Evidence of meeting #40 for Official Languages in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was languages.
A recording is available from Parliament.
9:05 a.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Passport Canada
As I said, there is always room for improvement. That's why we took a serious look at this whole issue, to determine what could be done to respond to the Commissioner's comments.
9:05 a.m.
Liberal
Mauril Bélanger Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON
Our notes indicate that you did not submit an official languages report to Canadian Heritage. You are not required to, but nothing is preventing you from doing so, if you so desire.
9:05 a.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Passport Canada
In 1994, a framework was developed to determine which departments and agencies were best able to support official language minority communities. But Passport Canada was not one of them. That may be due in large part to--
9:05 a.m.
Liberal
Mauril Bélanger Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON
Is my time up already?
We have to stop now, but we can come back to this later.
9:05 a.m.
Conservative
9:05 a.m.
Bloc
Monique Guay Bloc Rivière-du-Nord, QC
Good morning.
As you know, passport applications very often go through our riding offices. We are also the ones who receive complaints about non-compliance with the Official Languages Act. I can tell you that in Quebec, things are generally working well. However, I am very concerned to discover that, before receiving ratings as low as “D” or “E”, you had no action plan whatsoever.
At Passport Canada, you received an “E” for official languages program management. You say that you have a new program, but how do you intend to implement it? How are you going to change your employees' work habits? It won't be possible to do all of that in one year.
9:05 a.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Passport Canada
Thank you very much, Ms. Guay.
As I mentioned, we did receive a good rating for language of work—in that case, a “B”—as well as for service to the public. It was the same for minority community participation.
At the same time, there were some gaps, and in that respect, we will have to identify all of that in an official document, which will help us to be more accountable. I can also tell you that we will be working harder to ensure that we can more accurately report on our performance.
9:10 a.m.
Bloc
Monique Guay Bloc Rivière-du-Nord, QC
And who will that document be addressed to: staff, personnel, managers?
9:10 a.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Passport Canada
It will be addressed to everyone. We can send it to you.
9:10 a.m.
Bloc
Monique Guay Bloc Rivière-du-Nord, QC
We don't have that document. Perhaps you could table it with the clerk, so that we can have a look at it.
9:10 a.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Passport Canada
Certainly.
The document covers a three-year period. It's a road map that systematically lays out how we will go about improving our performance in such areas as customer service, support for minority communities, personnel management, and developing language profiles as well as tools to better support our staff. It encompasses all our obligations under the Official Languages Act.
9:10 a.m.
Bloc
Monique Guay Bloc Rivière-du-Nord, QC
You received an “E” with respect to implementation of Part VII of the Official Languages Act, despite the assessments you received in 2005-2006, 2006-2007 and 2007-2008. What do you intend to do to rectify the situation in that respect?
9:10 a.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Passport Canada
I'd like to begin by briefly describing the context of our activities. Passport Canada provides a transactional service. We see our clients once every five years, or once every ten years, in the case of clients whose passport is valid for that length of time. As I mentioned to Mr. Bélanger, I met with the Assistant Commissioner of Official Languages to see how this could be resolved. I also discussed it with the Network of Officials Languages Champions to find out about best practices. We got our regional directors involved. Indeed, our communities are in the regions. We also considered forming a committee within the organization to handle issues related to diversity, official languages and employment equity, with a view to implementing integrated approaches.
9:10 a.m.
Bloc
Monique Guay Bloc Rivière-du-Nord, QC
What percentage of your staff that is in direct contact with clients applying for a passport is bilingual? I'm not talking about Quebec, but elsewhere in the country.
9:10 a.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Passport Canada
I can tell you that 41% of our employees who work in bilingual offices are bilingual.
9:10 a.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Passport Canada
In the other provinces, the proportion of bilingual employees in central offices is 65%. In terms of operations in the Eastern provinces, the rate is 68%. So, 42% for central operations, 10% in Ontario and 17% in the West.
9:10 a.m.
Bloc
Monique Guay Bloc Rivière-du-Nord, QC
Some Treasury Board rules specify the percentage for a given population. For example, in large metropolitan areas with a minority population of 5,000, we are required to provide bilingual services. We have 34 offices. If 10% of the population is bilingual, one office in five must provide bilingual service. And we do meet those Treasury Board requirements.
9:10 a.m.
Bloc
Monique Guay Bloc Rivière-du-Nord, QC
If more than one person comes in to make an application in French and it is impossible to provide the service, or if a group comes in to apply for a passport, these individuals have to wait longer than others do to be served in their language.
9:10 a.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Passport Canada
We offer bilingual services through our website and call centres. In our bilingual offices, there is always a Q-Matic system which, as I mentioned in my opening statement, allows the applicant to be directed to a counter providing services in the language of his or her choice. All of that is in place. In terms of telephone services, staff in our offices help each other. We use a cost-recovery system and try, insofar as possible, to provide that service to all Canadians.
9:10 a.m.
Bloc
Monique Guay Bloc Rivière-du-Nord, QC
As you probably know, people who want to secure a passport quickly go directly to an office, rather than applying over the Internet or--
9:15 a.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Passport Canada
That's correct, and in 26 of our offices, we provide that bilingual service.
