Official Languages Committee on Nov. 25th, 2010

[Lise Zarac, Liberal, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

What mark would you give yourself? The one the commissioner assigned to your department isn't very high. Do you usually get a better mark?

[Monica Janecek]

The Treasury Board doesn't give marks, but we give—

[Lise Zarac, Liberal, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

What mark would you give yourself for your results?

[Monica Janecek]

For the Treasury Board report, I believe that—

[Lise Zarac, Liberal, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

I'm talking about a mark for the audits conducted at the missions.

[Monica Janecek]

We don't give marks as such.

[Lise Zarac, Liberal, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

You'll nevertheless provide us with the report?

[Monica Janecek]

Yes.

[Lise Zarac, Liberal, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

That's good, thank you.

You're aware of the fact that two kinds of employees work at the missions. There are Canadian employees who must meet bilingualism criteria. However, some employees are hired locally. Why don't you evaluate those employees? Aren't they also subject to the Official Languages Act?

[Susan Gregson]

Actually, they're not. They're excluded from the Official Languages Act. We try to ensure that we recruit people who are able to speak both English and French--

[Lise Zarac, Liberal, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

Are those people hired to occupy bilingual positions?

[Susan Gregson]

No, the positions of locally engaged staff are not bilingual.

[Lise Zarac, Liberal, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

So they aren't bilingual positions.

[Susan Gregson]

That's correct.

[Lise Zarac, Liberal, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

So bilingualism isn't required. These employees don't come into contact with Canadians who go to the embassy to request a service.

[Susan Gregson]

Locally engaged employees who are in contact with Canadians who request services must provide service in English or in French. If they can't speak the other official language, they have to go and find someone who is able to provide that service in French.

[Lise Zarac, Liberal, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

So they understand enough French. They have to be able to communicate.

[Susan Gregson]

Yes. Maybe I can give you some examples from my personal experience, because they might be of interest to the committee.

[Lise Zarac, Liberal, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

Yes, please.

[Susan Gregson]

It happens quite often that Canadians who come to the mission will give us feedback on whatever kind of service they receive. From time to time I might receive a complaint, either written or oral, from a Canadian who says that he or she didn't receive service in French. As head of mission, it's my responsibility, first of all, to apologize to the member of the public, then to assure him or her that I am going to take corrective action in that regard, and then to go forth and do it. I speak with the staff and remind them of their obligations to actively offer service in both official languages, and I remind them that if they are unable to communicate with the Canadian, they must make sure that they go and find someone who is able to come and provide that service.

[Lise Zarac, Liberal, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

Okay.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you, Ms. Zarac.

We'll now go to Ms. Guay.

[Monique Guay, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I would just like to make a few comments before handing over to my colleague so that he can get an answer to his questions.

Earlier we talked about Bogota. First, mesdames, I would like to tell you that I find it unfortunate that the deputy minister is not appearing here today instead of you. Let me tell you that we might have been more vehement with him. You're being sent to the front to answer questions, but it's the deputy ministers who are in fact responsible.

That said, my own constituency office is having problems with Bogota. The service we have with Columbia is so terrible that it is jeopardizing certain extremely important cases, such as family reunifications, cases for which all the applications are legitimate and all documents have been put together. The fact that there is no service in French often causes a problem. Consequently, that sometimes delays case processing by one year or even two. It's quite a complicated situation.

I find it surprising that, although we're talking about free trade with Columbia, we're unable to reach immigration agreements with that country simply because we don't have services in the language of our choice. That creates a major dilemma.

Extremely important things have to be done. I can't wait to meet with the deputy ministers concerned. I don't want to hound you—I know you have a job to do—but an E is unacceptable, especially for the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. You absolutely have to take that into consideration; that's fundamentally important.

Now I'm going to let my colleague finish answering his questions and also let you answer them.

[Richard Nadeau, Bloc, Gatineau, QC]

Ms. Gregson, earlier you said that, as head of mission, your job is to call people to order. You heard the examples I cited, and that's just the tip of the iceberg.

I'd like to have copies of the annual reports on service delivery that are prepared by the Inspector General. Who is the Inspector General of your organization?

[Susan Gregson]

Her name is Angela Bogdan.