Official Languages Committee on Dec. 7th, 2010

[Richard Nadeau, Bloc, Gatineau, QC]

I'm human. You have to understand that, Mr. Baker.

[William Victor Baker]

I know some people aren't comfortable, yes.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you very much. We'll continue with Mr. Galipeau.

[Royal Galipeau, Conservative, Ottawa—Orléans, ON]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Baker, you're often told that we're pleased you have come. I'm going to tell you how pleased that has made me today. Here we often hear from witnesses, even francophone witnesses, whose French is shot through with anglicisms.

The quality of your French is such that even I, the harsh critic that I am, didn't find any anglicisms when you were speaking French.

You passed. Congratulations.

[William Victor Baker]

Thank you. With time, that will happen.

[Royal Galipeau, Conservative, Ottawa—Orléans, ON]

I suppose that I've set up a level of expectation now.

I particularly was attentive to your presentation. My ears perked up when you said on page 8 that your department will work to “support the vitality of official languages minority communities” through your “participation in the Forum pour jeunes francophones vulnérables en situation minoritaire”, and that your department will put “additional efforts in the identification and consultation of those communities”.

Mr. Sansfaçon spoke a little about that. What I'm interested in knowing is how you're going to go about getting to know the minority clientele better and identifying its needs.

Then I'll have another question to ask you.

[William Victor Baker]

That particularly concerns our programs in the area of crime prevention. Public Safety Canada has only three programs in the regions: crime prevention, native police and emergency management—I don't think there's any problem in that area.

In the area of crime prevention, we have projects across Canada, in the francophone, anglophone and bilingual communities. These are projects that typically last three to five years.

One of the things we did at first was to establish the needs and requirements related to that program. We're going to add something when we plan those programs to ensure we get feedback on language from the bilingual minority communities before we begin our efforts.

[Royal Galipeau, Conservative, Ottawa—Orléans, ON]

How will you go about harmonizing your programs, particularly at the National Crime Prevention Centre?

[William Victor Baker]

Daniel comes from that centre, so I believe he is in a better position to answer you, sir.

[Royal Galipeau, Conservative, Ottawa—Orléans, ON]

He also does it with a smile.

[Daniel Sansfaçon]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Incidentally, earlier I cited an example of what we've done with minority francophone youths. But we're doing the same kind of work with anglophone youths in Quebec, in the greater Montreal area. As I said earlier, first we try to analyze the needs and to ensure that, if there's a need, the service will be made available to that minority.

That said, we do have to go a little further—we're aware of that. That's why I said we also have regular contact at our regional offices with francophone or anglophone minority organizations in the various provinces and territories. Little by little, we're trying... This is a process that has not been completed, but we're nevertheless trying to get a better grasp of the nature of the needs so that we can be in a better position to take action that will meet those needs.

[Royal Galipeau, Conservative, Ottawa—Orléans, ON]

Mr. Chairman, I just wanted some information, further to some questions that Mr. Godin asked.

Mr. Godin asked how many of your staff are bilingual. You fiddled for information and unfortunately you fiddled on TV. Your response was that 34% of your staff is francophone. Well, let's assume that most of them are bilingual, but you've just demonstrated that not only francophones are bilingual. There are some anglophones who are bilingual, including the head.

I presume that most of your staff is in the national capital region. Would you mind reviewing the questions that Mr. Godin has asked in this area and getting some answers back to the clerk?

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you, Mr. Galipeau.

[Royal Galipeau, Conservative, Ottawa—Orléans, ON]

I'm interested to know how many of your staff are bilingual--defined as “CBC”. I think we'll demonstrate there that many of your anglophone staff, like the boss, are bilingual, though maybe not as perfectly as the bosses.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you, Mr. Galipeau.

[Royal Galipeau, Conservative, Ottawa—Orléans, ON]

Thank you very much.

[William Victor Baker]

We'll send you the information. I sincerely apologize for not having the expertise in this field.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you.

Please feel free to provide any more detailed information to the committee and we'll make sure to forward it to every member.

Mr. Godin, it is now up to you to conclude the second and final round.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

On page 3 of your action plan, you note, in particular, in the second column: "Monitor complaints." Does that mean monitoring public complaints?

[William Victor Baker]

Yes, that's in Part IV.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

In the third column, it states: "Set up internal complaint process for language of work." Is that it?

[William Victor Baker]

Yes.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

These are employees?

[William Victor Baker]

That's correct.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

As Mrs. Zarac said, you don't have any complaint system. You're going to establish a complaint process, but you haven't yet received any complaints because you don't have a complaint system.