Official Languages Committee on May 9th, 2013

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QC]

Mr. Fraser, thank you for confirming that our country is headed in the right direction regarding linguistic duality.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thank you.

Mr. Dionne Labelle, you have the floor.

[Pierre Dionne Labelle, NDP, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

I will not ask you if that was in fact what you said.

I am always surprised to hear Mr. Gourde say that we have been partisan. I just heard Mr. Brian Jean's comments on taxation. He was rejoicing about the fact that in Alberta, they pay $10,000 less tax than in Quebec. When Alberta has $7-a-day daycare, pharmacare and parental leave, we'll talk. Currently, I do not think we can talk about tax equity. I find this completely out of place.

But, let's get back to you, Commissioner. On the matter of translation, Le Devoir reported that departments were reducing the number of internal documents they were having translated. They are asking francophones to draft memorandums in English. You expressed some concern about this during your last appearance. You were supposed to meet with the president of the Canadian Association of Professional Employees to discuss it. I believe that meeting took place.

Can you tell us about the outcome of that meeting?

[Graham Fraser]

The people from the association and I shared our concerns. I think that I told the committee the last time I was here that this is the type of situation where it is often very difficult to find written proof that there was a specific directive. However, there are silent or non-verbal ways of sending a message indicating that one feels one does not have time to send a document to translation, and that the minister's office wants it immediately. We know very well that even if the minister is bilingual, that may not be the case for all of the members of his staff.

[Pierre Dionne Labelle, NDP, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Are there documents that are no longer being translated that used to be before? Can that be checked?

[Graham Fraser]

Personally, I do not have any figures on that, but I know that this state of affairs is of great concern to the Translation Bureau.

[Pierre Dionne Labelle, NDP, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Are you going to follow up with these people on this matter?

[Graham Fraser]

I am going to try to follow up on that. You raised a good point. Comparing the number of documents that were translated five years ago to the current number would give us an indication.

[Pierre Dionne Labelle, NDP, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Indeed, that would provide an indication. Thank you.

I have another question, which is not partisan at all. I am going to talk about Statistics Canada. When this agency published its data from the 2011 census, its representatives said that the data on language were considered to be of good quality. However, Statistics Canada urges those who use the data to be prudent in interpreting the evolution of the language situation between 2006 and 2011. The data are good, but must be used cautiously.

Heritage Canada and the Treasury Board Secretariat use that data to develop their public policies. Does this message from Statistics Canada worry you?

[Graham Fraser]

It confirms the concerns I expressed when the long-form questionnaire was abandoned. Certain questions were transferred from the long-form census to the short questionnaire. As you know, we received complaints, but of course this was not the fault of Statistics Canada. Now that the new data has been published, we can see how careful the representatives of Statistics Canada are with regard to the use being made of it. This morning, or yesterday, a text written by the former Chief Statistician, Munir Sheikh, was published; it discusses the risks involved in using that data continuously, year over year.

[Pierre Dionne Labelle, NDP, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Are you going to make recommendations to Statistics Canada on the data you would like to see included in the form to enable you to do your work properly, and to provide a good assessment of demolinguistic development in Canada?

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thank you, Mr. Dionne Labelle.

Mr. Fraser, you may reply.

[Graham Fraser]

That is one of the things we are going to consider. We have not done a complete analysis of the data that was published yesterday; it is too recent. However, we of course are going to think about what needs to be done on the basis of the data which has just been published.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Okay.

We'll have a short intervention from Mr. Benskin.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

The last little bit of discussion raises some questions in my mind as to the importance. What I'm hearing shows me there's a growing importance to the role that you and your office, in particular, play in terms of interpretation as well as enforcement or awareness of official language rules.

I'm a bit concerned about the issue with Statistics Canada. Just quickly, I think you said you had to relieve 12 or 17 people from your inner workings of their positions in this last adjustment.

[Graham Fraser]

It was a very gradual process over the last three or four years, and we were able to do it with considerable precision. It was not a matter of massive—

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

It's just that you had also mentioned you were in the process of hiring five new people—caseworkers, I'm assuming.

[Graham Fraser]

That's right.

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

What's the average caseload per caseworker in your office?

[Ghislaine Charlebois]

There is actually no average caseload, because it always depends on the complexity of the files. So it's not a number of files but more the case that, as the analysts work, they have specific institutions they're responsible for. For example, if we don't get any complaints for some institutions, the analysts for those will help on other files.

It's difficult to actually establish a specific caseload.

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

But you feel with those five additional caseworkers you'll be able to catch up on the backlog?

[Ghislaine Charlebois]

That's the plan. They will work on the old files, so the analysts will concentrate on the files we receive within the year.

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

Okay.

In terms of the decrease, I would like to comment that even though there is a decrease, from my perspective, it doesn't mean that the need for what you do becomes less important. Just because crime may be on the downswing for a particular period, we don't take policemen off the streets.

With that, I'd like to add my voice to thank you and your team for the work you do. You do it very effectively. We hope we can continue to support you and your office in the work you're doing.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Okay.

Thank you, all members, for your questions on the estimates.

I have two votes to conduct right now.

Shall vote 20, under Privy Council, carry for the amount of $21,621,488?

PRIVY COUNCIL

Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages

Vote 20—Program expenditures..........$21,621,488

(Vote 20 agreed to)

Shall the chair report the main estimates for 2013-14 to the House?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.