Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Minister and ladies and gentlemen.
Mr. Minister, I had the good fortune of being minister of official languages for a couple of years. That was with two official languages, so my hat is off to you as the minister responsible when you have 11 of them. I thought it was a complex issue with two, so I can only try to imagine what it might be like with 11.
I hope you'll understand my apology, in a sense, which is that as a member of the official languages committee of the House of Commons I have to focus on two official languages: English and French. That is not to belittle or to impart less importance to the aboriginal languages, but in our case it would be perhaps two other committees that would have to focus on them: the heritage committee of the House of Commons and perhaps the aboriginal affairs committee of the House of Commons.
I will be focusing on English and French, and particularly French, as it is the minority community language. My first questions, therefore, will go to the policy that was included in our briefing material. That dates back to 1997 and is related to the Official Languages Act of the Northwest Territories. My understanding of this.... It's obvious that it's from 1997 and that it designates areas where different languages would be applied. There are four areas where French is one of the languages: Iqaluit, Fort Smith, Hay River, and Yellowknife. How does your government apply that policy? That would be my first question.