Official Languages Committee on Nov. 30th, 2010

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

So you're telling me that couldn't be done.

[Daniel J. Caron]

I'm not saying that couldn't be done.

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

Even if that's what the community wanted?

[Daniel J. Caron]

If that's what the community wanted, that could become a project, but we're not involved in digitization projects.

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

All right, thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you very much, Mr. Bélanger.

Mr. Caron, we've seen that one person in the federal institutions is responsible for the linguistic duality file, the official languages champion. Do you have such a champion in your organization, or a person who...?

[Daniel J. Caron]

Yes. We're changing champions. Ms. Zahra Pourjafar-Ziaei was our champion, but she is leaving. Mr. Melanson will be taking over in a month or two.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

That's Mr. Melanson who is with us here with morning. All right. Thank you.

We'll continue with Mr. Nadeau.

[Richard Nadeau, Bloc, Gatineau, QC]

Thank you.

Good morning, Mr. Caron. Good morning, Mr. Melanson.

I must admit to you sincerely that, as the Bloc Québécois official languages critic, I was very surprised when I saw the mark. And that obviously wasn't in the happy sense of the term. The surprise was twofold because I visited the centre in Gatineau. I have previously used your services on Wellington Street, here in Ottawa. I thought of a host of things to try to explain this situation.

I must admit that, as a consumer, and later as a member, I had no grounds to criticize Library and Archives Canada. However, the Commissioner of Official Languages has conducted much more in-depth studies. At the time, when I met Mr. Wilson—and I also met you, Mr. Caron, concerning another file—he told me about the difficulties involved in transferring from the Wellington Street building to the place where you are now. I believe a lot may have to be done with regard to the organization's culture. There was at least one petition to avoid transferring people from Ottawa to Gatineau. They said it was

because they didn't want to go there--out in the bush.

You know the story better than I do. People didn't want to go and work in Gatineau, a remote francophone place on the other side of the world. However, that place is less than 17 km from here. So there is that aspect of the internal culture.

I'm thinking in particular of a statistic concerning personal service. It's in the commissioner's report. It states that, in 100% of cases, you visually announce that you provide active offer. I tip my hat. However, it states that the figure is 56% when it comes to opening your mouth and answering people who want service in French. So only 56% of services are provided in French.

What kind of electroshock is required to make people understand...? Particularly since we are in the national capital region. Elsewhere in the country, the shock may be great, and the unilingual anglophone majority may be very much an issue, but here... Mr. Melanson, you have the file in hand. Mr. Caron, you have it as well. You are the "file-bearer", if I may use that expression.

What has to be done for you to earn As the next time, across the board, as regards your organization's entire culture?

[Daniel J. Caron]

If I compare our culture to those of other departments, I would say it is nevertheless very bilingual. What has happened in recent years is that the modernization project and the merger caused a lot of staff movements. We're trying to take quite innovative initiatives, such as the single window which makes it possible not to have to search for published and unpublished material. It's possible that, as a result of staff movements, the linguistic profile has not been at a sufficient level for offer of service purposes. However, all that will be corrected. We are going to comply with this act. We want to offer our services in both official languages. That will be corrected very soon.

[Richard Nadeau, Bloc, Gatineau, QC]

At one point in his career, Mr. Wilson was responsible for archives in Saskatchewan. We previously talked about that. Among other things, that concerned the Louis Riel archives, which were of considerable interest to me. We talked about part VII of the act. The historical societies could be involved. I could give you names, but I know you're going to do the work. You could definitely speak to francophone associations in each of the provinces. They probably work more at the provincial level than at the federal level, since they are concerned with local history.

In Saskatchewan, they talk about Willow Bunch, who was originally baptised Hart-Rouge. There's the entire phenomenon of assimilation and name changes, but that's entirely local history. At the federal level, you probably don't have those archives. We'd have to see how it's possible to help those francophone organizations that do business with the provinces that don't respect the French fact and that don't have to do so under our Constitution. They don't have to respect the French-language communities.

There are definitely ties that should be established with those organizations. You know as well as I do that, when you're in the minority, you know its history, but you don't know it when you are the assimilator.

Has Library and Archives Canada previously offered its support to more local archival projects?

[Daniel J. Caron]

Yes. In fact, we're starting. The modernization project was put together in 2009 and put in place in February 2010. Its original aim was collaboration. That obviously includes the minority communities. The historical societies and other organizations were gradually approached, because there are a lot of them. There was a partners forum in October of this year. We're talking about the major partners. That gradually led us to identify the people we can work with. When we say "help", that means in all kinds of ways, whether it be with catalogues, methodologies, and so on, since we don't have any programs as such. We want to connect all the archives so that we can weave a pan-Canadian web of archival documents that will be known and accessible to the population as a whole, from sea to sea. That's our goal, and we're working with those organizations. One of those organizations, whose name I can't remember, approached us. We're working with it, but that will be done gradually.

[Richard Nadeau, Bloc, Gatineau, QC]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you, Mr. Nadeau. I'm convinced that your evidence will be appreciated by our witnesses.

We'll go to Mr. Gravelle.

[Claude Gravelle, NDP, Nickel Belt, ON]

Thank you.

Thank you for being here Mr. Caron and Mr. Melanson.

Allow me to say that I find it incredible that the minister responsible for official languages, James Moore, can submit his departmental performance report without talking about official languages. Are you prepared to integrate official languages into your five strategic choices that serve as departmental priorities?

[Daniel J. Caron]

Yes. In fact, all our priorities include the official languages aspect, in everything we do.

[Claude Gravelle, NDP, Nickel Belt, ON]

Why isn't that written down?

[Daniel J. Caron]

Do you mean on paper? When you refer to the five strategic choices, you're talking about—

[Claude Gravelle, NDP, Nickel Belt, ON]

We're talking about the strategic choices of Library and Archives Canada. The five choices are here: ... concluding its focus on five strategic choices that have served as our departmental priorities. They are listed in the table immediately to the right of this section. This is the departmental report.

[Daniel J. Caron]

Those are the strategic choices that were put forward before the modernization. I know what you're talking about. You're talking about the five strategic choices that had been made and that were replaced as part of the modernization exercise, including the official languages issue, but not expressly stated.

[Claude Gravelle, NDP, Nickel Belt, ON]

Then are you prepared to fully integrate the official languages into your next business plan? That's a serious gap. We find the same problem in the document you put on line on the modernization of Library and Archives Canada; there's no mention of official languages.

[Daniel J. Caron]

Yes, no doubt we can mention it, absolutely.

[Claude Gravelle, NDP, Nickel Belt, ON]

What specific instructions have you received from the Clerk of the Privy Council regarding official languages? Can you send them to the committee?

[Daniel J. Caron]

That's entirely possible.

[Claude Gravelle, NDP, Nickel Belt, ON]

In what specific way do you report on official languages to the Clerk of the Privy Council? Can you send your report to the committee?