Official Languages Committee on March 8th, 2011

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

Have the problems been solved in the Service Canada offices? If an employee is a francophone, can he speak to francophones? I know there was a problem in Nova Scotia.

[Liseanne Forand]

We called the employees in the Kemptville office, where the incident you referred to took place. There was indeed a misunderstanding, when an employee, a man or a woman, believed that they did not have permission to speak French in a unilingual centre.

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

Do you really believe that's what the person thought, and not what they were told? Please!

[Liseanne Forand]

We checked on whether or not any such instructions had been given to employees recently. It is possible that someone did that at some point in time, but it in no way reflects Service Canada policy.

Employees who are able to speak a second language obviously have the right to do so, out of courtesy to the employees. However, we also require that in a unilingual Service Canada centre, that they immediately indicate to people who arrive and speak the other official language that if they wish to have access to bilingual service, it is available by telephone or in another centre.

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

If a person is francophone, you give them the choice to go somewhere else. Is that what you are saying?

[Liseanne Forand]

Allow me to explain the difference between a unilingual service centre and a bilingual service centre.

In a unilingual service centre, management and oversight are carried out in one language. It could be French in Quebec or English elsewhere. The entire monitoring and management structure is in English. The employee is obliged to speak English.

The materials we would need to be able to offer quality service concerning a program that is as complex as employment insurance, or the pension system, is not available in the French offices, or in the English offices if that is the case.

In order to ensure the monitoring and quality and adequate service, there has to be management. The team leader and the manager must be able to see if the information officer is providing precise information.

In a bilingual service centre, obviously all of these structures and corrective measures are in place.

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

Is the Atlantic Region bilingual?

[Liseanne Forand]

The Atlantic Region is unilingual. it includes one bilingual province: New Brunswick.

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

You are telling me that the Atlantic Region is designated unilingual?

[Liseanne Forand]

Our offices and service centres are designated unilingual or bilingual, according to local presence and demand.

The administrative region of the Atlantic extends to Newfoundland and all of the Maritime Provinces and is designated unilingual...

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

That means that in New Brunswick, we have lost something and not more or less. The Bathurst office had a francophone and anglophone director, and was therefore bilingual. He is gone. He was let go. He retired and he was not replaced. After that, New Brunswick was served by the Moncton office where the director, Bill Ferguson, was bilingual. So we had bilingual service.

Now, with the restructuring of Service Canada—great service, thank you very much!—it has become the Atlantic Region, and now you are telling me that we have lost our French services on the monitoring front. In fact, Ms. Bruvels, who is learning French, is the director of the Atlantic Region. We have therefore lost our bilingual services in New Brunswick. Now we talk about the Atlantic Region.

We're also thinking about Mr. Carlson Littlejohn, the Director of Processing and Payment Services for Employment Insurance in Atlantic Canada. He is the Atlantic Region supervisor. In the past, we had this in New Brunswick; now, it is the Atlantic Region. You are telling us that it is a unilingual anglophone region.

I will continue. Service Canada subsequently appointed Mr. Doug Johnson to the position of Senior Director for Processing and Payment Services for the Atlantic Region. We have just lost our bilingual services in New Brunswick. This a reality and you are telling us that it is a designated unilingual anglophone region

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Mauril Bélanger]

Your time is up. I will allow you to answer, even though we may have to come back to this later on. But I do not want to go much beyond the allotted time. Go ahead.

[Liseanne Forand]

As I was saying, it is true that the administrative structure in the Atlantic Region is unilingual. However, New Brunswick is a bilingual province. We have many employees in New Brunswick, whether in Bathurst or in Fredericton, who are in bilingual positions. As soon as we have employees in bilingual positions, supervision of these positions must also be provided in both official languages. This is required under the Official Languages Act.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Mauril Bélanger]

Thank you. I am certain we will come back to this.

Mr. Lauzon, you have the floor.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I would like to welcome our witnesses.

I would like to start with the active offer of service. It is obvious that you have problems with the active offer of service, as do other departments. Your last survey tells us that service is actively offered in 54% of cases to people who ask for it. Is that correct?

[Liseanne Forand]

The 58% figure for active offer performance comes from the Commissioner of Official Languages when this area was last audited. I believe that was in 2008. As he mentioned in his audit, that is in the report you have before you today, we have make considerable efforts since that time using a strategy that was carried out by Mr. Nixon. The commissioner specifically congratulated him in his audit for the leadership he has shown throughout the organization.

If I may, I would like to ask Mr. Nixon to describe the strategy that he implemented.

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

Absolutely.

[Charles Nixon]

Thank you very much.

In the beginning, we encountered a rather difficult situation. We needed a directive to clarify what an active offer of service is for our employee, because there was a lot of confusion. We have done so. We provided a lot of training to our people across the country regarding service and official languages. We put coordinators in place across the country in order to improve our service in this regard.

Also, from time to time, we carried out small surveys in our offices to follow up and to see if service was improving or not. We asked for feedback from our employees in order to become aware of best practices, and when that was not the case, to improve them. This is work that was carried out over a number of years in order to effect change within a group of 750 people. I think we have now reached a point where things are improving. Now, we are putting the finishing touches on a short film to demonstrate what a good active offer of service is. This is another way to reinforce the changes that will have to be made to reach the 100% satisfaction level that Ms. Forand mentioned at the outset.

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

I must say this is not unique to your department. I think that all departments have the same problem.

I don't understand why it is so difficult. My riding is bilingual. Therefore, in my office, when my assistants answer the telephone or welcome people, they always say either “Bureau de Guy Lauzon, hello” or “Guy Lauzon's office, bonjour”. They automatically speak in both languages. I do not know why it is so difficult for people in the department to get into this habit.

Do you know...

[Charles Nixon]

We have two explanations. First, people are perhaps shy.

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

They are shy?

[Charles Nixon]

Yes, they are a bit shy when the time comes to use French or English if that is not their mother tongue.

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

Yet they are all bilingual.

[Charles Nixon]

That implies the ability to speak in either official language.

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

Excuse me, Mr. Nixon. All of these people are bilingual. They occupy bilingual positions and they are bilingual.