Official Languages Committee on Feb. 1st, 2011

[Diane Lorenzato]

Yes, on the services we offer our clients.

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

I'd like you to talk a little about your kit. I noted that it is quite recent. What does it contain? You can give someone something, but without any follow-up or specific goals to meet.

Can you give us a brief description of what the kit contains and tell us how you are measuring improvements?

[Diane Lorenzato]

First of all, the kit contains an educational tool intended to remind employees of their obligations under the Act, of the benefits in terms of business, and of the reasons why it is important to provide service in both languages. We provide them with scripts that they can use. We are currently working with the managers of these employees, so that this will be included in their performance objectives. Therefore, there will be follow-up, not only in the form of the kit they will receive, but also by our working with the organization responsible for offices and points of service. We will be measuring results by conducting our own tests. What we want to do is send people out to conduct surprise visits, to see whether things are working properly or not, so that we can then make adjustments.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you very much, Ms. Zarac.

We will move now to Ms. Guay.

[Monique Guay, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

Good morning. You received very good ratings. Congratulations. On the other hand, you also received a “D”. Perhaps you could talk about that.

I'm surprised, because you talk about the Anglophone population in Quebec, but I have to point out that Montreal is one of the most bilingual cities in Canada. So, I find that surprising. I would like you to give me a little more information on what that “D” means.

[François Guimont]

Thank you for your question. I will begin and Diane may want to add her own comments.

I was very surprised to see that our rating was slightly better in the past. It was “C”. That is hardly nirvana, but it was slightly better than a “D”. I have to admit that this has always been a source of frustration. It's a difficult thing to achieve. However, I agree with you that, in the case of Montreal, it doesn't make sense.

[Monique Guay, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

There are English-speaking universities.

[François Guimont]

I fully agree with you.

Perhaps I could just review three or four points I mentioned in my opening statement. First of all, we will be much more closely connected to Anglophone organizations all across Quebec, not only in Montreal. There must be points of entry; that's my first point. They have to be made aware that there are jobs in the federal government, in my department, that offer interesting work, a career, and so on.

And this is the other point I strongly believe in. We will have a more active presence at job fairs organized by the public service. This will be an opportunity to show the community colleges and Anglophone universities that there is work at the federal government level, in my department, which is attractive and should be considered.

[Monique Guay, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Yes, but these people will have to be bilingual.

[François Guimont]

Yes, absolutely. I fully agree with you. In my opinion, the challenge was that people were not necessarily aware. I am a Francophone from Quebec City. I didn't speak much English when I began working in Yellowknife, in the Northwest Territories, and there weren't many Francophones there.

[Monique Guay, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

It was total immersion.

[François Guimont]

That's right. I learned a lot, very quickly. You have to be ready to make the leap.

I also want to point out that co-op programs lend themselves to young people's aspirations. It is possible to do a co-op internship in the department. We have a lot of co-op students. We are the largest user of co-op students from the University of Ottawa, as well as other institutions. After that, you can do what is called student bridging, something that is very quick.

[Monique Guay, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Does the department provide training to people who are not bilingual?

[François Guimont]

Yes. We have an agreement with the School of Public Service. Nine teachers, Francophones or Anglophones, are dedicated to us for training, whether it is for skills upgrading or to develop the second language. This year, we invested almost $5 million in language training, which is the most significant amount that has been invested in a number of years. Of course, the amount of money means nothing, in the sense that it is proportional to demand. But it is still a significant amount.

[Monique Guay, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

So, your “D” may change.

[François Guimont]

Perhaps I could draw a parallel, although it doesn't relate to official languages. In the case of visible minorities, we had certain challenges. Ms. Lorenzato and myself took the bull by the horns and now we have exceeded our goals. Personally, I can tell you that we are determined and firmly committed to this. It's a plan that includes tangible actions. I believe we can improve; and I would very much like us to achieve that. This is an area where it should be feasible to do so. It's not as hard to pinpoint as other items where we received a good grade. I'd like to maintain this, but in that area, we should be able to encourage bilingual Anglophones to come and work in Quebec.

There will always be some areas that are more difficult. Matane is very Francophone. On the other hand, Quebec City, Montreal, West Quebec and Sherbrooke--

[Monique Guay, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

The University of Sherbrooke is not an Anglophone institution, but a lot of the students that attend are perfectly bilingual. So, you don't have to target only places where there are bilingual Anglophone students; you can also target the University of Sherbrooke and other similar institutions.

[François Guimont]

I would just like to make one final point, Mr. Chairman. I had an idea that came out of my own personal experience when I was younger. I asked Ms. Lorenzato and the management team whether it would be possible for an Anglophone from Vancouver, Alberta or Ontario who is interested in improving his or her French to participate in an exchange through the department, whereby that person would be transferred to Montreal for six months. I know this kind of thing occurred when I was working at the agency--

[Monique Guay, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Do people do that?

[François Guimont]

The ones I saw who were able to do it learned French very quickly. We're really talking about complete immersion both culturally and linguistically, and they don't lose their French. I remember that.

Unfortunately, it is not always easy to arrange. Often it is because of the family. People have families, which is perfectly legitimate. As a result, there is always a little bit of tension around that. Even if the employee says he wants to go to Montreal for six months, that it will be fun and he'll be able to work rather than sitting in a classroom, that it will be productive and he'll be learning, it's not always very easy to arrange.

[Monique Guay, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Do I have any time left?

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Yes, you have more than one minute.

[Monique Guay, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

I have one last fairly important question. I would like to know how many positions your department has in Quebec.

[Diane Lorenzato]

In Quebec, there are approximately 800.

[Monique Guay, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Approximately 800 and--