Official Languages Committee on March 24th, 2011

[Brian Murphy, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

That's not true.

[Liseanne Forand]

...four provinces.

[Brian Murphy, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

That's not true.

[Liseanne Forand]

I just wanted to say that we haven't concentrated everything in the Halifax area.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Mauril Bélanger]

Ms. Forand, my colleague used up five minutes and fifty seconds. I'm going to use, if you don't mind, the remaining minute to ask you just one question. Do you find it normal for a bilingual region like New Brunswick to report to a unilingual region?

[Liseanne Forand]

Mr. Chairman, I would like to make it clear that New Brunswick does not report to Halifax. Management positions in the Atlantic region are located in all of the provincial capitals. In that sense, we have a decentralized structure.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Mauril Bélanger]

But...

[Liseanne Forand]

New Brunswick employees do not report to a Halifax office.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Mauril Bélanger]

But it's because you just...

[Liseanne Forand]

Management is located in Moncton, Fredericton and elsewhere.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Mauril Bélanger]

This morning, you said, and I quote: “We had four regions, which have been combined into one large region, headquartered in Halifax.”

My question stands. Is it normal and justifiable for a bilingual region like New Brunswick to report to a unilingual headquarters?

[Liseanne Forand]

For my part, Mr. Chairman, I was trying to explain to you that under the decentralized structure we have set up in the Atlantic Region and owing to the fact that all four provinces are represented at the management table, it is inaccurate to say that New Brunswick reports to a headquarters in Halifax...

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

Thank you.

[Liseanne Forand]

... because the management positions are located throughout the Atlantic Region.

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

Thank you, Ms. Forand. I have to stop here because my time is up. So I will turn the floor over to Mr. Nadeau.

[Richard Nadeau, Bloc, Gatineau, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to welcome our witnesses.

Ms. Forand, we talked last week, if I'm not mistaken. In response to a simple question from a colleague, you said that if a client went to a designated unilingual anglophone point of service and the person providing the service behind the counter on behalf of the Government of Canada had a French or Acadian sounding name, for example, the service provider should say to the client: “This here is an anglophone office. Please go to the following other point of service in another city for service in French.” Is what I have just said factually correct?

[Liseanne Forand]

Thank you, Mr. Nadeau.

I remember the question well, and the answer is that an Acadian, for example, who speaks French well, has every right to speak French with the client in a unilingual office. An Acadian service provider also has the right to serve the client in the language of his or her own choice. However, I added that the service provider would also have a responsibility to inform the client that there was a bilingual office in another location if the client would prefer to go there.

What we require of our employees is simply for them to provide this information to the client so the client knows that it's a unilingual office and that service will be provided in the language of the employee's choice, but that if the client prefers, they can go to a bilingual office or communicate with the department by telephone because...

[Richard Nadeau, Bloc, Gatineau, QC]

Okay, Ms. Forand. I am going to have to interrupt you. I understood your answer.

If I, Richard Nadeau, went to an office and asked for service under the mandate of Service Canada, in an office that is designated bilingual, and no one there could speak French, I would have to either speak English or get myself to another office. Is that right?

[Liseanne Forand]

If you went to a bilingual office, sir...

[Richard Nadeau, Bloc, Gatineau, QC]

No.

[Liseanne Forand]

You said bilingual in your question.

[Richard Nadeau, Bloc, Gatineau, QC]

No, I said unilingual, Ms. Forand. I am talking about a unilingual office.

I will start over with a new question. In a Service Canada office designated unilingual English, located in one of the Atlantic provinces, as a Canadian citizen, would it be possible for me to be served in French?

[Liseanne Forand]

At bilingual points of service...

[Richard Nadeau, Bloc, Gatineau, QC]

No, unilingual.

[Liseanne Forand]

...and unilingual?