Evidence of meeting #85 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 million.
A video is available from Parliament.
4:45 p.m.
Conservative
Stella Ambler Conservative Mississauga South, ON
Nonna, that's right.
My other grandmother worked in the home, so her English was never very good. I used to speak Italian with her.
So the factors are obviously age and whether you work in an environment.
4:45 p.m.
Conservative
Jason Kenney Conservative Calgary Southeast, AB
Yes.
We are supporting a program called HIPPY, home instruction for parents of pre-school youngsters, where we send settlement workers into homes to do visits on a weekly basis, often with moms who might be stuck there, maybe living in an ethnic enclave, not having many social opportunities to speak English or French. We send workers into their homes. It's not mandatory; it's if they want to participate. We also have online language instruction as well, which again is trying to reach those folks who might be more stuck at home.
4:45 p.m.
Conservative
4:45 p.m.
Conservative
Stella Ambler Conservative Mississauga South, ON
English and French. Wonderful.
Thank you, Minister.
4:45 p.m.
NDP
Matthew Dubé NDP Chambly—Borduas, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you for joining us here today, Minister.
I would like to ask you a few questions about a very specific issue. I know that my colleague, Mr. Claude Gravelle, has already spoken to you about it. It has to do with the Northern Ontario Francophone Immigration Support Network. It's a program that was coordinated by Sudbury's Contact interculturel francophone. Its funding was recently denied by your department. There is a great deal of concern over the lack of clarity of the assessment criteria and the impact this will have, because the program is temporarily going to be managed from Ottawa.
Given the economic opportunities in northern Ontario nowadays and the strong francophone community there, could you clarify those criteria?
In addition, could you explain to us how you are going to make sure this does not adversely affect northern Ontario?
4:45 p.m.
Conservative
Jason Kenney Conservative Calgary Southeast, AB
Because those questions are a bit technical, I am going to ask Corinne to answer.
June 13th, 2013 / 4:45 p.m.
Director General, Integration and Foreign Credentials Referral Office, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
In the case of one of our 13 networks, the one from Sudbury to which you are referring, a contribution agreement has not yet been signed. In the department, I am not responsible for those agreements, but I do know, based on what my colleague has said, that there are still some things that need to be clarified before the contribution agreement is signed. With your permission, we could provide a more detailed description of the status of that contribution agreement.
4:45 p.m.
Conservative
Jason Kenney Conservative Calgary Southeast, AB
I can discuss this in general terms.
When it comes to the criteria we base our decisions on, departments use a point system to assess the quality of an organization's positions and performance over time. This has to be done fairly and objectively.
Frankly, we cannot accept all of the applications. However, for each application they get from an organization, officials do an analysis using a point system.
4:45 p.m.
NDP
Matthew Dubé NDP Chambly—Borduas, QC
Thank you.
I am sure you are going to follow up on this, but I am also sure my colleague, Mr. Gravelle, is going to take it up with you again.
There is also the issue of points of service and service levels. Points of service are starting to be closed in the Atlantic Region. There is, so to speak, a reduction of service and a certain centralization.
Have you done any studies to determine how this will affect minority francophone communities, particularly in those regions?
4:45 p.m.
Conservative
Jason Kenney Conservative Calgary Southeast, AB
No, we have not done any studies. Are you talking about CIC offices?
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
Jason Kenney Conservative Calgary Southeast, AB
Obviously, in connection with the recent budget cuts, we had to come up with some administrative efficiencies. So we closed a certain number of local offices, but frankly, most of them were very small. They had a staff of only one to three people and provided no direct service. Maintaining all kinds of small offices providing very little service was not efficient.
I have just been to Moncton where I visited the Multicultural Association of the Greater Moncton Area, MAGMA. That organization has received four times more funding from our department for settlement services, including services for francophones. Its staff and services have greatly increased. In my opinion, that is much more important than having two officials, in an office, doing precious little for clients.
4:50 p.m.
NDP
Matthew Dubé NDP Chambly—Borduas, QC
Thank you, Minister.
However, under the Official Languages Act, do you not have an obligation to do an impact assessment in communities where there is a language minority? What you are saying may be true, but doesn't the act require you to do those assessments?
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
Jason Kenney Conservative Calgary Southeast, AB
We have not closed offices in minority language communities. The decision did not affect official languages. It was a matter of efficiency. We have also downsized our Vancouver office. It was not a language issue.
4:50 p.m.
NDP
Matthew Dubé NDP Chambly—Borduas, QC
Would you be able to provide this committee, by June 21, with a list of centres that have been closed?
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
4:50 p.m.
NDP
Matthew Dubé NDP Chambly—Borduas, QC
Thank you.
My colleague, Mr. Godin, asked you some questions about language requirements for job offers for temporary foreign workers. You said that from now on, it would be illegal to post criteria relating to languages other than official languages. However that doesn't mean that there will be a requirement relating to one language or the other. For example, a francophone from Mr. Godin's riding who wanted to go and work in Fort McMurray might not be any more qualified if those languages were excluded.
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
Jason Kenney Conservative Calgary Southeast, AB
It is up to the employer. We cannot dictate to private sector employers whom they should hire nor whether they should be bilingual, francophone or anglophone. We are talking about the labour market in the private sector. However, since last month, they can no longer post or publish a job offer that requires a non-official language.
