Official Languages Committee on March 1st, 2012

[Nancie Cantin]

Yes, I am coming to that.

As part of the evaluation, we will obviously be determining whether the component is still relevant. As for the other component, we will be evaluating its effectiveness and efficiency. In the current circumstances, we must determine whether this kind of project helps optimize resources.

[Robert Aubin, NDP, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Will we be able to get a copy of that evaluation once it is completed?

[Nancie Cantin]

It's part of the horizontal summative evaluation.

[Robert Aubin, NDP, Trois-Rivières, QC]

So that's where we should find it.

[Nancie Cantin]

Precisely.

[Robert Aubin, NDP, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Thank you.

With regard to the universities' participation, could you tell me in a few words what criteria were used to select one university rather than another? Some of them were ruled out. I'm thinking of the Université de Moncton in particular. Since one university withdrew, I wondered why you didn't offer that space to one of the ones that had been ruled out, for example.

[Nancie Cantin]

As I told you at the outset, we called upon the universities and community colleges across Canada. It was really open to those institutions that wanted to take part in this pilot project. The criteria were very flexible because we wanted to encourage as many universities and community colleges as possible to cooperate in it. We requested a commitment on their part, that is to say that we asked them if they were ready, interested and prepared to commit for the duration of the pilot project, to find participants among their student bodies and to ensure that conditions were conducive to student participation and to the introduction of initiatives fostering the use of both official languages. There were four essential criteria. There were also some assets.

[Robert Aubin, NDP, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Was it a numerical rating that was used to rank the universities?

[Nancie Cantin]

Yes, but I want to point out that there were no rejections as such based on selection criteria. The universities that submitted their applications wanted to make the commitment. In the case of the Université de Moncton, we went to the university to see whether those people were interested in taking part in the project, but they were not.

[Robert Aubin, NDP, Trois-Rivières, QC]

All right. Thank you. Let's move away from the future aspect and focus on the School of Public Service today.

An evaluation of services was planned. Could you confirm for me whether that evaluation has been conducted and that the report has been written?

[Nancie Cantin]

Mr. Chairman, would it be possible to clarify the question? We're talking about the evaluation of services, but exactly what services are we talking about?

[Robert Aubin, NDP, Trois-Rivières, QC]

I'm talking about the evaluation of the services of the School of Public Service's language school in Ottawa.

More specifically, Paul Gaboury published an article in Le Droit entitled, "Federal government 'concealing' unfavourable report, union says". I imagine that an evaluation of the services of the language school of the School of Public Service had been conducted and that, if it was unfavourable to the government, it conveyed a favourable view of the quality of the teaching of French and English as second languages in the public service. We would like to get a copy of that report, if it exists. Do you know whether it exists?

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thank you, Mr. Aubin.

Ms. Cantin, can you answer Mr. Aubin?

[Nancie Cantin]

Mr. Aubin, I am here to discuss the Roadmap. It is not at all my duty to comment on that article.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thank you.

Mr. Williamson, go ahead, please.

[John Williamson, Conservative, New Brunswick Southwest, NB]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

My question is further to what Mr. Weston just talked about, that is to say the thoughts and feelings of the communities. Perhaps I will approach it from another angle. The question is for Mr. McGovern or Mr. Johnson because, in my comment, I saw not only that there were activities in your department, but also that you are working with the linguistic communities across the country. This is really an open question.

What are the biggest threats to the linguistic communities in Canada?

[David McGovern]

Thank you very much for the question.

Probably the issue with respect to threats...one of the things that underlines all of the work that we do in our four initiatives under the road map is an extensive program of consultation with the official language minority communities. Frankly, they are probably better placed to understand what the challenges are that they are facing.

When we initiated the work on the road map we developed an integrated official languages minority community consultation framework. That is a big sort of statement to say we tried to make sure we had our act together, and we wanted to facilitate meaningful consultations with the official language minority communities. We shared the plan with the national-provincial-regional OLMC organizations. We also provided for and committed to an annual dialogue session with the national OLMCs.

As I noted before, I'm relatively new to the department, but in the time I've been there I have participated in two of the annual dialogue sessions. The first took place last November with the francophone minority communities and then in February with the anglophone communities. These were daylong sessions where we brought people in, and we also brought in my colleagues from Service Canada, who are of particular interest to the OLMCs. We brought in people who were responsible for key programs, not just those associated with the road map initiative, to be able to have a really open and clear dialogue.

We had representative participation from both the francophone and anglophone minority communities. They represented a whole range of sectors covering literacy, economic development, employability, seniors, child care, youth, and learning. We brought in advocacy organizations.

Stephen noted earlier that one of the benefits of the road map is the horizontality that's encouraged between other federal departments. We brought in representatives from other federal departments to participate and to hear from the minority communities directly.

These sessions really are fundamental to allowing us to get a better understanding of what the community priorities and challenges are. It also allows the communities to be more aware of what our role is with respect to supporting part VII of the Official Languages Act, but also the programs and services we provide to Canadians more broadly.

[John Williamson, Conservative, New Brunswick Southwest, NB]

Can you drill down a little bit? I appreciate the framework you have put in place. Can you draw out some of the conclusions, or even if you do not participate in all of them, you must have a sense of what some of the challenges are, for example, going forward.

[David McGovern]

The good news is that many of the initiatives, in fact most of the initiatives, under our road map are intended to deal with some of the key priorities that those communities have identified. They relate to literacy and then access by immigrants to the labour market. Those issues aren't just confined to the official language minority communities. Those are also issues with respect to broader access to labour market participation for, frankly, most Canadians.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thank you very much.

Madam Michaud.

[Élaine Michaud, NDP, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Thank you all for your presentations.

My first question would be for Mr. McGovern and Mr. Johnson.

What programs and support are available to Canada's English linguistic minority community in Quebec, specifically in the area of early childhood development, and what research or consultation has HRSDC undertaken to determine the early childhood development needs of those communities in Quebec?

[David McGovern]

I noted in my last response that we actually have an annual consultation session, which is part of the framework we put in place to help guide the work we do under the road map. When we met with the representatives of the anglophone community earlier this year—I think it was last month, in February—we also had representatives from a whole range of groups, including people who have an interest in early childhood development.

[Élaine Michaud, NDP, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Could you tell me more about specific programs or support that's now available for this community through the road map?

[David McGovern]

With the road map, as we noted before, there are four specific initiatives. One that we find particularly useful is the early child care pilot project. This is a research study that looks at the impact of French language preschool programs for linguistic and cultural development on the readiness to learn of young francophone children living in minority francophone communities.

I also indicated that the results of this work will be replicable. The research studies will be relevant, not just for the six francophone communities we looked at but for the anglophone communities.

[Élaine Michaud, NDP, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Now let's talk about another topic. Let's come right back to the Roadmap and to actual spending for 2010-2011. If we take a closer look at the Enabling Fund for Official Language Minority Communities, we see that it states that 14 contribution agreements were reached with national, provincial and territorial organizations. However, the 2010-2011 Departmental Performance Report for the Department of Canadian Heritage states that the sum of $200,000 in program funding was not spent by one of the receiving organizations.

Can you give us a few more details on that subject? What is that organization and why was that expenditure not incurred?