Official Languages Committee on March 8th, 2011

[Liseanne Forand]

The 1-800 O-Canada service is bilingual.

[Richard Nadeau, Bloc, Gatineau, QC]

So all the employees at the 1-800 call centre are bilingual?

[Liseanne Forand]

All 1-800 O-Canada employees are bilingual.

[Richard Nadeau, Bloc, Gatineau, QC]

That centre is located on Clarence Street, in Ottawa?

[Liseanne Forand]

That's correct.

[Richard Nadeau, Bloc, Gatineau, QC]

They are all bilingual, so there is no waiting period. You say that when a call is made in French, the service is provided automatically.

In Nova Scotia, in Petit-de-Grat and Chéticamp, there were specific requests made further to the closing of certain service points. I would like to know about the situation in Trois-Rivières. According to what I have heard, certain services have been scaled back in Trois-Rivières and transferred elsewhere. Could you tell us about that situation?

[Liseanne Forand]

I am not aware of any change in the front-line service offered at the Service Canada centre Trois-Rivières. Situations may arise, not as concerns the service itself, but perhaps with regard to the processing of some of our programs, such as Employment-Insurance or the Canada Pension Plan. Sometimes, tasks carried out in one place may be carried out in a different place at another time. However, I am unaware of any specific situation in Trois-Rivières.

[Richard Nadeau, Bloc, Gatineau, QC]

Fine. Could I ask you to check that and submit a short one-page report to us? According to what I have heard, certain public servants working for Service Canada are being transferred to Montreal and are having to choose between staying in Trois-Rivières or relocating. This has been reported to us on a number of occasions.

As concerns Part V of the Official Languages Act, which deals with the language of work in the various departments, agencies and Crown corporations, I would like to know whether, as a whole, the staff members, the 16,000 employees of Service Canada, feel comfortable writing documents or reports intended for their supervisors in French, if they so choose.

[Liseanne Forand]

Unfortunately, the most recent quantitative data we have is from 2008. That was the last time we conducted a survey of the Public Service.

Since then, we have made considerable efforts to increase the comfort level, if I may use that term, of employees working in their own language. That is something we are studying very actively. We have just approved a strategy for the use of second language in the work place that includes similar elements in order to make managers at all levels more accountable and increase awareness throughout the department of the rights and obligations concerning language of work.

[Richard Nadeau, Bloc, Gatineau, QC]

I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the second volume of the 2010 report of the Official Languages Commissioner raises the fact that people who wish to and are entitled to work in French often feel uncomfortable doing so. Often, if the work is done in French, it must be translated so that it can be presented in both languages.

Sometimes people finds translation difficult and this delays the process. If French is something that delays the process in departments and agencies, people do not want to give it its rightful place within the machinery of government. An editorial in today's newspaper Le Droit shows the emphasis the Commissioner of Official Languages places on this matter. He would like French to be present across the federal government, but he observes that it is not. The proof is that the Commissioner is obliged to submit things to the departments so that they will consent to allow French to be used in the work place. Moreover, I know that Service Canada offers service in accordance with Part IV of the Official Languages Act regarding services to the public. If French is perceived negatively, then I think you will agree that the work is not being done in this regard.

You said earlier that 94% of bilingual position are staffed by bilingual employees. Let's do some quick math. Since there are some 3,000 people who occupy these positions, that means that close to 200 people are in bilingual positions without actually being bilingual. What is the problem? I do not understand. If a unilingual francophone occupied a bilingual position and an anglophone called him, I am sure that a complaint would be filed. What are you doing to staff these 200 positions?

[Liseanne Forand]

I will answer the first part of your question and then I will ask Ms. Rallis to answer the second part.

This is indeed a matter of human resources staffing, qualifications, etc. Often, employees are in certain positions and their skill level changes further to an evaluation. Evaluations must be conducted every five years.

[Richard Nadeau, Bloc, Gatineau, QC]

Could someone who was bilingual yesterday no longer be bilingual today?

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Mauril Bélanger]

I would ask you to answer in a few seconds, please.

[Liseanne Forand]

Every five years, employees must demonstrate that they are still bilingual. Some employees may no longer make the grade after a while. Other people may have just been appointed or just be staffing the position on an acting basis because the position was vacant. We have to take into account all of these staffing and employee fluctuations. No one can be offered a designated bilingual position on a permanent basis without meeting the linguistic requirements of that position.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Mauril Bélanger]

Thank you, we will come back to this topic if necessary.

Mr. Godin, the floor is yours.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Mauril Bélanger]

By the way, dear colleagues, I just want you to know that, given the circumstances, we are now at seven minutes for questions. I did not want to interrupt you. So I would just like to correct what I said. We will respect the time limit for everyone, that is, seven minutes for the first round.

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

Welcome to all of you.

Earlier, you said that a study or a consultation had been done with people in Nova Scotia concerning the closing of offices. Whom did you consult?

[Liseanne Forand]

The two organizations consulted were the Réseau de développement économique et d'employabilité of Nova Scotia and another economic development organization, also in Nova Scotia. They are both provincial organizations.

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

So you did not consult with francophone associations in the region.

[Charles Nixon, Assistant Deputy Minister, Citizen Service Branch, Service Canada]

I believe we consulted the regional organization representing Acadians.

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

An article was published on February 8, 2011 at 9:12 p.m. by Paul Gaboury in the newspaper Le Droit. I will quote the beginning of this article:

Service Canada did not conduct an impact study on French-language services as part of the revamping of its 50 community offices across the country because the federal institution has pledged that the clientele will be able to continue having access to bilingual services. Senator Maria Chaput had asked Government Leader Marjorie LeBreton if a study had been done on the impact of revamping Service Canada community offices. Her aim was to ensure that this project complied with the Official Languages Act, because the government must take positive measures for the development and vitality of linguistic minority communities.

The journalist then made the same request directly to Service Canada. Here is the answer given by a Service Canada representative:The community offices of Service Canada that are designated bilingual and offer services in both official languages will continue to have access to bilingual services. That is why no impact study was required.

[Liseanne Forand]

That is the response we gave. We did not conduct an impact study because in the case of the community offices in Cape Breton, the people who had access to bilingual service through these community centres would continue to have access to bilingual services through a regular outreach site that will go to Chéticamp, for example...

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

The outreach employees will go if they are needed.

[Liseanne Forand]

They will go regularly. No matter what, these visits will be made regularly. The frequency of these visits will be based on demand, but they will occur regularly. They will be announced in advance. They will be reliable in that sense.