Official Languages Committee on Dec. 6th, 2011

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

I recall the incident. You pointed at the letter. I didn't realize you were asking—

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

No, I went like this. I said I wanted to speak, and you said yes.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

You did “this”. I didn't realize that meant you wanted the floor first.

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

But he didn't do more than I did.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Okay. I will give you the floor, but next time please be more explicit about what “this” means.

[Costas Menegakis, Conservative, Richmond Hill, ON]

A point of order, Mr. Chair.

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

Mr. Chair, in all honesty, and to be fair, he didn't do better than I did. He just went like this.

[Costas Menegakis, Conservative, Richmond Hill, ON]

No, I didn't.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

He asked me.

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

I did ask for the floor.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

I understand. I misinterpreted what “this” meant. So I will give you the floor.

You have the floor.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Then, Mr. Menegakis, you will have the floor.

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

In my opinion, the fact that the representatives of the Commission scolaire francophone du Yukon sent us such a letter shows that they are worried.

The representatives of the Commission scolaire francophone du Yukon took the trouble to write a letter to you and to the committee, Mr. Chairman, to ask the committee to review the meeting that took place in the Yukon. These people are worried. We heard them in the Yukon; they feel that certain things are happening that are not appropriate.

For everyone's information, I would like to read the letter:

Dear Mr. Chairman,

The Commission scolaire francophone du Yukon No. 23 (CSFY) is writing to express its concerns about the work of the Standing Committee on Official Languages since the start of the first session of the 41^st Parliament. On February 7, 2011, the CSFY appeared before the Standing Committee on Official Languages in connection with the study on the Development of Linguistic Duality in Northern Canada. At that time, the Franco-Yukoner community worked to present as clear a portrait as possible of the status of French as a minority language in Yukon. The relationships between the federal government, the Yukon government and our community are complex, given that the territorial governments are constitutionally different from those of the provinces, and these differences mean increased responsibilities for the federal government with respect to linguistic minority communities. This study's report was supposed to outline these complex issues and bring forward solutions and new approaches to enable the federal government to fulfil its responsibilities. We were therefore eagerly awaiting your committee's report.

During the September 22 meeting of the Standing Committee on Official Languages, the member for Ottawa—Vanier said that the list of possible studies for and previous studies of the committee “will be flushed,” to which the member for Richmond Hill replied: “It is possible that some new idea will come out of the 41^st Parliament. Not everything that happened before we came here needs to have precedence.” You will understand that the Franco-Yukoner community did not find this all that reassuring. The Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure was to plan the work of the committee during its meeting of September 27. Unfortunately no minutes of this meeting are available. Furthermore the committee chose to hold its meeting of October 4 in camera. We therefore have no information on the planning of the committee's work. Since then, the committee appears to have undertaken a new study, Evaluation of the Roadmap: Improving Programs and Service Delivery.

The CSFY believes that the study on the Linguistic Duality in Northern Canada is essential to the development of northern linguistic minority communities. Our community put a great deal of effort into presenting our situation to representatives of Canada's Parliament, and we put our trust in the parliamentarians we met with. It is important that your committee do everything it can to show that it is worthy of this trust by tabling the report of this study in the House of Commons. We also consider this to be an urgent matter. For a number of years now, the federal government has been supporting minority-language education through bilateral agreements. These agreements are based on the Protocol for Agreements for Minority-Language Education and Second-Language Instruction between the Government of Canada and the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada. The current protocol for agreement expires in 2013. Negotiations for the next protocol should begin very shortly. During its presentation for the study on the Linguistic Duality in Northern Canada, the CSFY pointed out a number of management and accountability problems with the funding provided to the territorial governments under the bilateral education agreements. The CSFY even brought this matter before the courts in 2008, and the Supreme Court of Yukon Territory ruled in its favour in its judgment of July 26. It would therefore be very disappointing if the report is not tabled before the start of negotiations between the federal government and the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada, and if we are all exposed to a series of legal proceedings that could have been avoided, had the Standing Committee on Official Languages proposed political solutions.

The CSFY is therefore asking you to make the status of the work on this study public and to exercise diligence in ensuring that the report is tabled in the House of Commons as quickly as possible.

I hope you will act on this request. Yours truly,

André Bourcier, President

Commission scolaire francophone du Yukon, no 23

Mr. Chair, the letter that was sent to you shows the importance of the meeting with the people of the Yukon. This has been going on for 25 years. We have seen previous governments refuse to meet with the communities. As for the current government, I don't know what the problem was, but for our first series of meetings from coast to coast, that is from Newfoundland and Labrador to British Columbia, even the chairman of the committee refused to make the trip. They said publicly that they considered it useless to do so, and the chair even said that he did not know how to justify to his fellow citizens that the government would foot the bill for a trip during which official languages would be discussed throughout the country. He refused to take part in it. I was vice-chair of the committee, but I had to act as chair during the entire trip.

As for this trip, members of the government party actually wanted to make it, and wanted to conclude the meetings in Whitehorse and Yellowknife. They even discussed the possibility of continuing the trip in the far north to go and hear the communities there. More than $100,000 was spent by the committee. All of this was duly recorded. That is not abnormal, but in my opinion, communities are complaining because we went to meet with them, and some people are now refusing to prepare a report. This is an insult to democracy and to the francophone community of Canada.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

We don't have any time left now. It is 10:45. The committee made a decision on the study. We are now doing a study on the assessment of the roadmap. That is the decision of the committee, and as chair I am going to abide by it. If the committee changes its decision, I will respect that new decision.

I have my instructions from the committee. They were adopted through motions of the committee. I am the servant of the committee, so I will follow the direction of the committee. Until the committee gives me directions otherwise, my hands are tied.

We're out of time for further discussion, so I'm going to adjourn the meeting. If you wish to change the direction of the committee, I suggest you give me notice of a motion to that effect. I will dedicate time at the following meeting to have a debate and a vote on that motion.

[Costas Menegakis, Conservative, Richmond Hill, ON]

Mr. Chair, I want to be the first to speak the next time, before we go to committee business.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Without further ado, the meeting is adjourned.