Evidence of meeting #59 for Official Languages in the 41st Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was 2017.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Chief Executive Officer, Confederation Centre of the Arts
Absolutely. No, before that we had Upper Canada, we had Lower Canada, and we had Canada. I agree.
Liberal
Stéphane Dion Liberal Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC
We had Canada. We had Canada before Lower Canada and Upper Canada. We had Canada before 1760, Kanata.
No countries are diminishing their history this way.
Chief Executive Officer, Confederation Centre of the Arts
No. I think that 1867 is simply the culmination of Confederation—
Liberal
Stéphane Dion Liberal Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC
It's Confederation, Madame. It's the name of your arts centre; Confederation is not the beginning of Canada.
Liberal
Stéphane Dion Liberal Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC
Thank you.
You understand that you are here before the Standing Committee on Official Languages. You are not before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage version two. We do not want to redo its work. I really liked your presentations, but I did not think that they were very focused on our problem.
Let me ask you something again. Could you tell us what you need to ensure that the official languages will be fully respected in 2017? That is the issue our committee is dealing with. We do not want to have any mistakes like the ones we saw in the Olympic Games, for example.
To make a long story short, you need to assure us that you are well equipped to fully honour both official languages and that there will not be any unfortunate incidents because of the work that you are doing. That is the issue we are addressing at this meeting. I am not sure whether that has been clearly explained to you, but that is really what this is about.
We do not want to redo the work of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage and see in what direction it will go. That is not our committee's job. Our committee wants to make sure that, in 2017, everyone will be able to say that we celebrated Confederation, meaning that we celebrated Canada on the anniversary of its Confederation and that both official languages were fully honoured.
Could you please redo your presentations to reflect that?
Librarian and Archivist, Library and Archives Canada
Restart our presentations? Absolutely.
As I said in my presentation, we see two aspects. Obviously, there is the whole issue of bilingualism, as Mr. Godin mentioned. So we need to be able to work in both languages and our presentations need to be...
Liberal
Stéphane Dion Liberal Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC
I want you to say that it really is important to you.
Librarian and Archivist, Library and Archives Canada
We are actually very well equipped because we have...
Liberal
Stéphane Dion Liberal Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC
You are well equipped, so you don't need anything?
Librarian and Archivist, Library and Archives Canada
We have the heritage, we have everything we need.
Liberal
Stéphane Dion Liberal Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC
Okay. I will move on to something else.
Do you need anything to make sure that, in 2017, both official languages will be fully honoured in the work that you will have to do, Ms. Inman?
Liberal
Stéphane Dion Liberal Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC
Mr. Caron is happy with what he has. He does not need anything.
Chief Executive Officer, Confederation Centre of the Arts
I do need things, absolutely. I need more bilingualism classes offered in our institution. I need more of my staff to be bilingual. Obviously, I'm trying very hard to become bilingual myself. I was getting there in 1994, before I left Canada. Unfortunately, right now my second language is Indonesian, but I'm trying to get my French back to set an example for the institution. I would love to have more French classes for the people who work there.
We're actually very lucky, for a small province; 10% of our population speaks French, which is not too bad. We're very close to New Brunswick, where there's a huge French population, and we'll draw on all of these bilingual people for our 2017 celebrations, but if we could have more resources internally to train our people in French, I would be so grateful.
Liberal
Chief Executive Officer, Confederation Centre of the Arts
Yes. Simply for the bilingual services, yes.
Executive Director, Canadian Museums Association
Mr. Dion, I think one of the principal recommendations we've made is over the structure of how the celebrations would be undertaken in 2017. We think it's really important that there be an arm's-length commission established with representatives from every province, from the people, from aboriginal people, and so on.
For example, the 1812 celebrations, which are perhaps the closest parallel, I think have been done very well in bringing out this war that most Canadians have not thought about. Those celebrations were done within the department; it had to be done quickly, so they did it this way.
We've got the time in our hands to do this right. If the structure is put in place and the imperatives are there over bilingualism, linguistic duality, aboriginal issues, and so on, I think it can be done well.
Liberal
Stéphane Dion Liberal Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC
You were speaking about what you want to celebrate. I want to know if you will be able to deliver this service in both official languages. If not, what more do you need to be well equipped?
Executive Director, Canadian Museums Association
As we said in our presentation, certainly the national institutions deliver in both official languages, and many of the provincial institutions do as well. However, at the local level there is a need. This is why we've asked for a funding program to be put in place that would, among other things, help create the celebrations, the artistic performances, the exhibitions, and the radio programs, as well as service in both languages.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Michael Chong
Thank you.
I'm sure the witnesses have realized that they waded into a debate we had here at the committee when we first proposed the motion to study the 150th anniversary of Canada.
Mr. Dion proposed to change the name of the study from the 150th anniversary of Canada to the 150th anniversary of Confederation.
It's understandable that you worded it that way.
I'd also add, Mr. Dion—
that July 1 is Canada Day, not Confederation Day.
Originally it was Dominion Day, and that was supposed to be the new moniker for the newly created federal state. In the 1980s it was changed to Canada Day, so obviously many people think—
Liberal
Stéphane Dion Liberal Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC
That is not the anniversary of Canada. They are wrong, and we should—
Conservative
Liberal
Stéphane Dion Liberal Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC
We should teach this, especially in the museum.