Evidence of meeting #80 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 office.
A video is available from Parliament.
Commissioner of Official Languages, Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
No, I don't think so. In fact, this is quite an interesting initiative. This is the first time we have decided to work in this way. Our colleagues from the privacy commissioner's office did not find that either and they were the recipients of a similar loan.
Commissioner of Official Languages, Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
That's right.
I think it was an important gesture to support the autonomy of the agents of Parliament.
NDP
Élaine Michaud NDP Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
Thank you.
I will now move on to other topics. In fact, I have three questions and I would like you to answer yes or no to two of them.
Is the investigation you launched into the complaint about the appointment of a unilingual anglophone Auditor General still open, yes or no?
Commissioner of Official Languages, Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
Yes.
NDP
Élaine Michaud NDP Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
Thank you. We will come back to that.
I would now like to discuss the matter of the unilingual cards used by the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Did the minister confirm that he would stop using the unilingual cards in the course of his activities?
Commissioner of Official Languages, Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
Could you repeat your question, please?
NDP
Élaine Michaud NDP Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
Is the minister going to stop using the unilingual cards?
Commissioner of Official Languages, Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
We have not yet received the minister's reply. In fact, a preliminary report was sent to the institution—
NDP
Élaine Michaud NDP Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
If I understand correctly, there has been no reply in that regard. Is that correct?
Commissioner of Official Languages, Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
Not to my knowledge.
NDP
Élaine Michaud NDP Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
I can see that was a no.
You were present when I tabled the notices of motion, at the beginning of the meeting. Regarding the motion concerning responses from senior officials to agents of Parliament, you know that the Conservative-dominated Standing Committee on Public Accounts has decided not to take any action in response to this letter, which dates back to 2011.
What is your reaction to that? Do you not feel that this shows a certain lack of respect toward the work of the agents of Parliament?
Commissioner of Official Languages, Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
We had hoped that the pilot project which asked a parliamentary group to consider the funding requests from agents of Parliament would become permanent, but that did not happen. So we are left a bit unsatisfied. The letter was a reply from all of the agents of Parliament to a letter that had been written by the President of Treasury Board, at the time—
Commissioner of Official Languages, Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
The purpose was to ensure that embarrassing incidents would not happen again, and to verify whether agents' activities were subject to sufficient oversight. We said very clearly in this letter that there is an accountability process, comprised in particular by my appearances before this committee, the reports, and the internal audit we conduct as well as the Auditor General's audits. Since I have been in this position, the Auditor General has given us his seal of approval.
We said that the important thing was that there be a meticulous process used when choosing agents of Parliament. That was the gist of our letter. We have not received an official reply.
I don't know what methods are used to make the selection. Be that as it may, I would be quite willing to reply to questions from this committee if I were asked to appear on that topic.
Conservative
Conservative
Jacques Gourde Conservative Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QC
Commissioner, I must congratulate you. The opposition often tries to trap you with their questions. They seem to try to put partisan words in your mouth, which reflects poorly on the spirit of the committee. That said, I want to congratulate you because you navigate really skilfully and give independent answers.
I would like to go back to the matter of the backlog. You said that the number of complaints had gone down over the years. I think that that may help to keep costs in balance.
How long have the number of cases been declining, how many years?
Commissioner of Official Languages, Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
I would say three.
Assistant Commissioner, Compliance Assurance Branch, Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
I would say that over the course of the past two or three years, we have seen a slight decline. It isn't considerable, but there is a drop.
Conservative
Jacques Gourde Conservative Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QC
What could that drop be due to? Is it due to government programs, or to the effectiveness of the last roadmap? If there are fewer complaints, there is surely a reason for that, unless it is circumstantial.
Commissioner of Official Languages, Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
I have no answer to that. It is difficult to determine why something does not happen. It can be interpreted in an optimistic or a pessimistic way. One could just as easily say that the institutions are meeting their obligations better, or that people have become disillusioned. Perhaps they are not as aware of their rights when the issue of language rights does not make the headlines.
Conservative
Jacques Gourde Conservative Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QC
You once said to the committee that in the course of doing your investigations, you had noted improvements in the departments overall. Some had improved their rating. If all of the departments improved their rating and if services to Canadians improved in a general way, one could expect that there would be fewer complaints. In fact, if better services are being provided, there will be fewer complaints. You can't have one without the other.
Commissioner of Official Languages, Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
That's right. That is the relation I have always seen between these two factors. We have to play our promotion and protection role. If we do promotion properly, people will be aware of their responsibilities and there will be fewer cases where the rights of Canadians are not shown proper respect. So there is a direct relationship between those two aspects of the work of the Office of the Commissioner.
Conservative
Jacques Gourde Conservative Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QC
If the whole of the machinery of government is doing a better job, that surely reflects a strong political will to respect linguistic duality and to provide services to all Canadians. We talked about it in the Speeches from the Throne. I think that the message has been well understood: we have to show greater sensitivity and offer better-quality services. That can't hurt, in any case.
Commissioner of Official Languages, Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
We have seen continuity in the respect governments have shown over the past 40 years. No government abandoned the principles of the act. However, we continue to have to meet challenges in certain federal institutions. Some institutions have more trouble than others.
I have always said that it was a matter of leadership, fundamentally. Often, when there is a change of leadership, when someone new arrives in a department, sees problems and decides to make improvements, we see the results almost immediately. Conversely, if the message is sent almost immediately that this is not a concern for senior management, the changes are more gradual.
