Evidence of meeting #21 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 coverage.
A recording is available from Parliament.
10:45 a.m.
Conservative
10:45 a.m.
Liberal
Jean-Claude D'Amours Liberal Madawaska—Restigouche, NB
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Mr. Trudel.
I have a very quick question for you. Based on what we have come to understand since we began looking at this issue, agreements have been reached in Vancouver for people to receive certain French-language television channels in the hotels. Is that true?
10:45 a.m.
Executive Director, Fédération des francophones de la Colombie-Britannique
The latest information is that there are still two hotels that VANOC, the Canadian Foundation for Cross-Cultural Dialogue and the various stakeholders are continuing to try and convince of the importance of this issue. There are still a number of major hotels that have made no formal commitment in that regard. However, the vast majority of hotels have agreed to provide Olympic coverage in French free of charge.
10:45 a.m.
Liberal
Jean-Claude D'Amours Liberal Madawaska—Restigouche, NB
I have one short comment I would like you to pass on to them. When you are staying at a hotel in Vancouver, it can be difficult to find a channel in French. There may be agreements in place but, although it has been known for several years now that the Olympic Games will be held in Vancouver, there seems to be a problem raising people's awareness, including the hotels. It looks as though they are waiting for the Olympic Games to be upon us to put up a little sign in their hotel rooms saying which French-language channels people can access. The fact is that it is difficult to find a French-language channel in Vancouver hotels at this time. You may want to pass that comment on to them. There will certainly be Francophones arriving in Vancouver prior to the Games.
10:45 a.m.
Executive Director, Fédération des francophones de la Colombie-Britannique
There are Francophone tourists visiting Vancouver all the time, every month of the year, because of its pleasant climate. I can assure you that work is being done and has been ongoing for a very long time.
Of course, it is easier to exert pressure when regulations come into play. At the same time, we continue to make the economic and marketing arguments to them.
10:50 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Steven Blaney
Thank you, Mr. D'Amours.
Mr. Trudel, it is now time for me to thank you for appearing before the Committee. I invite you to call on us if you need the Committee's assistance with that process. We will be right here in the coming weeks and months. It is always better to take action as soon as possible.
If this could in any way reassure you, I want you to know that I have applied in Levis, right across from Quebec City, to carry the Olympic Torch.
10:50 a.m.
Executive Director, Fédération des francophones de la Colombie-Britannique
Thank you for your work. Goodbye.
10:50 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Steven Blaney
Thank you very much and we look forward to hearing from you again--
We have Committee business. I don't know whether we actually have to continue the in camera session. Perhaps we could adjourn the in camera session and immediately address our Committee business, if I have the members' unanimous consent to do that.
Is there unanimous consent to adjourn the in camera meeting? We could then move directly to Committee business without any further ado, and without any requirement for an in camera session.
We are going to distribute the schedule for the next few meetings.
But, first of all, Mr. Lemieux had suggested at a previous meeting that there be an additional witness.
Ms. Glover, did you wish to comment?
10:50 a.m.
Conservative
Shelly Glover Conservative Saint Boniface, MB
Mr. Lemieux's suggestion was that representatives of the School of Public and International Affairs at Glendon College be invited to appear, because that school is quite unique. It is the first one in Canada to offer a bilingual Master's Degree in Public and International Affairs.
So, I think that if they have an opportunity to present their program, they could give us another perspective to include in our study, which would be encouraging. They could provide other very important information for our study.
10:50 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Steven Blaney
Would you like to invite the witness, or are you simply asking that the Committee request a brief that could be passed on to our analyst?
10:50 a.m.
Conservative
10:50 a.m.
Bloc
Monique Guay Bloc Rivière-du-Nord, QC
I am against that suggestion, Mr. Chairman, because I think we have already heard from all the appropriate witnesses.
On the other hand, I strongly encourage that witness to send us a brief that we could then pass on to our analysts, and they could discuss it with us subsequently.
We have very little time left. If we want to prepare a report that is well thought out and properly considered, I don't think we should allocate additional time to hearing new witnesses.
10:50 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Steven Blaney
Are there any other comments on that suggestion?
Ms. Glover, do you wish to comment?
10:50 a.m.
Conservative
Shelly Glover Conservative Saint Boniface, MB
We have not heard from any witness on that specific topic.
In my opinion, they could begin—excuse me, but I have the floor. They could begin working on the report, and then add the witness's comments. I think that would be a good idea, because it would enable us to do good work and determine exactly what we've learned through this study.
10:50 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Steven Blaney
Are there any other questions or comments?
Mr. Rodriguez, please.
10:50 a.m.
Liberal
Pablo Rodriguez Liberal Honoré-Mercier, QC
A witness such as this would probably be a welcome addition. However, we all showed restraint when suggesting potential witnesses, precisely in order to get this work completed and be in a position to produce a report. We, too, could ask to add witnesses as we go along, the consequence of which would nevertheless be that no report would be produced and the Committee's work would have served absolutely no purpose. So, I will stop there right now, because I, too, could suggest that we hear from other witnesses while we are drafting the report.
10:50 a.m.
Conservative
Shelly Glover Conservative Saint Boniface, MB
We agreed to hear from a number of witnesses, but we removed from the list the ones that I had suggested—namely, representatives from the Collège universitaire de Saint-Boniface. Could we replace those witnesses, who were originally agreed to by the Committee, with the ones from Glendon College? We have the time, and that would be fair.
10:50 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Steven Blaney
If there are no further comments on the motion, I am going to propose that we vote immediately on the suggestion to hear from representatives of Glendon College.
(The motion is defeated.)
10:50 a.m.
Conservative
Shelly Glover Conservative Saint Boniface, MB
I was going to make a motion when you put that to a vote.
10:50 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Steven Blaney
There is unanimous consent to receive a brief from Glendon College. The clerk will get in touch with them. As for the schedule, I want to draw your attention to the fact that we will now proceed with drafting the report.
10:55 a.m.
NDP
Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB
Mr. Chairman, I have a point of order. Ms. Glover said that we had not heard from any witnesses able to provide that service. On the contrary, I think we did. So, I would like to correct the record, as we did in fact meet with a great many witnesses able to provide that service.
10:55 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Steven Blaney
That is correct. Everyone heard the motion.
With respect to the schedule, the Commissioner for Official Languages will be appearing on May 28, after the parliamentary break week. At the outset, he will discuss his annual report. Subsequently, he will be talking about our study on post-secondary institutions even though, at that point, we will already have the report or it will be in the process of being translated.
Following that, we have plans for another meeting with representatives of the Association des Franco-Ontariens des conseils scolaires catholiques. We will then adopt the report. Finally, we will be studying the Official Languages Transformation Model and the training of Francophone recruits in the Canadian Forces. We have already lined up a certain number of witnesses. There will be three sessions after that, which we can plan between now and the end of the meeting. I am going to review with you the topics that have been suggested. They are as follows: the Canada Magazine Fund, greeting visitors in French at airports and border points, the Rigaud Training Centre, the offer of bilingual service at the Immigration and Refugee Board, making Air Canada subject to the Official Languages Act, and the transfer of the Official Languages Secretariat to Canadian Heritage. In that regard, Professor Savoie is not available until the fall. For all intents and purposes, we have no witness lined up for May 26. We could invite the Ombudsman to appear, if that is the will of the Committee.
Mr. Godin, please.