Official Languages Committee on Dec. 7th, 2010

[William Victor Baker]

That's well understood.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you, Mr. Godin.

[William Victor Baker]

Furthermore, we have to have tools to encourage people to do their best.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you very much.

We'll continue and complete our first round with Mr. Rickford.

[Greg Rickford, Conservative, Kenora, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to the witnesses today.

I have two questions I hope to get to.

I'll start with this one, Mr. Baker. In my foundational briefings and the subsequent meetings I've participated in within the department itself as the parliamentary secretary for official languages, I've come to understand that there's more than a little concern around technical information being predominantly in English. I suspect that technical information deals with IT infrastructure communications as such, that there may be a need to update technical IT infrastructure in this regard, and that this was a problem that was looming for official languages in the public service.

I was wondering, Mr. Baker, if you can just expound on that: first of all, if you can identify within Public Safety if those are key concerns, and then perhaps shed some light on what steps are being taken to address that.

[William Victor Baker]

Thank you.

I had a discussion with the Commissioner of Official Languages on this very subject recently, in October. It is indeed a challenge that is facing not only Public Safety but all institutions today.

Of course, it comes from a number of sources. There's a heavy reliance on the use of the Internet for research. It isn't just in a technical and an IT capacity. The sources of the information are no longer domestic. We're increasingly able to instantly access information from all over the world and, at the end of the day, there aren't too many countries in the world that are producing it in French--of course, they have no obligation to provide the material to us in the two languages. So that is a challenge.

What we do is make sure that what we produce as an organization--I can't take care of everybody else--is in both languages, and we try to do it as quickly as possible to support this goal. We're always looking for tools—and this is the challenge for the IT community—that are available to make technological information available in both languages, because again, much of the source of this material is not coming domestically.

So it is a challenge, we're aware of it, and we make sure that we are as good as we can be as an organization. But I think we have to recognize that it's going to be a continuing challenge for all of us.

[Greg Rickford, Conservative, Kenora, ON]

Correct.

[William Victor Baker]

Sometimes you can afford the opportunity to translate material; sometimes you can't. In the world of national security, we are responding to information we get on a daily basis and we have to take the information in the form it arrives.

[Greg Rickford, Conservative, Kenora, ON]

Thank you very much.

My question concerns the administration of the act, specifically section 41 of the Official Languages Act.

I would like to know whether Public Safety Canada has submitted a voluntary report to Canadian Heritage on the implementation of section 41 of the Official Languages Act. If so, is it possible for us to get a copy of it? If you don't submit a report, can you explain to us what makes you accountable, what your responsibilities are under Part VII of the act?

[William Victor Baker]

Public Safety Canada is not one of the designated departments. In spite of that, we are members of the committee. We were the ones who suggested that. Mr. Sansfaçon is involved in that. We are obviously interested in it.

As for accountability, as deputy minister, I'm responsible for ensuring that we are able to deal with all aspects of the Official Languages Act. In the context of our action plan, I intend to include something in the performance agreements. That would concern all managers at Public Safety Canada for next year. This is one way of exercising my responsibilities and of ensuring that everyone is on board.

[Greg Rickford, Conservative, Kenora, ON]

Okay. So the answer is that you don't have a voluntary assessment per se, a summary, an aggregate, if you will, of your managers for us to look at, at this point?

[William Victor Baker]

Their abilities or...?

[Greg Rickford, Conservative, Kenora, ON]

Yes.

[William Victor Baker]

We have a profile of everybody. Certainly, if somebody is not meeting their competencies or not fulfilling them, we have measures to correct that. We monitor that.

[Greg Rickford, Conservative, Kenora, ON]

Okay.

I have about two minutes left. So I'm going to make a brief comment. I know this is a bit complicated, but my colleague is going to ask more questions about it.

In DesRochers v. Canada in 2009, the Supreme Court of Canada identified some public safety issues. Does the Department of Public Safety intend to take the linguistic minority into account in providing services in the context of projects? In other words, does it draw a distinction between a natural application of the act and a symbolic application? I imagine that nevertheless makes a difference in the area of public safety.

[William Victor Baker]

This is important. It's a challenge. We have previously put forward certain initiatives in this area. With your permission, Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask my colleague to tell us about them.

[Daniel Sansfaçon]

I'm going to give you an example. Once again, it concerns the transfer payments program as it concerns the National Crime Prevention Strategy. We ensure, in particular, that for every project developed by a community organization in the field, an analysis is conducted to determine whether that service is already being made available to the francophone minority, for example, in the neighbourhood, town or area where the service will be offered, and whether, if it is not, that constitutes a need. An organization that submits a proposal must prove that within the proposal. If there is indeed a need, the organization must take the necessary steps for the service also to be offered in the minority language. That's one of the ways we ensure that our programs—at least this one—are sensitive to the needs of the minority language communities.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you very much.

We'll now begin our second round.

Mrs. Zarac.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I would like to talk about your action plan for 2010-2013, which you distributed to us this morning. Was there an action plan before 2010?

[William Victor Baker]

This is a three-year action plan.

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

Yes, but you're talking about this one. I would like to know whether you previously had one.

[William Victor Baker]

No.

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

So it's entirely new.

[William Victor Baker]

I believe this is the first—

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

At what stage is it? Is it being developed, implemented?