Official Languages Committee on May 9th, 2013

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

Would you like a higher rate than 60%? You seem to be saying that 60% is acceptable. Why not set the rate at 80%?

[Graham Fraser]

That is a good question. We are going to think about that and determine whether we have been too generous or too demanding.

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

Yes, you need to be demanding.

May I continue?

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

You can ask a brief question.

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

The last time you were here, you were in the process of studying the report on labour standards for federally regulated private sector industries in Quebec. The report was submitted quickly by the Minister of Industry. What were the findings of your study with respect to that report?

[Graham Fraser]

We did not do a formal study.

Sylvain, would you like to provide more detail on that?

[Sylvain Giguère]

We basically studied the entire report, but there was not enough information to give us a very clear picture. If we wanted more information, we would have to do our own research. That is what we took from the report.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Okay. Thank you.

Mr. Galipeau, you have the floor.

[Royal Galipeau, Conservative, Ottawa—Orléans, ON]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I would like to welcome Mr. Fraser and the assistant commissioners.

I greatly appreciate the cooperation between this committee and the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages, institutionally and personally, as well. Unless I'm mistaken, you have appeared before the committee some 30 times since 2006.

[Graham Fraser]

Probably. I think I testify about half a dozen times a year, on average.

[Royal Galipeau, Conservative, Ottawa—Orléans, ON]

I would like to ask you a personal question. Was moving your office motivated by effectiveness? Will you be more effective when you are on the other side of the river?

[Graham Fraser]

There were a number of reasons. We were given an opportunity to be closer to other officers of Parliament. Two of my colleagues had to move.

For Public Works and Treasury Board, it is also an opportunity to apply the Workplace 2.0 standards, which will be applied across the public service.

I thought to myself that it would also be an opportunity to work with my fellow officers of Parliament and to benefit from shared services. Moreover, it was better to adapt to these new standards in a new building than to adjust in the existing building. Public Works found it helpful that we were involved in the process.

The government is sending a very clear message to institutions. It wants them to consider shared services. We are well aware that our independence could be threatened if we had to share services with the departments we are supposed to oversee. However, we are protecting our independence by sharing services with other officers of Parliament.

[Royal Galipeau, Conservative, Ottawa—Orléans, ON]

I understand, and I greatly appreciate your response.

You are here with three assistant commissioners. How many assistant commissioners are there in total? I thought to myself that it might be sort of like CBC/Radio-Canada, where there are 26 vice-presidents.

Promoting official languages, especially when you live in a minority community, like I have my entire life, is a delicate business. It often leads to demagoguery. It is important to be very cautious in that respect.

The roadmap that was released about a month ago is 40% more generous than the one from the previous government. It is the result of about 30 personal consultations that the minister held with communities across Canada. The roadmap represents what the minister learned from consultations with the linguistic minorities at that time.

I can tell you, if you don't already know, that money has been earmarked for communities of recent immigrants precisely because they had expressed a desire to have access to the minority language. From the time they arrived in Vancouver, Asian community members have been camping out all night in front of French immersion schools there. They want access to education, not in the majority language, but in the minority one. Since they want to become full Canadians, they want to have both languages. The money added to the roadmap is allocated specifically for that.

[Graham Fraser]

Kudos, if that's the case. The way that $120 million was presented did not make that clear, and it concerned me. However, if it is indeed going to language training in both official languages, great. As you said, the census figures show that immigrants coming to Canada are more proficient in both official languages than English-speaking Canadians born and bred here.

[Royal Galipeau, Conservative, Ottawa—Orléans, ON]

I'll tell you what an old psychiatrist friend of mine once said. “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar”.

[Voices]

Oh, oh!

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Okay.

Thank you very much, Monsieur Galipeau.

Madame Quach.

[Anne Minh-Thu Quach, NDP, Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I would like to thank everyone for being here.

Since you are talking about immigration, I will continue along those same lines.

According to Statistics Canada's national household survey, the results of which were made public yesterday, there is not a single French-speaking country among the top 10 largest countries that are sources of immigration for Canada.

Do you have any comments on that observation, given that you are promoting both official languages?

[Graham Fraser]

I think it is extremely important for official language minority communities to have access to francophone immigration. In the past, there were very well-established targets for francophone immigration to provinces outside Quebec. We wanted it to represent at least the percentage that the minority represented in the general population. Unfortunately, we have not managed to obtain those kinds of results.

I think some recruitment programs have been successful, such as Destination Canada, which recruits in France, Belgium and Maghreb, I think. I think it is a significant contribution to the vitality of official language minority communities.

[Anne Minh-Thu Quach, NDP, Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC]

Thank you.

You spoke about targets that have not been met. Citizenship and Immigration Canada has a francophone immigration target of 1.8%. I personally find that very low. It seems to me that we had consulted communities that wanted the target to be 4.4%.

[Graham Fraser]

That's right.

[Anne Minh-Thu Quach, NDP, Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC]

You say that there are recruitment programs for francophone minority communities. Do you think there is a lack of funding for that kind of recruitment program?

[Graham Fraser]

I know that the Provincial Nominee Program was transferred from the provinces to Ottawa, much to the Province of Manitoba's regret, in particular, as it had used that program to highlight the importance of francophone immigration. This cooperation between Citizenship and Immigration Canada, the Province of Manitoba and the Société franco-manitobaine is an example I point to often. I think that this cooperation is ongoing and that there are signs that these immigrants are integrating successfully. They arrived some eight years ago under this program. Their integration into Manitoban society is the proof of the success of this program. The spirit of cooperation was at the root of this success.

[Anne Minh-Thu Quach, NDP, Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC]

I think that we both agree that there is a lack of funding and resources in this area.

In your 2013-2014 Report on Plans and Priorities, you set a 50% target for official investigations, which must be resolved in 175 business days or less. This means one investigation out of two. Are there sufficient resources to reach that objective?

[Graham Fraser]

I think so. I'm going to ask Ghislaine to complete my answer. I think that the complexity of complaints is often related to the reluctance of some departments to reply in an timely manner.

Ghislaine, are there other factors?