Official Languages Committee on Nov. 30th, 2010

[Daniel J. Caron]

All the heads of all the small government agencies meet.

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

No, I'm talking about the agencies included in the Department of Canadian Heritage. No, you don't meet? I had the impression you met. My question would have been: when you meet, do you talk about official languages? So I have the answer: you don't.

There are meetings at the deputy minister level—you are the equivalent of a deputy minister—there are meetings.

[Daniel J. Caron]

Yes, but as I am an agency head, I don't attend the deputy ministers' breakfast on Wednesday. We have lunch once a month on themes—

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

Are there any themes concerning official languages at those breakfasts?

[Daniel J. Caron]

There haven't been since I've been there. There have been at the meetings of the small agency heads. There have been at that time.

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

All right. Thank you.

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

Thank you.

Good morning, Mr. Caron.

If I look at your language of work result, I see that you got a good mark: B. That means it's good.

However, it's a bit contradictory that the mark you got for offer of service is 56%, which is not a very good mark. That seems a bit contradictory, and I wonder whether you have enough bilingual resources in your service. If the answer is no, what do you intend to do?

[Daniel J. Caron]

Yes, we have bilingual resources and we also have bilingual profiles.

I was a bit surprised, and that's why we're going to conduct some slightly more sporadic audits based on the commissioner's methodology. We were surprised by that mark. Our resources are bilingual, and we aren't lacking bilingual resources. In any case, the profiles of the benchmark positions, the people who offer the service, are bilingual.

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

So you're saying all your employees are bilingual?

[Daniel J. Caron]

In the reference department.

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

You mentioned that two departments had been integrated. Did that cause a problem?

[Daniel J. Caron]

It's possible that, at that point, we took people who weren't bilingual and put them in bilingual position profiles. They don't meet requirements immediately; they have two years to do it. So we're going to see what the situation is.

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

When you say you're going to take the necessary measures, can you be a little more specific. What measures, what actions are you going to take?

[Daniel J. Caron]

We're going to ensure that our people who occupy benchmark positions in offering services have the skills to do so. We're also going to ensure they do it because I think that's what's important.

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

If I understand correctly, you're going to conduct a reassessment of their... Perfect. Thank you.

With regard to your modernization process, what position do the official languages occupy in that project?

[Daniel J. Caron]

Everything we undertake with regard to modernization is done in both official languages. The description, the modernization project as a whole, is very bilingual, very Canadian. We work a lot with Quebec's Bibliothèque et Archives nationales. I met the dean of the Campus Saint-Jean of the University of Alberta. The purpose of this project is to bring together all Canadian documentary resources, in both official languages, for the official language communities, both anglophone and francophone.

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

Would I be right in saying that your modernization project is the work plan for implementing your responsibilities under the Official Languages Act?

[Daniel J. Caron]

It concerns the modernization of the entire institution.

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

Do you have one that specifically concerns your responsibilities in this area?

[Daniel J. Caron]

We have a four-year official languages plan. It will be submitted—

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

It's going to be submitted?

[Daniel J. Caron]

It's a plan that Mark will be sending to the clerk.

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

All right.

I'd like to know when the plan concerning your official languages responsibilities was implemented.

[Daniel J. Caron]

That was in 2009, last year. So we're in the first year.

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

There was nothing before last year?