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.
9:30 a.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Passport Canada
We report to Treasury Board through Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada.
9:30 a.m.
Liberal
Mauril Bélanger Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON
How is it then that, according to my notes, there was no report submitted in either 2008 or 2009?
9:30 a.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Passport Canada
It is the consolidated Foreign Affairs report that reports on our performance, because we--
9:30 a.m.
Liberal
Mauril Bélanger Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON
Can we be given a copy of the report that you submit to the department?
I understand that there were times when you had urgent priorities to attend to, and paperwork was not one of them; I agree with that. But at one point, there was less of an emergency. Since our job is to assess your performance, we need that paperwork. Now, if you're saying that you submit a report to the department and that it is part and parcel of the departmental report, how are we to identify what Passport Canada is doing?
So, I'm wondering if we could be given a copy of the report that you submit to the department with respect to official languages?
9:30 a.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Passport Canada
Perhaps I can answer that from a different perspective, Mr. Chairman.
What I would suggest is that you consult our action plan, which covers a three-year period. It identifies performance measures. That would allow you to--
9:30 a.m.
Liberal
Mauril Bélanger Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON
No, I realize that you did that because the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages investigated you. So, you responded, and I want to commend you for that.
What I'm looking for, however, is information about what was done before. For the 2008-2009 fiscal period, you say that reports were submitted to the department. Could we be given a copy?
9:30 a.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Passport Canada
We will forward to the clerk the report we submitted to the department.
I would also like to mention that in the annual report submitted to the Minister, which includes our consolidated financial statements, official languages are addressed. We will be pleased to provide a copy of this year's annual report to the clerk at the same time.
9:30 a.m.
Liberal
Mauril Bélanger Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON
Since we are going to be receiving all these documents, could I also ask you for a copy of the questionnaire you used for your survey? You say that the satisfaction rate was 97%. I would like to have a look at the questions on official languages that were used in the survey.
9:30 a.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Passport Canada
We will be pleased to provide them and I would also be happy to read them to you, since I have them here with me.
9:30 a.m.
Liberal
Mauril Bélanger Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON
No, I can wait until you make them available. That way, we will all have access to them, as part of the record.
9:30 a.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Passport Canada
I can tell you that in five of the points addressed in two questions, we specifically mentioned official languages. We asked whether clients were satisfied with services in the two official languages, both in person and on the phone.
9:30 a.m.
Liberal
Mauril Bélanger Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON
I understand that Passport Canada is a specific type of agency whose mandate is self-sufficiency. Notwithstanding that fact, would you agree with me that Passport Canada is still subject to the Official Languages Act and the obligations that flow from it?
9:30 a.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Passport Canada
I fully agree with you. As I said, we take the report very seriously and we have implemented an action plan to help us attain our goals. We have an equally serious commitment to both client services and providing a bilingual workplace. It is very important to us.
As for official language minorities, they are also very important to us. We will certainly be looking at best practices, to see which ones we should introduce. It's true that our financial situation is a little more difficult, but that does not mean that we are not prepared to look at what can be done. It is likely that colleagues from other departments will be making appropriate suggestions to us. We can also take advantage of whatever is available in these departments to foster the development of minority communities.
9:30 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Steven Blaney
Thank you very much, Mr. Bélanger.
We move on now to Mr. Luc Malo.
9:30 a.m.
Bloc
Luc Malo Bloc Verchères—Les Patriotes, QC
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Ms. Desloges, Ms. Marquis, good morning.
You were saying a little earlier that you were providing the service intuitively, prior to setting any standards or specifications, or developing a roadmap or a three-year plan. Can you provide a little more detail as to how a service is provided intuitively?
9:35 a.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Passport Canada
Passport Canada is a service delivery agency. There are standards, but they are not connected to official languages. Therefore, when seeking to identify the rate of client satisfaction, the items assessed are courtesy, the speed of service, the accuracy of information provided to clients, and so on. Those are all things that can be delivered in both official languages. We added the official languages dimension to our questionnaires because it was important for us. We wanted to know, through our client surveys, whether they were satisfied or whether there was a need for improvement. Thus we determined that our approach has yielded a 97% satisfaction rate. That means that when we hire new employees, we ensure that they meet the language requirements. We also provide them with tools. Since we serve the entire country, we want to be certain that all our communications with the public over the Internet and all our material in call centres is bilingual, including our forms.
We are also giving some thought to additional mechanisms. If we are unable to provide everything, for example, what is the alternative for the client? We do that intuitively. That specific approach is not identified in a plan, and that's why we have now consolidated all of that in an official languages plan.
We are also reviewing what can be done to better equip our agents. A little earlier, I was talking about La Source, which is an initiative by our call centre in Montreal. The idea behind this initiative was not to improve our performance with respect to official languages; rather, it was to ensure that people at the counter, on the phone and on the Internet all receive the same message. Since we do that in both official languages, one of the advantages is that it helps us to better serve the public in the two official languages. So, it was really a question of service quality, and as far as we were concerned, it was natural for that to be done in both official languages. We had no need for a plan to make that happen. We know that our clients speak to us in both official languages. I myself review documents in both official languages. That is important. When I say “intuitively”, what I mean is that it's instinctive. When our executive committee looks at a new approach or a new policy, we consider whether it will work in the two languages, whether it works for our clients.
This was not a plan that dealt specifically with official languages, but it does show that we are incorporating the official languages dimension into our service approach to our clients and the way we manage our employees. That's the difference between having a plan on paper and being actively engaged in implementing the plan, if you will.
9:35 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Steven Blaney
Thank you very much, Mr. Malo.
We will move on now to Mr. Galipeau.
9:35 a.m.
Conservative
Royal Galipeau Conservative Ottawa—Orléans, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Ms. Desloges, Ms. Marquis, I would like to begin by extending my best wishes for 11 of the 12 months in the new year. Allow me also to be the first to wish you a merry Christmas—2011, of course.
How long has your agency, Passport Canada, been around?
February 1st, 2011 / 9:35 a.m.
Danielle Marquis Chief Human Resources Officer, Passport Canada
Oh good heavens, it was created before we starting working there.
9:35 a.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Passport Canada
I think it's been around for at least 50 years.
9:35 a.m.
Conservative
Royal Galipeau Conservative Ottawa—Orléans, ON
Thank you, that's a very helpful answer.
The people sitting at this table seem surprised that you waited until now to prepare an action plan on services in the two official languages. What surprises me is the critical tone of some of the comments that have been made to you. Personally, I want to commend you for doing that now. It probably would have been helpful to do it back in 1995 or 2001, but the fact remains that you are doing now, in 2010-2011.
The big boss who writes up official languages reports did not give you very high scores but, compared to others, your ratings are not that bad.
Before I ask my question, I want to thank you for the services your agency provides the residents of Ottawa—Orleans. At my riding office, we receive a lot of complaints about a number of different departments, but we have only received compliments about Passport Canada. It has happened twice that there have been complaints, but it was our office that was at fault, or should I say, I was at fault. In your case, everything is fine.
What prompted you to now prepare an official languages plan? Why didn't you do this five or ten years ago?
9:40 a.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Passport Canada
That's a good question. I can tell you that, in the past, Passport Canada was not a large agency. Not so long ago it had only 500 employees.
9:40 a.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Passport Canada
People have told me stories about how they used to put together passports using an iron and glue to stick the photograph onto the passport.
The agency has expanded and become more professional because of the fact that Canadians travel a great deal. International standards are another aspect of this. We are now required to meet ever more demanding international standards. As a result, we have greatly enhanced our professionalism.
We also went through the WHTI crisis, when the Americans brought in the requirement for Canadians to have a passport in order to enter the United States. That meant that, over a two-year period, we went from 1,500 to 3,000 employees. Our passport volume increased from 3 million to 4.8 million.
And the idea of systematically establishing a plan for activities in various areas is part and parcel of that professionalisation. It's part of the obligations that we are determined to meet. We are here to tell you that we take that very seriously and that we will do better.
9:40 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Steven Blaney
Thank you very much.
Thank you, Mr. Galipeau.
We will end off with Mr. Godin.