Official Languages Committee on Feb. 3rd, 2011

[Don Head]

Very quickly, staff members in my office will phone the public phone numbers for our institutions, our parole offices, our headquarters across the country, and depending on where those facilities are located, they will begin the conversation in what would be seen as the second language for that area. Then they start to gauge the response to the query.

I'll be blunt and honest. The initial results are showing some promise--we have made some movement--but as a result of one call, the individuals at the facility asked my staff member to speak in English. He continued to speak in French. They told him to speak in English again, and then they hung up on him. That immediately prompted a call from me to the regional deputy commissioner of that region to take accountability measures. Those are the things that we're not going to accept.

[Guy Lauzon, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

Very good. Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you very much, Mr. Lauzon.

You know, he's the former chair of the caucus, so I'm giving him a bit of leeway this morning.

[Royal Galipeau, Conservative, Ottawa—Orléans, ON]

Mr. Chair, we don't have the victims—

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Mr. Galipeau.

[Guy Lauzon, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

I am the former chair of this committee.

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Be careful, Guy. We were talking about aspirations just now.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Mr. Godin, you have the floor.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I have other questions on the 2009-2010 departmental performance report of the Correctional Service of Canada. This report was approved by the Honourable Vic Toews, Minister of Public Safety, and was submitted to the House of Commons. Do you recognize this report?

[Don Head]

Oui.

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

There is no mention of official languages in the report.

[Don Head]

The format for completing those reports has changed over the years. There are all kinds of hyperlinks to other supporting documentation behind that. As we go forward, for example, the future reports will have more information. There will be direct links to our action plan, plus my report to the Clerk of the Privy Council will be--

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

Are you ready to indicate in the report how you deal with official languages? Are you ready to add that?

[Don Head]

I see it as my obligation to do that, yes.

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

That's fine.

A little earlier, Guy Lauzon said that the report of the Commissioner of Official Languages was a wake-up call. Do you agree with that?

[Don Head]

Yes.

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

Are you telling me that the Minister of Public Safety and the Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages, who is responsible for Part VII of the Official Languages Act, have never sent you that wake-up call? Yet the roadmap has been around for a long time.

[Don Head]

Again, it's the responsibility of deputy heads like me to ensure that we're meeting our obligations.

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

I am just trying to understand. We have spent millions and millions of dollars on this roadmap. The department was supposed to warn everyone and introduce the roadmap by specifying that the official languages had to be respected.

Mr. Head, you have just told us that the report of the Commissioner of Official Languages was the wake-up call for you. Perhaps I am being a little harsh, but when the grade for the language of work is a D and for service to the public is also a D, that's just outrageous. It seems we believe that a person who is in prison deserves everything they get. I wouldn't want to be there. I would not have wanted to be that lady from Tracadie-Sheila who ended up in a prison in Truro, Nova Scotia, and who didn't speak a word of English.

Mr. Head, you also talked about the west. You said that, out west, if we know that a francophone is in an anglophone jail, you assign someone there for a year. How many people do you send? Is it just one person? Is there service for eight hours a day, five days a week? And during the two months or one month that person is off, is service provided? Could you please explain that to me because I think it's very serious?

[Don Head]

As I've indicated, we're taking all the elements that have been pointed out in the report card very seriously. We have an action plan. I'm discussing the elements of the action plan with the Commissioner of Official Languages.

As it relates to the points you've raised about the offenders, as I've indicated, we've received 10 complaints from offenders. We've--

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

Yes, but sometimes—

[Don Head]

Excuse me, sir, if I can just finish my thought, we've responded to 10 complaints. It's not in any way to diminish anything, but in terms of 22,000 inmates on any given day, the number is small. Having said that, I recognize our obligations, and that's why we're putting additional effort into correcting the problem.

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

Mr. Head, perhaps I watch too many movies on TV, but I don't think I would want to be the person in prison who files a complaint against the people in charge.

[Don Head]

I'll be honest with you--

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

It is not really up to them to file complaints. The Commissioner of Official Languages reviewed your work, Mr. Head. You got Ds and Es and you are saying that it's up to them to complain. I'm sorry, but it's your responsibility. It is the job of the Department of Public Safety to provide services in both official languages.

When did your action plan start? Was it when the Commissioner of Official Languages carried out the investigation or was it before? How long has the commissioner been reviewing your department for?