Official Languages Committee on Oct. 30th, 2012

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

Is it possible that we will have an arms-length organization, like in 1967?

[Nicole Bourget]

It's possible that the government will decide to go that route.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

You don't know when that kind of decision will be made?

[Nicole Bourget]

No.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

You understand that I prefer to speak to the people who are really doing things. If I go back to your presentation, Ms. Bourget, I am both reassured and concerned. I'm reassured because you told us from the start that this is important to you. You are a Franco-Ontarian. You lived in Sudbury and this is something that you do not want to fail. That is very reassuring.

I am also concerned because I would have liked you to have said from the start that there were failures in the past and that you are going to learn from them. But your presentation doesn't mention that. You said this only when you responded to Mr. Godin. If we look at the failures closely, they really tarnished the good things. That is the problem. In our country, in Canada, symbols are extremely valuable.

The mayor of Quebec, the premier of Quebec and a number of other important people in the Canadian francophone community said that we failed in the opening ceremony. That is what people remember today. As for the good things, we need to remember that a lot of effort was made to have more bilingualism and that almost one volunteer in five could speak French. It is important to remember that, but the opening ceremony made a mess of things. And the reaction of other people also made a mess of things.

When David Atkins, the organizer, said that he was Australian, that he didn't understand what was going on and that we could never satisfy the Quebeckers, that just added insult to injury.

I don't know if you read the book by Mr. Furlong, but it is extremely dreadful. He wrote that he did not understand why that guy wasn't happy that his song was used. That guy is Gilles Vigneault. You really have to be ignorant of Canadian political history not to know that Gilles Vigneault doesn't like it when his songs are used to celebrate Canada. It's incredible. He wrote this in his book.

There was a very serious disagreement with Mr. Charest. Mr. Charest made a speech, and Mr. Furlong did not put his headset on to listen to Mr. Charest's speech. Seeing that, the francophone journalists obviously asked Mr. Furlong questions in French. In his book, he said that he was insulted by that. I found it insulting that he didn't listen to my premier if he was unable to understand directly. That is the type of thing that needs to be avoided at all costs. It is very difficult to predict everything that may happen, but I would like to feel that this concerns you and that you are determined to manage the symbols correctly, starting with the name of the event. Calling it the 150th anniversary of Canada is an insult to our history.

When I was young, in 1967, we celebrated Confederation. I was taught that my country had a long history that had led to Confederation. The first prime minister of Canada, you just mentioned him, was Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine, in 1848. He risked his life to become prime minister of Canada. He faced the Orangemen who straight out wanted to kill him. This is our history. You can't just set it aside.

During the Olympics, Donald Sutherland—one of our greatest actors—read one of our most famous poems, Hymne au Nord by François-Xavier Garneau, but he read it in English. Why do such a thing? The poetry doesn't translate well. Since we're talking about François-Xavier Garneau, if 1867 is the start of our country, how did he write Histoire du Canada depuis sa découverte jusqu'à nos jours in 1845?

You see, you have to be careful with the symbols. That was my comment.

[Nicole Bourget]

Mr. Dion, I believe that the text indicates that our practices are better and that we have been able to learn from our mistakes and our successes over the years. We take them very seriously and, yes, we are implementing them. Certainly, we will be extremely vigilant about every activity that will come under our department.

I don't want to spend much time on the opening ceremonies, which were just one component of the Olympic Games. The minister spoke about it, as did the commissioner. People are aware of the mistakes that were made. Lessons were learned. Recommendations were made. They were implemented. As an official, it is my duty to focus on the future, as well.

As for the use of the word "Canada", that was a mistake I made today, on this beautiful Tuesday morning. All the official documents mention the 150th anniversary of Confederation. So that is what it refers to.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thank you. Mr. Dion, you mentioned Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine. There is also Robert Baldwin in the other corner. They are the two great reformers in Canada in the 1840s and 1850s.

Their statues are together, behind Centre Block. I think it makes the biggest statue on the back of the Hill.

It's a very good story, because one was English-speaking, and one was French-speaking. From my memory, they switched circumscriptions, they switched ridings—

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

Baldwin was elected in Rimouski.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

—that's right—and Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine ran in Ontario, in order to bridge the divide between—

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

No: because they had been defeated.

[Voices]

Oh, oh!

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

That was the other reason.

It was a generous way to bridge the divide.

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

[Inaudible--Editor]...in Montreal.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

That's right.

[An hon. member]

A unilingual anglophone.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Well, Robert Baldwin, I think, was unilingual.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

No, LaFontaine spoke English. And Baldwin's daughter, who spoke very good French, helped him.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

It's an interesting story. They fought for and won responsible government. They were Reformers, as was George Brown.

[An hon. member]

We still have them today.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

The first Reformers: “moderate” Reformers.

Mr. Trottier, you have the floor.

[Bernard Trottier, Conservative, Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I was born in 1965. I was two years old during the Centennial of Confederation, so I don't remember much. However, I still see things that are left over from those great celebrations. Canada's centennial was celebrated in a very decentralized way. During the centennial, communities across Canada expressed this joy in different ways.

In 2017, is a decentralized approach being planned, or a more centralized one? Are we going to come up with creative ideas and different ways to celebrate the 150th anniversary?

[Nicole Bourget]

When the minister appeared, he was clear. He said that he wanted these celebrations to be community-based, that they be from the grassroots. He really wanted people from the four corners of the country to celebrate in their community, that they develop ideas and form committees. I think that, ultimately, we will see a mix of the two. For example, the government departments and agencies have regular programming. Mr. Racine spoke about Canada Day celebrations. In 2017, the theme will obviously be the 150th anniversary. We can draw on a number of programs to support the initiatives of citizens and groups.

I know that I went with my parents to Expo 67 in 1967. I don't remember it, but I know the impact it had on my family and on just about everyone. We still talk about it as a turning point for Canada.

I think that this is a very exciting period since generations that weren't there can look toward the future. We will in fact have a lot of things to celebrate, a lot of points of view to reflect, a lot of stories to tell.

Mr. Racine, do you want to add anything?

[Denis Racine]

Let's look at some past experiences. The organization of the Olympic torch relay, for example, was done at two levels. The VANOC organization took care of the relay as such, including all the mechanics of the torch, the torch bearers, and so on. Seeing the torch go by was a very popular and very exciting event.

There were other great moments as well. I'm thinking of the famous community celebrations. The torch stopped twice a day in a community and a celebration took place. These celebrations were organized by the community receiving the torch. It was done at the local level. The community really wanted to celebrate what it was all about. there was a balance between the VANOC leadership and the community movement behind these celebrations. The blend of the two provided good results.

[Bernard Trottier, Conservative, Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON]

In this community movement, will there be a certain freedom, for example, if people decide to celebrate in only one language, English or French? Do we need to require all the communities—

[Denis Racine]

When we did the Olympic torch relay, there were obligations with VANOC because the government was investing money in this event. Everything had to be in both official languages. We also agreed with VANOC that each organizing committee in the local communities that held a community celebration had to include a representative from the official language minority community when there was a presence in such communities.

And it went well. In fact, the francophones outside Quebec, the Acadians and the anglophones in Quebec were part of the organizing committees. We ensured that communication was done not only in both languages, but that the content of the celebration also reflected this aspect of linguistic duality in the celebration's host community.