Yes. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Honourable members of the Committee, I am very pleased to once again be appearing before you, with Ms. Wilson, as you pointed out, as well as Ms. Bolduc, to give you a brief overview of the work VANOC has been doing in recent months to ensure that Canada's official languages play a prominent role at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. Thank you for inviting us today. We are particularly pleased to be here today as we have information to provide on new and concrete steps that we have taken.
Right from the outset, we recognized that we have a considerable responsibility in terms of not only organizing and delivering Olympic Games that meet the highest possible international standards, but also ensuring that the Games reflect Canadian values, linguistic duality being one of those fundamental values.
These Games are for all Canadians. This is an incredible opportunity for Canada at many different levels. We are organizing and will be delivering bilingual Games, because VANOC has always believed in this. It goes beyond the Multiparty Agreement. Providing bilingual services is part of our values, as are our respect for and promotion of Canada's official language communities.
In September, the Commissioner tabled a follow-up report on preparation of the Games with respect to the official languages. I want to emphasize that a huge amount of progress has been made in that regard. As you may recall, his first report, issued in December of 2008, contained 18 recommendations, while the follow-up report contained only 11, five of which related to VANOC. So, we went from 18 to five recommendations. Once again, we are very proud of the progress that has been made.
You may also recall that I stated at the time that the report issued by the Commissioner of Official Languages would be a working document for us, enabling us to identify all the issues that need to be dealt with and resolved. As I now see that his follow-up report in September contains only five recommendations, that clearly means that a satisfactory solution has been found for the other issues. I will briefly address the five recommendations.
We paid particular attention to three of those recommendations, dealing with translation, volunteers and signage. I would also like to make you aware of those issues that have been resolved over the last two years, and particularly since our last appearance before the Committee in the spring. You no doubt recall that one of the major issues then was television coverage of the Games in French all across Canada. You now know that more than 250 Francophone journalists and professionals will be providing coverage all across the country—coverage that will be unique in the history of the Games, as twice as many hours of television coverage will be provided this time compared to what was available in Turin, which were Francophone Games as had never been presented before.
There is also a partnership agreement with the Gesca group, which includes all the newspapers connected with La Presse, thereby enabling us to promote the Games in French-language newspapers. We are making full use of that opportunity. Gesca, which is one of our partners, is investing $3 million to help us promote the Games. This is obviously a very important issue for us.
The last time we were here, I also talked about the creation of VANOC's Advisory Committee on Official Languages. In fact, that Committee has been extremely useful in terms of, not only making the Board of Directors aware of our issues, but also gaining access to parliamentarians, federal agencies—in other words, people in a position to change things. That has been, and continues to be, extremely helpful. I am very proud of that initiative, which was a direct result of the report of the Commissioner of Official Languages.
We also signed a partnership agreement with the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie to promote the 2010 Olympic Games in French across the globe. In Canada, we have been hearing a great deal about the Olympic Games, more so in the west than in the east, and particularly in Francophone Europe. But not enough information was getting through to the OIF.
So, they approached us, and we signed a partnership agreement with them. They are providing invaluable assistance with our international promotion efforts. I should also point out that, in December, we will be organizing tours with the help of the OIF—again, to promote bilingual Olympic Games where services are provided in French and in English. This will be a means of raising awareness of all the progress that has occurred.
As you know, we also entered into an agreement with Canada's Translation Bureau to help us with all the content requiring translation. The federal government recently invested an additional $7.7 million to help us fulfill our obligations with respect to translation. This is also an extremely important issue.
Finally, the equality of Canada's two languages in signage at competition venues is also an area where there has been considerable progress. Once again, the Commissioner had recommended that we ensure that signage would be identical in French and English—in terms of its size, for example. As the word suggests, it must be equal. So, that is another area where there has been a great deal of progress and which is a source of satisfaction.
I could point to others as well. However, as I mentioned a little earlier, the Commissioner's recommendations in his last follow-up report related to five issues, three of which have already been resolved.
VANOC continues to cooperate with its Francophone and government partners in order to maximize the positive spinoffs of these Games with respect to official languages. As I was saying earlier, we were thrilled that the federal government announced substantial funding to ensure the presence of both official languages at the 2010 Olympic Games.
With 99 days remaining until the Games begin, we are working closely with all government agencies and the government to ensure that all the funding made available to us is used appropriately and for identified needs. We are close to the finish line—that's a euphemism—and close to the starting line as well. Although there are still a couple of details to finalize, it is my hope that we will successfully fulfill our mandate in terms of organizing Games that promote our two official languages.
I am now available to take your questions. I believe the question period will follow Ms. Wilson's presentation, and I would like to turn it over to her now.
