Official Languages Committee on Oct. 30th, 2012

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

What is the time frame for assessing the ideas that will come out of the communities? Will requests for ideas be made soon? Will it be in 2014?

[Nicole Bourget]

For the moment, people are sending us proposals on their own. Groups are asking to meet with us and are submitting proposals and requests to us. We are assessing these requests. As I said, people are undertaking a lot of activities. The government is working on it, and I am sure that the minister will be pleased to reveal the plans once they are done.

For the time being, we are just listening. Several consultations are being held. This is feeding the data, the ideas, the projects, and so on. This is giving us an idea of the size of the event and various possible scenarios.

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

There is no specific date?

[Nicole Bourget]

Not yet.

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

Proposing the best ideas to undertake projects could create a spirit of competition in the communities. That could help focus the efforts.

Right now, I don't think most Canadians are thinking much about the 150th anniversary. But if you set a date, the communities are going to form teams and create ways of celebrating. There still isn't a specific date, isn't that right?

[Nicole Bourget]

So far, there is no specific date.

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

That's fine.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thank you.

Mr. Lauzon, you have the floor.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I would like to welcome our guests.

I would like to understand how things will play out. I represent a riding that is about 25% or 30% francophone, 70% anglophone and that has about a thousand aboriginals.

Do we need to set up an organization or a committee before making a request? How will it work, in a very practical sense?

[Nicole Bourget]

I will try to be clear.

Groups are organizing themselves. These groups have decided to create their own committee and bring together representatives from official language communities and other community groups. They may be scouts or a variety of groups. At that time, they discuss what they would like to do in their own community. They discuss large-scale projects and possible partnerships.

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

Yes, but if the group doesn't have any anglophones, francophones or aboriginals, it won't work.

[Nicole Bourget]

Mr. Racine mentioned the Olympic torch relay. If you know groups in your constituencies who want to do something for the 150 ^th anniversary, it would be helpful to ask them if they have thought of inviting a member of the francophone community, if they have thought of approaching Aboriginal groups in the community or groups of young people or new Canadians, in order to reach the greatest possible number of people.

In terms of our funding, it must be understood that our current programs, or any special programs that may be created by the government, contain official language requirements. These are set out in the contribution agreements. It is made very clear that written and verbal communication must be in both official languages and that public events must be conducted in both official languages.

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

Is that the case in minority language communities or in all communities?

[Nicole Bourget]

It is written into our funding agreements with all groups eligible to receive financing, funds, from our department.

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

The department should perhaps suggest that we as parliamentarians might form committees representing the various interests. Otherwise, other groups could perhaps set themselves up and get ahead of us.

Could that possibly come from the department? In my case, for example, if the francophones from the cultural centre decide to do something and another committee from somewhere else does something different, we will end up going in different directions.

[Denis Racine]

One does not preclude the other. Sometimes, where there are national celebrations, some francophone communities want to organize their own activities. An Aboriginal community, a First Nation, might perhaps do the same thing. In some cases, everyone gets together around a table and forms one single committee. It depends on the dynamics in the community.

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

In my riding, I chair the volunteer committee for the July 1 Canada Day celebrations. It includes all the groups. The program is bilingual; it includes Aboriginal people, and that is how it is. But someone has to take the first step. You need a leader to bring all the various groups together.

[Nicole Bourget]

You seem to be demonstrating good leadership in your community by rallying everyone together.

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

We have to decide, because time waits for no man. If it makes sense, we should probably start right away.

[Nicole Bourget]

Thank you for your suggestion. As I said already, we are going to get involved with anyone we have agreements with. It is going to be very clear.

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

It is very important in an official language minority situation. I have been involved with my community for 11 years and it took two, three, even four years for the francophones to get on board. Our program is now completely bilingual. But someone has to get the ball rolling. If we got grants from the department, it would help us a lot.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Great. Thank you.

Mr. Benskin, you have the floor.

[Tyrone Benskin, NDP, Jeanne-Le Ber, QC]

My thanks to the witnesses for being here.

The Expo 67 experience, one year before I came to Canada, remains a great experience for me. I kept going to Terre de Hommes, Man and his World, afterwards.

In much of the testimony we have heard, we have been told time and time again that ideas should come from communities. I think that is really important for the 150 ^th anniversary. But, since 1967, there have been a number of changes in Canada. Some for better, some for worse. The monarchy does not go over very well in Quebec, for example.

What do you envision doing to create a situation wherein Quebec will want to be part of this, will feel invited into this process and into the celebration? The acknowledgement of our histories and of our working together is something that is very important.

What could be done by the ministry to help promote the celebration in Quebec?

[Nicole Bourget]

It was interesting to hear the discussion between Mr. Dion and the chair on Monsieur Borden and then Monsieur LaFontaine and Mr. Brown. I think Quebec and francophones across the country have a very rich history and influence in the building of our nation.

What we've learned through the 400th anniversary or many other anniversaries is not for us.... And when you say “grassroots”, you're right. Stories come from people. Events come from people.

If we want them to resonate, the way to do it is to ask people who live in Quebec, for example, who are the heroes? What are the stories that have a lot of meaning and history? We talk about Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine, and George-Étienne Cartier; they're important to our history. Then there are the characters, historical figures, on the anglophone side who have as much relevance.

So you want to do programming or events that will resonate and that have meaning for citizens. Often what we find is that when we consult with the community groups and when we involve them at the outset, they help define what it is that should be celebrated. So you can get that engagement from it.

When we did 1812, we did not think there were certain areas in Quebec, à l'école et ailleurs, where it had resonance for certain citizens. So we sat down with the anglophone community in Quebec and asked what we could do to make these celebrations relevant to them.

I think with the 150th anniversary, we must have that same attitude. There are hundreds of thousands of stories in this country, and some groups might want to celebrate. One of the committee members was mentioning some artifacts and wonderful findings in their community. I think it's an occasion for citizens to tailor the celebrations to local heroes and broad national ones, but hopefully we'll have a myriad of good stories and history to reflect.

[Tyrone Benskin, NDP, Jeanne-Le Ber, QC]

Just to echo what Monsieur Dion said, though, although it needs to be grassroots, I think the packaging, for lack of a better way of putting it, is really important in how people perceive what is being done. If it's perceived as a royal, monarchy, anglo celebration, that's going to deter people from presenting projects that reflect them.

I had the opportunity of spending some time up in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, and the family I was staying with told me for the first time about the Acadian revolt, revolution, and this is something that's incredibly interesting and something that the rest of Canada should know.

How are they going to be encouraged to tell that story if it's billed as a flag-waving Canadian anglo type of thing?