Official Languages Committee on Feb. 9th, 2011

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

Is there a bilingual position at the Office of the Languages Commissioner of the Northwest Territories?

[Benoît Boutin]

You would have to ask the Languages Commissioner.

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

He said that you knew. So I’m asking you the question.

[Benoît Boutin]

As far as I know, there isn’t.

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

Thank you. What percentage do these 54 positions equate to? Is it roughly 1% of positions? What percentage of the population is francophone in the Northwest Territories?

[Benoît Boutin]

Approximately 2.4%.

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

Mr. Minister, we've also heard this morning about the agreement that exists between your government and the federal government in terms of French services and the financial assistance you get. Of that $1.6 million annually for cultural and general services, $145,000 goes to the Fédération franco-ténoise and the rest is used by your government, but we were told that over the course of that agreement some $5 million was not used and was returned.

Would you confirm that and explain to me how that happened?

Mr. Daniels?

[Dan Daniels, Deputy Minister, Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Government of the Northwest Territories]

Thank you.

The reference to the $5 million is historical. In recent years, we haven't been lapsing the money for French language services. The reference that was made to the $5 million covers a number of years prior to our more recent experience.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you very much, Mr. Bélanger, your time is up.

We will continue with Ms. Guay.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I’d ask those of you who do not speak French to put on your headsets. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister, for being here today. We met you yesterday at the Legislative Assembly. We had a group of witnesses appear before us this morning, including the Languages Commissioner of the Northwest Territories. I know that you have 11 languages to manage, and that’s a lot. Obviously, as my colleague said, this is the Standing Committee on Official Languages of Canada, so our focus is on French and English.

There seems to be a lot of transience among francophones. They settle here, but leave because they cannot get services in their language, especially in the area of health and education, both extremely important fields. When a francophone family decides to come and settle here, that family must be entitled to basic services.

I would like to hear what you have to say about this. How are budgets managed to ensure that francophones have genuine access to specific services, especially in the areas of health and education. How is the budget that you receive from the federal government divvied up among the various aboriginal nations and francophones in the Northwest Territories?

[Jackson Lafferty]

Mahsi for that question.

That's an area in which we've always tried to work closely with health and social services. That's one department that we work with. Of the $1.7 million that's contributed annually from the federal government, most of the money obviously, as you've stated, goes to the languages, to the school boards we work with, to have them delivered in the schools and communities. A majority of the funding is expended in that venue.

But I think there is another important piece here. Right now, I work closely with Sandy Lee, the Minister of Health and Social Services. They are responsible for Stanton, the hospital here. We've heard concerns about the language barrier, not only for aboriginal languages but also for the French area. We have to improve in those areas. We've identified that. As you've stated, we have 11 official languages, and we have to account for all of it, because we're responsible, as the Northwest Territories, to attend to their needs. We understand and are fully aware that the French and English languages are from a national perspective. I have to respect that as well.

We have to do what we can with the funding that's allocated to our department. There's some funding to other departments as well, so we have to collaborate, but our money is mostly expended in the school boards and the communities to deliver those services.

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

We were told it was very difficult when it comes to health care, and that patients have to go through interpreters who translate what the doctor says, which is often highly technical. And this does not even take into account confidentiality issues. Will there be any attempt to provide access to francophone physicians and nurses who are able to provide services in French?

[Jackson Lafferty]

Definitely: that's always been our goal. Again, the previous speakers as well are reaching out to outside of Canada to try to have some immigrants with a French background come to the Northwest Territories in order to use them as interpreters or translators in our communities. So we'll definitely continue to work with the Department of Health and Social Services, which is also fully aware.

We also work with the official languages commissioner and her office as well. She also has approached us to say that that we must provide aboriginal languages as much as we can, and of course the other two languages as well. English is obviously the prime language here, but definitely, with regard to French and the nine aboriginal languages, we have to continue to improve but also strengthen what we have to date.

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

There are also gaps in the area of education, Minister, which affect young francophones. Earlier, we spoke with another group of witnesses about extracurricular activities that give young francophones an opportunity to get together and build a francophone community. The goal is not only for youth to be able to maintain their language, it is also about culture—just like you have your culture and language as aboriginals. Can something be done in this regard to boost these numbers?

[Jackson Lafferty]

As I've stated before, this is a small community compared to other larger jurisdictions where I've heard that they don't even have the opportunity to meet with their ministers or deputies. I'm clearly aware of that as well. We have a very tight-knit community and we do share facilities as well. As I stated, it's a small community that we have to deal with and we have to work with what we have.

I do appreciate where those students are coming from. I see Yellowknife and the surrounding communities as a family. It's very challenging, sometimes, when individuals or sports teams have to come from a community, because there's the high cost of travel. From Hay River, where we have a French school, travelling to Yellowknife, if the winter road is not in, is very difficult. But we have to try to meet the needs of those students. I have to work with the and municipal community affairs department and other departments to meet those needs. Definitely, that will be one of our goals: to contact communities, to say there are facilities here, and to ask how we can we integrate this.

We talk about culture and we talk about language. It's important for us. I speak my language fluently. I speak it in the House as well. We have to continue that tradition. The French community may be small, but they're part of the family. We need to expand on that. I see them as part of the community as well.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you very much, Ms. Guay.

The floor is yours, Mr. Godin.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister, for having accepted the invitation to appear before us today. I have a message from my colleague, Dennis Bevington, who sends his best regards. He told me about the way you govern, which is certainly different from ours. We got a real sense of that yesterday. It makes for a change. I don’t know how you’d get the 308 members of parliament in Ottawa to agree like that sitting around a table. I don’t think that anyone else will be listening to CPAC when the Oprah show ends.

You mentioned that the Government of the Northwest Territories agreed to the official languages legislation in 1984, is that correct?

[Jackson Lafferty]

Correct.

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

What about prior to 1984? Was it the federal level or …

[Benoît Boutin]

Prior to 1984, there was no official languages legislation in the Northwest Territories. There was a translation bureau, but its main focus was on services and policy. There was no official languages Act in the Northwest Territories.

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

I see, but you still had to abide by the federal Act. The Northwest Territories were part of the rest of the country.

[Benoît Boutin]

The Northwest Territories are independent.

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

Didn’t the Official Languages Act apply to the Northwest Territories?

[Benoît Boutin]

The Official Languages Act of Canada applies to federal institutions and the Official Languages Act of the Northwest Territories applies to territorial institutions. However, prior to 1984, there was no territorial legislation.

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

There was no territorial legislation.

I’m trying to get a sense of the history, but I may be mistaken. Who regulated the schools back then?