Official Languages Committee on Feb. 15th, 2011

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

In October of what year?

[Michel Doiron]

In 2010.

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

Is that so? In your plan, it says that it was created in 2008.

[Michel Doiron]

No. Two thousand and eight was when we began working with members of the official languages committee to develop a plan for part VII. Once the plan was established, we struck a new committee to better focus on part VII.

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

Was that as a result of the terrible rating you received from the commissioner?

[Michel Doiron]

Not at all.

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

Part VII of the act was amended in 2005 by the Parliament of Canada. Why did you wait until 2010 to create an advisory committee?

[Michel Doiron]

In 2008, we hired an independent consultant, Mr. Brisson. The objective was to consult official language minority communities and departments in order to better understand our obligations under part VII. Transport Canada's component is one of safety and security. We do not have social, cultural or human resources development components. We knew that we had a duty—all departments do—but we did not know what that duty was exactly. Things were not really very clear.

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

Why did you wait until 2008 to ensure proper implementation of an act that was amended by the Parliament of Canada in 2005?

[Yaprak Baltacioglu]

I think that's particularly the reason why our grade is not as high as it could be. We were slow in developing our action plan, and it did come in after the commissioner's cut-off date. I cannot really explain to you why it has taken so many years. What I can assure you is that we have a plan. We have the full commitment of myself and my management committee. As Monsieur Doiron has said, part of the issue was that we are not one of the designated departments that have to report to Canadian Heritage.

But as well I think the department wasn't sure how the development of official language minority communities worked within Transport Canada's regulatory mandate. So I think it took a little while for the department to get its head around it. I can tell you that we now have an action plan, and we're hoping that for the next report card period we will actually improve our standing on this one. This is an area we're very focused on. But you're right, we could have done it better; we could have done it faster.

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

Can you, in the couple of minutes I have left, tell me the broad outline of that plan?

[Yaprak Baltacioglu]

The broad outline of that plan is basically a number of things. First of all, the most important thing in Transport Canada is to make sure that the policies we put into place take into consideration the impact on official language minority communities. Number two, when we're running programs, we have to always think about what the impact is on the official language minority communities. For example, if a seafarer is applying for a certain kind of certificate from the department, if it's in an area of official language minority communities, how would it work?

Other issues are our grants and contributions. We have created a centre of excellence for the department, and part of the centre of excellence is to really look at two parts of the Official Languages Act. One of them is service to the public, but the second part is the support to the official language minority communities. So those would be the broad way of looking at it.

The last piece is that when other departments like Heritage are doing consultations on the ground with the official language minority communities, we will be there as appropriate, if we can add something to it or we can get back something back from it so that we can improve our services. My colleague has actually recently participated in one.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you, Mr. Bélanger.

We will now move on to Mr. Nadeau.

[Richard Nadeau, Bloc, Gatineau, QC]

Good morning to you all.

Our study today is on volume 2 of the Commissioner of Official Languages annual report as it relates to your department. I do note that you have received some very good ratings. However, there is the issue of part VII, which my colleague Mr. Bélanger has just raised. You will have to roll up your sleeves and do some very important work in that regard.

We are talking about official language minority communities as they concern your department. In that regard, I have a particular interest in Canada Post. Closing a post office often means shutting down a village or hamlet where people live. In order to avoid the disappearance of the rural world, key links have to be maintained. We are talking about transportation, but there is more than that. Your department covers many sectors.

With regard to your workplace and more particularly your employees, I see that you obtained a good rating in terms of language of work. The commissioner gave you a "B". For the benefit of the other departments that received shabby ratings in that area—for example, in the case of Health Canada, which was raised earlier—I would like you to tell us about the measures you implemented. How do you ensure that the employees throughout your department feel free to use their official language of choice at work—and in this case, I am referring to French because it is the minority language throughout Canada, even though it is the majority language in Quebec—to speak, and especially to communicate in writing?

On page 27 of the commissioner's report, I note that you were unable to put your employees at ease with regard to job security, and that they have to report to managers who neither understand nor read French; they cannot be sure that writing to their superiors in French will not be frowned upon; and they receive translated documents dealing with substantive matters, but that do not express what was stated in French because of a loss of nuances and subtleties in the process.

What will you do to improve that situation? What are you doing so that your employees feel free to speak, work and write in French within the very large department that is Transport Canada? What are you doing for those communities and groups?

[Yaprak Baltacioglu]

Thank you.

Before I answer the second part of your question, while I am the Deputy Minister of Transport, I am also the deputy head of the portfolio. However, I don't manage the day-to-day operations of any of our portfolio partners, like Canada Post. But we do always, as part of our portfolio coordination function, encourage our portfolio partners to abide by all the laws they have to abide by, and Canada Post is under the Official Languages Act.

Regarding the language of work, you are right, we have a good mark. But just as it is for our colleagues from Health Canada, this is an issue of culture. This is an issue of constant effort to make sure that our staff feel comfortable speaking in the language they wish to speak to produce the work they have to do.

There is something we have done systematically in Transport Canada. If you look at our total number of supervisory positions in bilingual regions, out of 730 positions, 654 are bilingual. As well, in the executive cadre in Transport Canada, we have made a specific decision in the department to staff people who are bilingual into these positions. Some staff don't meet the bilingual requirements, but they represent a very small percentage. For example, in terms of our EXs, our executives—

[Richard Nadeau, Bloc, Gatineau, QC]

I do not want to be impolite, but I have very little time remaining. With regard to the drafting of documents, are people encouraged concretely and clearly to draft their documents in French? Are they told that their superiors will be pleased to receive them?

My riding is one of, if not the riding with the largest number of federal public servants. In the greater urban area of Gatineau and Ottawa, that is a fact of life. People who are very active defenders and supporters of their language no longer write in French because they are frowned upon for doing so. Writing in French delays the process, and they are being blamed for work delays. These are things that I am being told. I need not go further into that, but I wanted you to know.

How can you make them feel confident? That is basically what I want to know. I have seen the numbers, but I wanted to make sure that those people did not feel they were being punished at work for using French in the federal public service, and particularly in your department.

[Yaprak Baltacioglu]

First of all, I hope that nobody will think they will be punished if they use the language of their choice in terms of their writing.

There are a number of things that we do. Our official languages website is always updated. We have language tips on our website, and we always put some there every couple of weeks. These are all small things, but nevertheless the message from the senior management is to utilize the language you're most comfortable writing in.

Is there anything else you would like to add, André?

[André Morency, Assistant Deputy Minister, Corporate Management and Crown Corporation Governance, Corporate Services, Department of Transport]

Mr. Nadeau, I would like to mention that the official languages champion recently published a message on our website for all department employees. He encouraged them to do just that, i.e., to communicate in the language of their choice. He indicated that senior management would be fully responsive and happy to receive documents in either English or French. We are continuing to communicate with our employees to encourage them to do so. We have also asked our managers to encourage them as well. These are messages that we will be pleased to keep on sending them.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you, Mr. Morency. Thank you, Mr. Nadeau.

We will continue with Mr. Godin.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would like to welcome you to the committee.

As my time is limited, I will cut right to the chase. Madam Deputy Minister, are you bilingual?

[Yaprak Baltacioglu]

Yes. My mother tongue is Turkish, my second language is English and my third language is French. I was rated level C a few years ago. I am bilingual, but not perfectly, and I do speak three languages. I came to Canada when I was 21. As an immigrant woman, I believe that I am quite proficient in those three languages, even though I am not exceptionally fluent.

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

You are in the same situation as I am, because I speak English, French and Acadian. I would like to welcome you into the group of people who speak three languages.

I had to ask the question because I have not had the opportunity so far this morning to check whether you were bilingual or not. Would Mr. Morency feel free to speak to you in French and use his mother tongue? Would Mr. Doiron feel free to do so as well?

Do you have interpreters? I wanted to reiterate that, if people are made to wait—and this is something that occurs at times—they will switch to the language of the person with which they are speaking. I wanted to know whether you, as deputy minister, were bilingual. I thank you for your answer.

I would now like to talk about Air Canada, which falls under the purview of Transport Canada. Earlier, you spoke rather briefly about Canada Post, but I think that you will have a harder time with Air Canada. Transport Canada is the responsible department. In your presentation, you also said that you were responsible for security. Transport Canada has many programs that deal with security.

Since 2006, we have been calling on Parliament and the government to pass new legislation for Air Canada. The only response we have received is that the department is working on a bill. You are the deputy minister. Why is it so difficult to draft a few words stating that Air Canada must comply with the Official Languages Act?

Air Canada is not just another private company. When the government wanted to privatize Air Canada, the corporation's owners knew full well that they were not complying with the Official Languages Act. What is more, given all the corporate identity changes, we never know what to call it.

We called on the department and the minister to draft legislation. What is the status of the bill to ensure compliance of official languages by Air Canada, which is squarely under your responsibility?

[Yaprak Baltacioglu]

The Official Languages Act applies to Air Canada. It has been under the Official Languages Act since 1969.

When the privatization happened, the Air Canada Public Participation Act also said that Air Canada has to comply with official languages.

I think the issue the commissioner raises is not Air Canada itself alone. That doesn't mean that their level of service is perfect, but in terms of application of the law, there is no issue. In the commissioner's report he definitely points to the issue with Air Canada Jazz, which is covered through a contractual agreement between Air Canada and Jazz. Now, in the Official Languages Act, I believe section 25 says that if someone is doing contract work for you, you have to be able to adhere to the language act.

Our former minister, Mr. Baird, appeared in front of this committee and he committed that a bill will be tabled in the House of Commons--

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

Where is the bill?

[Yaprak Baltacioglu]

Well, I can say that the government has made a commitment to this and--