Good morning and thank you for coming.
Having learned this morning about the comments made by your spokesperson, Tim Shields, to The Canadian Press, I must say that it is sad to hear the RCMP proclaiming that the new measures will pose a threat to official languages. Had you done your job from the beginning, we wouldn't be in this mess now. The RCMP making such statements runs counter to the spirit and intent of the Official Languages Act.
Last Monday, the RCMP commissioner, William Elliott, held an information session on the RCMP for the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security and did not mention official languages. My colleague, Yvon Godin, as Mr. Nadeau said, asked the commissioner of official languages to launch an investigation on the issue we're discussing today. I thank him for his efforts. I trust you to do your utmost to rectify the situation quickly.
At first, the problem was limited to the use of Google Translate by the RCMP in British Columbia. However, we're now realizing that the issue goes beyond the translation of news releases. We have noticed that, on the RCMP's website, there is English content on French pages and there are unilingual videos. The agency's Facebook page and Twitter account are unilingual as well. We should also look into the RCMP's website for Alberta because it's not much better. The content in the two languages is not balanced. Commissioner William Elliott sits on the Interdepartmental Committee on Security and Intelligence, which is comprised of deputy ministers.
Do you know whether he has discussed official languages with his counterparts in the past? Have you had to prepare documents on official languages for his committee meetings?