Official Languages Committee on Feb. 15th, 2011

[André Morency]

There are some tools of this type that will be available. There are other tools—

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

They are not yet available, but they will be so.

[André Morency]

—for a committee chair who wants to hold a bilingual meeting, for example.

We have all kinds of tools, including one to translate words.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you.

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

It is already over?

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Yes. Time flies.

Thank you very much, Ms. Guay.

We will now give the floor to Mr. Lauzon.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I will be sharing my time with Mr. Généreux.

At the outset, I would like to congratulate the team on the good work it has already done. Your scores are pretty good, but as you mentioned, there are some aspects that need to be improved.

I have a point of clarification over this conversation we had.

First of all, I think you're working hard at improving the service in both official languages, and I commend you for that. I think you've made a lot of progress. As you mentioned, you have some areas to work on, but obviously you're working on them.

But on this business about this bill, if I understand it right, if the minister asks the department to draft a bill, there's some back-and-forth, etc. As clarification, I think what you were trying to infer to the committee is that you've worked with the minister—or a couple of ministers, I guess, in this case—and you're in the process of drafting a piece of legislation that will eventually come before Parliament.

Am I understanding that properly? It's not for you to decide whether the bill is perfect or it's in the form the minister wants. You work with the minister back and forth, and you'll come to a point where it's in a state where the minister wants to present it to Parliament.

Do I understand the process properly?

[Yaprak Baltacioglu]

Yes.

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

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Mr. Généreux.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to the witnesses.

I will ask you my first question. Several departmental representatives that we have met over the past few months have talked about the culture of the organization.

A little earlier, the Department of Health talked about the culture within its department. Ideally, French should have equal status with English, so that people do not feel inferior if they use French.

How would you describe this culture in your department, when it comes to the equality of the two languages?

[Yaprak Baltacioglu]

I will ask Mr. Morency to respond, because he has been working at Transport Canada for many years.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Go ahead, Mr. Morency.

[André Morency]

I will provide with a partial answer and ask our official languages champion to complete it.

In my opinion, it is by leading by example that we make employees feel comfortable speaking their language. At our management committee, which is chaired by the deputy minister, meetings are completely bilingual, with every group and every region. All of the management teams make an effort to ensure that meetings are bilingual.

When we meet with our employees one-to-one, we always encourage them to speak the official language of their choice. With respect to our communication tools, it is clear that we will always try to communicate in both official languages. When we fill positions, we will ensure that the linguistic profile is clearly defined bearing in mind the type of work that is to be done.

I think that we are taking many measures, but it is by leading by example that the department will show its employees that they should be comfortable communicating in the language of their choice.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Okay.

Please give a quick response, Mr. Doiron.

[Michel Doiron]

Progress in the use of official languages flows from leadership. I am a francophone. I am an Acadian. We have a culture...

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Be careful what you say...

[Michel Doiron]

... and three languages.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

... that could be held against you.

[Michel Doiron]

All right. We have three languages.

Official languages is about leadership and respect. At Transport Canada, this involves leadership from management, but not only at the top level, it involves all managers. It also involves respect.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

I am pleased with your answers. I understand them very well.

I do not want to be mean-spirited, but the documents that you submitted this morning... Mr. Bélanger said it earlier: the legislation was amended in 2005. This is now the year 2011. Six years later.

Mr. Morency, you have been in the department for a long time. Now—and I am using the word “now” because that is what I understood you two have said—you want to assume this leadership role, within the department, to ensure that French or bilingual services are offered right across Canada.

Is this type of leadership new or was it already a part of your department?

[André Morency]

It has existed for a long time, because before the arrival of the current deputy minister, a few years ago, our deputy minister was a francophone.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

So, even though there was no plan as such, there was nevertheless a culture...

[André Morency]

We have always tended to communicate amongst ourselves in both official languages.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

All right. So this trend was present.

We met with people from Service Canada who presented...