Official Languages Committee on Feb. 17th, 2011

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

We could have been in Newfoundland. I would not have talked about that, this was by chance.

[Serge Dupont]

It is important, we need to resolve the problem.

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

Indeed, one of the objectives of the committee is to advance the use of both official languages throughout Canada, particularly in places where there are communities in minority situations. We want to do this through Mr. Fraser and his analyses and through our committee work. Last week we saw people who told us that we should be striving to better coordinate and structure services in French in this part of Canada. We listened to those people.

Mr. Arora, you have been in your position for one year. Are you in contact with all of the other departments? Do you have regular or occasional meetings with the other departments?

[Anil Arora]

As Mr. Dupont already mentioned, a group of champions meets on a regular basis. The meetings are rather informal, but I do see that the structure is starting to become formally established. I intend to play a very active role in the group. We are in the process of organizing a seminar. I plan to attend the seminar and to share best practices with my colleagues. That is what I intend to do.

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

Out of curiosity, what nationality are you?

[Anil Arora]

I come from India.

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

You are Indian, right?

[Anil Arora]

Yes.

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

Have you been in Canada long?

[Anil Arora]

Yes, for a long time.

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

You are in the national capital region. Have you always been here? Did you learn your French here?

[Anil Arora]

I learned my French here, but I spent a great deal of time in Edmonton.

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

I find that interesting. I did not have an opportunity to ask the CIDA people any questions, but I admired Ms. Biggs' efforts to make her statement entirely in French. We are seeing more and more people on Parliament Hill who are making an effort. I have been here for only a short while, but I feel that public officials and even elected officials are making a significant effort, taking intensive French courses and so forth.

In your department, do you feel that considerable efforts are being made to ensure that the use of official languages really becomes intrinsic? Mr. Nadeau often refers to people in certain departments who feel somewhat oppressed and unable to use their language, particularly French.

Do you feel that there has been an improvement in your department in that respect?

[Serge Dupont]

I believe that there has been an improvement in the public service. Basically, we need to work on this issue every day. However, a strong message was sent a few years ago when it became clear that executives in all departments, in other words, all managers at the EX level, had to meet language requirements in French. This measure was very robust, and it had an impact that we still feel today. As a result of this, all executive and management meetings can be held in both languages. This is occurring more and more often. This was a very strong message.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you, Mr. Généreux.

We will begin the second round with Ms. Zarac.

[Lise Zarac, Liberal, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Dupont, I would like to go back to the question raised by my colleague.

Your plan was circulated yesterday. When was your plan drafted?

[Serge Dupont]

First of all, when I arrived, we already had a draft of the plan under way before the commissioner published his report. We had, I believe, an initial executive committee meeting in November or following the tabling of the commissioner's report. At that time, we had asked that the plan be modified so that it would be more tangible and specific in certain areas. It was completed in January. We then finalized it and made it available.

The process was completed over the past few months.

[Lise Zarac, Liberal, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

So you had an opportunity to meet with the commissioner before the final version came out.

[Serge Dupont]

Yes.

[Lise Zarac, Liberal, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

I wanted to be clear about that.

So this is a first report. Your marks are not very high, particularly in the area of services to the public. In the work plan that you submitted, much emphasis has been given to reviewing the lists.

Could you explain what you mean by "Burolis"?

[Monique Paquin]

It is the list published by Public Works and Government Services Canada that identifies the offices of all federal departments and agencies throughout Canada. It also includes a note indicating whether or not the office must provide bilingual services.

[Lise Zarac, Liberal, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

So it identifies whether something is bilingual or not.

[Monique Paquin]

Not only does the list identify whether an office is bilingual or not, but it also identifies the offices across Canada, stating whether or not they are bilingual, in accordance with the act.

[Lise Zarac, Liberal, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

I find that your report focuses more on a review of lists rather than on the provision of services. Most of the time, measures can be summarized as follows: "Managers and employees are informed and aware of their responsibilities in bilingual regions".

Could you explain what that means exactly?

[Serge Dupont]

I will explain why the plan may look like a list. One of the first things that I requested was something that resulted from our initial conversation. We had talked, in particular, about promotion and encouragement. I said that there were some things that we absolutely had to do from A to Z. I needed an up-to-date list of designated bilingual offices. In addition, we needed to know where the public access points were in those offices. We also needed to know whether the people in those positions had the linguistic competency necessary. Finally, we needed to find out whether the people in those positions were providing an active offer of services. We said that we had to nail that. That is an obligation.

So I wanted to have clarity for those aspects where we needed to have a mark of 100%. In addition, we have encouragement measures, which is more in keeping with the spirit of the act. So we first have to ensure that we respect service to the public. That is fundamental. We need to know where we must provide such service.