Official Languages Committee on March 23rd, 2010

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you.

[James Moore, Conservative, Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, BC]

It is important to point out that you have never mentioned this to me before.

Also, Mr. Chair, I want to point out that I was available last Thursday for two hours, but it is you, the committee, who decided to hold the meeting this week. I agreed; I have set aside three hours of my time for this meeting. You are the ones who decided to cancel last week's meeting.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you very much, Mr. Minister. That is indeed the case.

We will now move to Mr. Nadeau.

[Richard Nadeau, Bloc, Gatineau, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Good afternoon, Mr. Minister, Ms. LaRocque and Mr. Sobrino.

We cancelled the meeting for technical reasons. We have always asked that the meetings be televised, and that was the only reason we cancelled the meeting, not because we did not want to see you.

With that said, Mr. Minister, there are three topics I am concerned about. The first is something you have certainly already heard about, and that is the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. You even stated that you were disappointed in that regard. We discovered recently in the contribution agreement that the federal government had not required VANOC to use French and English equally in the ceremony. That resulted in an unfortunate situation. So the nation of Quebec was not represented equally during the opening ceremony. You may recall that Mr. Charest, the Quebec premier, also expressed his regrets in this regard. We also learned that the Commissioner of Official Languages received some 40 complaints about the ceremony in which French and English were not recognized equally. One could even say that French was virtually absent.

We met with you before the Olympic Games, we heard from you in the House of Commons and we met with VANOC representatives, who basically told us “don't worry, be happy“. But then we realized that we had no cause to be.

I wonder if something fishy was going on when you told us that everything would be fine. You seemed to believe that, and yet you did not exert pressure or stipulate in the contribution agreement the importance of having French represented to a degree that would have met the aspirations of the Quebec nation and the French fact in Quebec and Canada. Is that due to political naïveté? What are you going to do to follow up on this situation? The Olympic Games are over, but I would like to hear your explanation concerning the fact that French did not have its rightful place in the opening ceremony.

[James Moore, Conservative, Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, BC]

I think that the real lesson to be learned from the Olympic Games, as a nation, is that the standards for bilingualism in other countries are not the same as those in Canada. I believe that VANOC made a commendable effort with regard to all aspects of the Olympic Games, including the sporting events, buildings, translation and signage. All of that was completely bilingual. In that regard, I feel that it was a resounding success.

As for the opening ceremony, we were disappointed, as I have said.

I think VANOC, with all the best intention, wanted to make sure that these games were inclusive of all Canadians. I think that was very clear for the entirety of the games and the entirety of the effort.

But what Canada needs to recognize going forward is that the Canadian standard for official languages is not necessarily the same as the IOC standard for official languages, for example. We need to continue to assert that and make sure that's an expectation that's understood, not only by organizations like VANOC but also by all of our partners in the private sector, public sector, and different levels of government. That's what we need to do.

There were clearly many success stories and overall everything went very well. Unfortunately, in the case of the opening ceremony, the message was less than a complete success.

[Richard Nadeau, Bloc, Gatineau, QC]

I am pleased to hear you acknowledge that there was indeed a problem. It is unfortunate, because it certainly was not an accurate reflection of the French fact.

On another matter, Mr. Minister, we met with a number of organizations last week. They represented media from francophone minority communities, such as the press and radio stations. I come from a francophone minority community and I worked there for some time. Despite that, I learned a few things about the relationships among government departments. Even now, in 2010, organizations—even English organizations in Quebec—are told by the federal government...

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you, Mr.—

[Richard Nadeau, Bloc, Gatineau, QC]

I would just like to point out one thing and then we will come back to it.

These organizations are told to contact Canadian Heritage, not other departments, if they want to receive assistance.

I will come back to that later, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Hold that question, Mr. Nadeau.

We will now go to Mr. Godin.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Minister, I would first like to thank you for being here with us this morning. As for last week, we usually meet with the minister in public, with cameras rolling. That is why you have provided us with an hour of your time today. I think I know you well enough to say that if we asked you to come back again some time soon, you would be able to find another hour to finalize all this. That is, if we need you. Do you agree with that?

[James Moore, Conservative, Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, BC]

Of course, my schedule permitting.

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

As for the Olympic Games, we have all been clear. No one complained about the signage, the bilingualism at the Games,and so on. The problem was with the opening ceremony. I will repeat what you said: that even the Commissioner of Official Languages, Graham Fraser, said that he was impressed by the level of bilingualism at the Olympic Games and pleased with the presence of French at the closing ceremony. He did not say “at the opening and closing ceremonies.”

You state that Graham Fraser, the official languages commissioner, congratulated you, but can we acknowledge that they missed the boat for the opening? It was not just a question of representing the nation of Quebec properly, but also of representing all francophones in Canada. They could have done better. It cannot be said that VANOC was not really aware of it, because we knew from the outset that the Games were going to be held in Vancouver. The VANOC representatives came before the committee on a number of occasions, as did the Commissioner of Official Languages.

To be brief, I am simply saying that it is unfortunate that, during one of these ceremonies, we felt that French did not occupy its rightful place. It reminds me of the 2003 Canada Games in Bathurst and Campbellton. French was completely absent from the opening ceremony, then people complained throughout the games, and in the end, there was French at the closing ceremony. It is always up to the francophone community. They always have to fight for their rightful place, and I find it a shame.

[James Moore, Conservative, Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, BC]

As I said, I agree with you, I feel that the official languages and francophone communities had a very special place at the Olympic and Paralympic Games, thanks to our investments in the Cultural Olympiad, among other things... There were Acadian artists at the Place de la Francophonie. We invested $7.7 million. The Maison de l'Atlantique was also a resounding success.

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

Yes, we recognize that it was a success. However, at the beginning of the Games, during the opening ceremony, French did not have its rightful place. In your own brief today, you state: “I was disappointed by the level of French during the ceremonies.” So you admit it.

[James Moore, Conservative, Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, BC]

I was disappointed, but we need to step back and consider what we were seeing. This was the largest international event in Canada's history.

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

That is why it is important.

[James Moore, Conservative, Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, BC]

Yes, I know. I simply mean that it is extremely complicated. The event was held in the province of British Columbia, where 1.3% of the population is francophone, and everything we were able to accomplish with the volunteers, the events, the artists and all our athletes and teams, was a resounding success as regards official languages.

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

Yes, but I cannot accept being told that it was difficult to achieve because it was in Vancouver. Planes fly across Canada. Artists travel. The opening ceremony was a flop, let us just say that it is over with and move on.

The opening of the Games was a failure.

[James Moore, Conservative, Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, BC]

I said I was disappointed.

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

Right.

We heard from the anglophone community this morning, and they said that they were very disappointed that the government did not even mention it in the official languages content in the Speech from the Throne.

What happened for the anglophone community of Quebec not to be mentioned in the Speech from the Throne in the context of official languages?

[James Moore, Conservative, Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, BC]

Excuse me, which community did you say?

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

The anglophone community of Quebec. This morning, we heard testimony from witnesses from that community. They said that they were disappointed to see that they were not included in the Speech from the Throne.

Was that simply a technical oversight or were anglophones in Quebec being told that the government doesn't give a...?

[James Moore, Conservative, Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, BC]

No. Our commitment to and our policy on official languages are clear. We are making unprecedented investments in every region of the country in order to protect, promote and celebrate both official languages, French and English, in each region of Canada, including Quebec.

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

Why is there nothing in the budget for the official languages? They are mentioned in the throne speech, but when we look at the budget itself, nowhere are there any amounts tied to the official languages. For example, an amount of funding tied to the roadmap—

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you, Mr. Godin.