed. There are more, but our data bank contains only the names of francophone representatives in 41 of the 110 municipalities that we are talking about. We are currently in discussions with 30 or 40 others, and they will be getting back to us in the coming days or weeks. Our objective is to have 110 municipalities.
9:30 a.m.
Executive Director, Canadian Foundation for Cross-Cultural Dialogue
We are working on it.
9:35 a.m.
Executive Director, Canadian Foundation for Cross-Cultural Dialogue
I hope that 4% of them will not say no.
9:35 a.m.
Bloc
Monique Guay Bloc Rivière-du-Nord, QC
I hope so too, and I hope that you will be working very hard to get all of them.
9:35 a.m.
Executive Director, Canadian Foundation for Cross-Cultural Dialogue
That is what we are doing.
9:35 a.m.
Bloc
Monique Guay Bloc Rivière-du-Nord, QC
My next question is for Mr. Gauthier or Ms. Bolduc.
How and by whom is VANOC funded? Does the Department of Canadian Heritage fund your committee?
9:35 a.m.
Chair, Official Languages Advisory Committee, Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC)
No. Most of the funding for VANOC to organize the Games comes from sponsors.
9:35 a.m.
Bloc
Monique Guay Bloc Rivière-du-Nord, QC
Do you have enough funding to do your work properly and ensure that the Olympic Games are bilingual?
9:35 a.m.
Chair, Official Languages Advisory Committee, Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC)
Definitely. Over the past few months, we have submitted the latest revised budget to the board of directors, and the numbers were in line with our expectations.
9:35 a.m.
Bloc
Monique Guay Bloc Rivière-du-Nord, QC
Mr. Gauthier and Mr. Matte, and Ms. Bolduc, you will remember that at the pre-launch of the Olympic Games, French was not really present, except for a folklore performance, and that was very disappointing to francophones. Since it was a dance troupe, no one knew whether the performers were francophone or anglophone. I hope that you are prepared to make sure that such a thing does not happen again. Can you give us a guarantee on that?
9:35 a.m.
Chair, Official Languages Advisory Committee, Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC)
A permanent committee was established to organize the opening and closing ceremonies. Canadian Heritage has a representative on the committee to ensure that the performances include appropriate francophone content.
9:35 a.m.
Bloc
Monique Guay Bloc Rivière-du-Nord, QC
Are you talking about the various performances at the opening and closing ceremonies?
9:35 a.m.
Chair, Official Languages Advisory Committee, Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC)
Yes. The Torch Relay comes under another committee, but the one I am referring to is responsible for the opening and closing ceremonies. There was a meeting two weeks ago with the Canadian Heritage representative, who reports to Deputy Minister Judith LaRocque, whom I mentioned earlier and who sits on our Official Languages Advisory Committee. We have the same objectives, we could call her the French content watchdog, even though VANOC is very determined to carry out its mandate. There are some 20 pages of specifications detailing the federal government's expectations with respect to the opening and closing ceremonies. I think that we have taken the necessary steps to ensure that things will be done properly.
9:35 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Steven Blaney
Thank you, Ms. Guay. We will come back to this.
I would like to add that I would be honoured, as the Chair of the Standing Committee on Official Languages, to carry the torch in Lévis. I do not know whether it is on your list—
9:35 a.m.
Executive Director, Canadian Foundation for Cross-Cultural Dialogue
Did you register on the RBC or Coca-Cola sites?
9:35 a.m.
Executive Director, Canadian Foundation for Cross-Cultural Dialogue
Good. Then you have a chance.