Official Languages Committee on May 6th, 2010

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Thank you.

My last comment concerns Ms. Glover's statement.

A number of things differentiate us, and one of them is that I'm not—

[Chris Greenshields]

Mr. Bélanger, it's Ms. Roxanne Dubé.

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

All right.

I was saying that one of the differences was that I didn't hesitate, at times, to criticize my own government. I wasn't satisfied with the government response at the time.

Coming back to you, Mr. Linklater, with regard to the interpretation of the implementation of the current act, paragraph 3(3)(e) states:

3(3)(e) support the commitment of the Government of Canada to enhance the vitality of the English and French linguistic-minority communities in Canada.

Do you think we currently comply with the act?

[Les Linklater]

I believe we are doing our best to ensure the act is complied with. Partnerships are necessary in the context of a shared jurisdiction with the provinces and territories. I believe that, with the steering committee and the other infrastructure responsible for ensuring that the work is done in partnership, things are moving forward.

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

There's one thing I don't understand. How can you listen to the needs of Quebec's anglophone community if you don't talk to it?

[Les Linklater]

We're talking to it. Our director general of the Quebec Region is holding a forum in order to work with Quebec's anglophone communities and to determine how we can support their efforts. As I said earlier, we're organizing citizenship ceremonies in English in Quebec for that purpose.

In addition, as part of the Multiculturalism Program, which is now the responsibility of Citizenship and Immigration Canada, we accept projects from the Quebec anglophone communities to see whether we can work with them to improve their situation on the ground.

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

My interpretation of the QCGN's evidence isn't the same as Ms. Glover's. Representatives from that organization have already appeared before the committee twice. In my view, they don't get the impression they've been consulted.

Furthermore, Mr. Saint-Germain, you yourself said you hadn't consulted them.

Can you make a commitment to consult that community so that a committee like the one that already exists for the francophone communities outside Quebec is established, whether it be at the federal or the Quebec level?

[Les Linklater]

To respect the provincial jurisdiction over immigration under the Canada-Quebec Accord, the matter would have to be addressed with the Government of Quebec so as to ensure there is no objection on its part.

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you very much, Mr. Bélanger. You had 16 seconds left.

Mr. Nadeau, can you do better?

[Richard Nadeau, Bloc, Gatineau, QC]

I doubt it, Mr. Chairman. I can't for the moment, but I'm working on it. I recognize a champion in Mr. Bélanger.

Mr. Greenshields, we're going to conduct a very simple exercise concerning the double standard phenomenon. This isn't to embarrass you.

In your opinion, is there a Canadian embassy overseas that provides no service in English?

[Chris Greenshields]

Not to my knowledge. The same is true for French.

[Richard Nadeau, Bloc, Gatineau, QC]

All right, but did you hear the names I cited earlier?

[Chris Greenshields]

Yes, absolutely.

[Richard Nadeau, Bloc, Gatineau, QC]

Are you going to read the minutes? Are you going to read what Sheila Fraser, the Auditor General, said? It's worth it. That would help us; it would also help our citizens because some don't speak English, and we want to lend them a hand. It helps when we have very open three-way communication in order to advance extremely sensitive issues. You understand that; when it comes to immigration, it's often touching.

Furthermore, coming back to Mr. Saint-Germain, earlier in my first round of questions, we talked about Destination Canada. We're aware that's going on at the Canadian embassy in Paris and that it's to encourage French-language immigration—whether it be French as a first or second language. I'm aware that there is no Destination Canada at the other Canadian embassies elsewhere in the world to encourage anglophone immigration. We can understand that: there's no problem getting services in English; it's done automatically.

In our view—I know it's not you who decide—are there currently any plans for a program like Destination Canada, which is offered at the Canadian embassy in France, to be offered elsewhere in the world, to encourage francophone immigration? Unless I'm mistaken, there are 57 member countries of the Organisation internationale de la francophonie. I'd like to know whether there are any plans in that context.

[Yves Saint-Germain]

With regard to Destination Canada, there are a lot of activities at the Tunis office, where information sessions are held. Tunis isn't the exception to the rule; the other offices also have activities. In Eastern Europe, as I said, in Bucharest, information sessions are also being held.

[Richard Nadeau, Bloc, Gatineau, QC]

You're saying it's in French, of course.

[Yves Saint-Germain]

Yes, in Sofia, Bulgaria, in Chisinau, Moldavia, in Bucharest and in other cities in Romania. Our offices take part in the collective effort in Paris in November, but they have information sessions during the year. It's the same thing in Damascus. Work is being done in Syria and in Lebanon, where there are a lot of francophones. The Cairo office obviously works on Egypt, but it took part in the education forum in Canada in January of this year and in other forums to attract students through Egypt. There have been sessions at the Rabat office and in other cities. There is an annual education fair. There's promotion of Canada in general.

[Richard Nadeau, Bloc, Gatineau, QC]

Could you prepare a list for us, please? From the documents I've read, this was only offered in Paris. You're giving me other information, and I'm very pleased about that. Could you prepare that list for us?

The representatives of the Société franco-manitobaine who came to testify this week—it was excellent testimony—told us that they themselves had done a tour, and they named a few countries that you mentioned earlier.

Their means are obviously limited relative to those of the Canadian government. Nevertheless, it's important that all organizations that want French immigration, whether it be in Quebec or in the rest of Canada, know that in order to have benchmarks. Even if some know it already, it seems to me it would be good to have that list so we can send it to them. If it's redundant information, we'll at least have made the effort to ensure we covered all the angles in the field.

Do you agree with that request, Mr. Chairman?

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Yes.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[Richard Nadeau, Bloc, Gatineau, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Oh, oh! You'll read the blues; it was very interesting. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I've finished.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

You finished 30 seconds before the end of the time allotted to you, Mr. Nadeau. You put it past me that time.

We're going to challenge Ms. Boucher and Mr. Généreux.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

I'm going to share the time allotted to me with Mr. Généreux.

Something I read in the Current Research Compendium on Francophone Immigration in Canada really spoke to me. It's the paragraph entitled “Immigration: A Population Perceived As Different Than “Us”. Here's what it says:

However, minority environments are inherently and by necessity self-protective, and they define themselves on the basis of linguistic and cultural boundaries. By the same token, this process tends to inadvertently push away the very population the communities are trying to attract (perceived as different/other than “us”). This is the identity-based argument. The question that needs to be addressed then is how, as a group, does this redefine and broaden the collective identity? The will to attract and retain new populations cannot be realized without a reflection on identity in the context of diversity. This tension between the demographic argument and the identity argument and the underlying diverging perspectives of a utilitarian logic or one of social exclusion is at the heart of the analysis undertaken by researchers and community stakeholders.

Does that mean that now, when we want to attract francophone immigrants, we need an inclusive “us” instead of an exclusive “us”? Is that in fact what that means? We often identify with the community, but we should also open up so that the “us” becomes inclusive instead of being exclusive.

[Yves Saint-Germain]

Absolutely, the Canadian Francophonie is now multicultural and highly diversified. The host francophone communities in this country are working on the identity aspect.

CIC's role is really to support the host communities through our Immigrant Settlement and Adaptation Program. We invest $600 million a year in reception services. However, one of the components of our reception service is the Welcoming Communities program. In English, it's called Welcoming Communities.

This program enables the welcoming communities to offer various integration awareness activities to newcomers from various cultures and religions. So we provide services that make it possible to offer information sessions and to work with the municipalities and local communities, with the aid of our settlement services.