No, I—
Evidence of meeting #10 for Official Languages in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was office.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #10 for Official Languages in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was office.
A recording is available from Parliament.
9:35 a.m.
Commissioner, Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
If I have understood correctly, this is an automatic translation.
9:35 a.m.
Liberal
Jean-Claude D'Amours Liberal Madawaska—Restigouche, NB
I will continue, Commissioner. Somewhere else it says—
9:35 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Steven Blaney
Mr. D'Amours, did you ask him if he had understood or if he heard?
9:35 a.m.
Liberal
Jean-Claude D'Amours Liberal Madawaska—Restigouche, NB
Somewhere it says "S'il vous plat" and in another it says this:
Access to the new system of electronic questionnaires is easy and fast. On the address line on your Internet. [...]
Please note that there will be recalls in order to complete the survey that could be sent please [...]
(Please include your identifying investigation that is to find just above your name of establishments in the address)
Commissioner, you know that compliance with the law is important. Canadian citizens have to comply with the law. If they do not, they may be punished. We agree on that.
The Government of Canada sent the letter that I just read excerpts from to business representatives in order to notify them that they had to fill out an application, but they did not understand what was in the letter. You said yourself that you did not understand. I am pleased because I thought I was the only one. Commissioner, an official complaint will be laid by my office on behalf of my constituents this week. This is a letter from Statistics Canada. I did not dare go online to see what the form looked like. You can imagine!
I have put other information together for your benefit. People have 30 days to answer to this kind of aberration. I'm not referring to French mistakes but to the translation. My constituents have already given me authorization to lay an official complaint and I hope, Commissioner, that when you investigate this department, you will figure out where the problems lie.
Is it one lone letter or the only one of its kind available? I thought information was verified before it was sent out. The people who receive this letter did not receive it over the Internet: it was sent by post. One can assume therefore that someone at Statistics Canada had an opportunity to read it. One can only wonder what is happening over there.
9:35 a.m.
Commissioner, Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
Mr. Chairman, when the member started to read I was afraid that it was my own level of French that was deficient. I'm reassured to see that this was not the cause.
9:35 a.m.
Liberal
Jean-Claude D'Amours Liberal Madawaska—Restigouche, NB
You feel reassured, but you should feel concerned because this letter was sent to Canadian citizens by the Government of Canada. You stated earlier that over the past 40 years the situation has evolved along with society, but one can see here that the official languages situation in the Government of Canada has not kept up.
9:35 a.m.
Commissioner, Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
Yes, I think that text is shocking. I am quite surprised given that it comes from Statistics Canada and that they have always performed well in terms of official languages. We will await the complaint and investigate. I wonder, if this is a case of automatic translation, if it's an obvious illustration of the current lack of translators and the constant challenge that both official languages pose for government and federal institutions.
9:40 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Steven Blaney
Thank you, Mr. D'Amours. One thing is for certain, our interpreters had to work very hard.
9:40 a.m.
Liberal
Jean-Claude D'Amours Liberal Madawaska—Restigouche, NB
The commissioner had to work very hard and we couldn't understand each other. It's normal therefore that the interpreters didn't understand either.
9:40 a.m.
Bloc
Monique Guay Bloc Rivière-du-Nord, QC
Thank you.
Thank you for coming.
I was also quite surprised to hear these excerpts. Perhaps it was simply translated by a computer without being reread afterwards. If one cannot reread something that has been written, or one doesn't have access to skilled people who can do this, if one cannot ensure that documents being sent out are truly written in the language of the recipient, then we have a serious problem, Mr. Fraser. We have been fighting for a long time. I personally am still fighting. I still send you complaints because colleagues, members or ministers send me mail written only in English. Yet they are perfectly aware that we have the necessary resources to have our texts translated into both official languages. Everyone knows I am francophone, I'm a francophile, and I sit on the Standing Committee of Official Languages. Yet this happens again and again.
According to what you said in your statement you would like your authority to have maximum clout. We would like it too. I know that your authority is an authority to make recommendations.
What more can we do in order for you to be given further authority so that you can do more?
9:40 a.m.
Commissioner, Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
I would just like to clarify something Mr. Chairman. When I was talking about "maximizing", I was talking about maximizing our resources, that is ensuring that our resources are used to their fullest. With respect to my powers, I am accountable before Parliament and it is up to parliamentarians to decide the scope of the authority granted to the Official Languages Commissioner. If you feel that the Official Languages Commissioner does not have sufficient authority, it is not up to you to decide that. I don't think it would be appropriate for me to take steps.
9:40 a.m.
Commissioner, Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
We have a range of powers. I try to use all the powers that are granted to me under the Official Languages Act.
9:40 a.m.
Bloc
Monique Guay Bloc Rivière-du-Nord, QC
You do it well and we're not blaming you for that. However, you said yourself that you have the power to recommend.
9:40 a.m.
Commissioner, Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
Absolutely. I have the power to influence, not the power to order.
9:40 a.m.
Bloc
Monique Guay Bloc Rivière-du-Nord, QC
One has to be careful when one talks about influence these days, Commissioner, that's dangerous territory.
9:40 a.m.
Some members
Oh, oh!
9:40 a.m.
Bloc
Monique Guay Bloc Rivière-du-Nord, QC
Perhaps we should look into how much more authority we could give you for you to be able to act.
That being said, 800 complaints isn't a lot. I'm sure that you have received more than that, especially since the Olympic Games. I don't know how you can manage all that.
Furthermore, your budget has not been increased this year if I have understood correctly; our own members' budgets have not been increased either. So you will have to include your staff's salary increases in your current budget. How much does that represent, do you have any idea?
9:40 a.m.
Commissioner, Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
It's 1.5%, therefore—