Official Languages Committee on March 6th, 2014

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Welcome to the Standing Committee on Official Languages. Today is Thursday, March 6, 2014. This is our 14th meeting.

For the first hour, pursuant to Standing Order 108, we will be studying the Canadian Heritage Official Languages Annual Report 2011-12 and the 2012-2013 Annual Report of the Commissioner of Official Languages.

The Minister of Canadian Heritage, Ms. Glover, is with us today, as are Mr. Gauthier and Mr. Lussier.

Welcome.

Mr. Godin has the floor.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I have three notices of motion. The first motion reads as follows:

That the committee invite the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans to appear and provide an update on the government's plans regarding the announced closure of the library at the Maurice Lamontagne Institute.

The motion is in both official languages.

This is the second motion:

That the committee invite the President of the Treasury Board to appear and discuss his Annual Report on Official Languages for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2013.

The third and final motion reads as follows:

That the committee invite the Minister of Justice to appear before the end of May 2014 to discuss access to justice in both official languages during a one-hour televised hearing.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thank you, Mr. Godin.

After the break, we will have time to discuss your motions.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Ms. Glover, the floor is yours.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Good day to my fellow members. Thank you for having me here for the first time in my role as Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages. I remember my visits to this committee when I was parliamentary secretary. My greetings to Mr. Godin who was a member of the committee at that time and is one still. All the other members have changed.

So, let us begin.

I would like to recognize this committee's achievements. Your study on immersion programs across the country is an indication of your commitment to promoting our national languages. I was, however, a little disappointed that I did not receive an invitation to appear, especially given the fact that, as the product of an immersion program myself, I have often expressed my concerns regarding the changes that have been made to programs since I was in school.

That said, the vitality of our national languages is important to me both as the minister and as a member of the Franco-Manitoban community. I am honoured to work in both Saint-Boniface and Ottawa toward the advancement of French and English, as well as official language communities.

As you know, in the summer of 2012, we undertook official language cross-Canada consultations. Canadians told us that we have made significant progress in key areas since 2008. However, they also mentioned that there was still work to be done to unleash the full potential of our linguistic duality and contribute even more effectively to developing our minority communities.

In its report on the previous Roadmap, your committee shared the concerns expressed by the general public and representatives of organizations in francophone and anglophone minority communities. In the budget tabled on March 21, 2013, our government committed to measures reiterating support for our national languages and showcasing their importance for our identity. A week later, we rolled out the Roadmap for Canada's Official Languages 2013-2018.

This new strategy for official languages translates into $1.1 billion invested over five years in education, immigration, and communities. I'm pleased to confirm that all of the road map's initiatives are now funded on a permanent basis. This is important as only three-quarters of the funding in the previous road map took the form of ongoing support. Road map 2013 to 2018 provides clear testimony of our continuing commitment to official languages in this country.

As I explained in the 2011-2012 Annual Report on Official Languages that I tabled in Parliament last November, Canadian Heritage oversees two main programs supporting official languages. One aims to develop minority official language communities. The other's objective is to promote French and English in Canadian society.

Our programs support the offer of minority-language services at the provincial and territorial level in sectors such as education, justice, culture and health. Our actions have tangible results. For example, working closely with the provinces and territories, we are supporting minority-language education. Every morning across our country, more than 240,000 students in minority communities go to school in their own language.

We support second-language learning. A total of 2.4 million young people are learning French or English as a second language in Canada, more than 340,000 of them in immersion classes. Our young people are among our greatest resources. That is why I am pleased that we were able to offer bursaries to 7,800 students in 2011-2012 that enable them to improve their skills in their second national language. We also created some 700 summer or short-term jobs for bilingual young Canadians. These jobs allow them to practice their knowledge of French and English.

The annual report also provides details about my role in coordinating official languages support within federal institutions. In 2011-12, Canadian Heritage adopted a broader approach to coordination to make the accounting process uniform among all institutions. For three years we've been using this approach, adopted jointly with the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat.

Some 170 federal institutions now have the opportunity to showcase their achievements, which provides Canadians with a complete picture of national efforts to promote French and English.

In the interest of efficiency, we also launched a review in 2013 of our support for organizations in official language communities. Through this review, we want to ensure that our measures effectively meet the needs of communities, particularly in key areas such as youth and culture. This review is being carried out in consultation with community organizations. Our investment levels remain unchanged. I simply want to ensure that we are achieving the best possible results.

The Commissioner of Official Languages has also acknowledged these results. In his 2012-2013 Annual Report, he applauded the efforts to date of Canadian Heritage and other federal institutions with regard to respect for official languages. We will be continuing along this path. We welcome the Commissioner's report and the recommendations in it. They will be used to inform our government's actions. I want to mention here that, last year, our government renewed the appointment of the Commissioner of Official Languages, Mr. Graham Fraser, for three years. This reappointment was applauded by numerous key stakeholders in official languages. I also want to note that I agree with the Commissioner when it comes to the importance of promoting our linguistic duality as part of large-scale events.

Let's talk about celebrations.

We are currently conducting online consultations and holding roundtables across the country to learn more about how Canadians want to celebrate Canada's 150th anniversary in 2017. The consultations taking place are mindful of our commitment to promote our linguistic duality as part of the celebrations.

The Commissioner also mentioned in his report that he will be monitoring the implementation of the protocol for agreements for minority language education and second language instruction. I am very pleased that we recently renewed our co-operation with the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada. The protocol for agreements that we signed with the council provides for more than $1.3 billion in federal investment over five years to support the provincial and territorial governments in the area of official languages in teaching.

we have taken concrete action to promote respect for national languages. We will continue our efforts in this regard, because our action generates results for Canadians and benefits for minority communities.

Thank you for your attention. I am ready to answer your questions.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thank you, Ms. Glover.

We have 50 minutes left for questions and comments.

We will start with Mr. Godin.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Welcome to the witnesses. My thanks to Ms. Glover for appearing before the committee. Thanks also to Mr. Lussier—this is not our first meeting, I think—and to Mr. Gauthier.

You said at the beginning that you regretted not having been invited during our study on immersion. You will certainly have the opportunity to respond to our report. You are the minister responsible, so I am looking forward to your response to the very important report on immersion that we tabled in the House. Canadians from both official language communities will be able to benefit from the decisions, I feel, if the government’s decisions are positive ones.

Madam Minister, I would like to talk to you about access to justice. In his summer 2013 study on access to justice in both official languages, Commissioner Fraser states that providing access to justice in official language minority communities is a major challenge. He specifically recommends that the Minister of Justice and his provincial and territorial counterparts take concerted steps to face this challenge of access to justice for all.

As the minister responsible for official languages, have you had any discussions on the matter with your colleague the Minister of Justice?

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

Thank you for the question, Mr. Godin.

I speak with the Minister of Justice often. This actually is his file, but I am really very pleased that our government recognizes the importance of the issue of access to justice in both official languages. It is recognized in the Roadmap. I hope that all members of the Standing Committee on Official Languages have had the opportunity to consult the Roadmap and to see the investments that have been made in the field of justice. There is money for training, for networking and for justice services. Funds are also available for communities.

As I said, I speak with the Minister of Justice often and I always encourage him to consider our official language minority communities.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Madam Minister, have you championed the implementation of the recommendations made by the Commissioner of Official Languages?

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

That file belongs to the Minister of Justice. I have not spoken to him about it specifically, but I have certainly spoken to him about a number of other things.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Can you commit to speaking to him about it? You are the minister responsible for official languages. The Commissioner of Official Languages is the watchdog for official languages in Canada and he has made a recommendation. Do you commit to speaking to the minister about the importance of the matter and about the point of view expressed by the Commissioner of Official Languages?

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

I repeat that I am very pleased to be the Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

I am sure you are.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

I am part of a government that believes that the 14 departments named in the Roadmap have responsibilities. They are encouraged to commit to it. I am perfectly comfortable with encouraging them along the way. However, I can assure you that the 14 ministers are fully committed to their respective portfolios. I will speak to the Minister of Justice, as I often do, to restate the importance of the matter.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Do the courts in each province in Canada have a sufficient number of bilingual judges to ensure access to justice in both official languages?

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

I am from Manitoba. I try to encourage the lawyers I know there to—

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

That is not my question. Are there enough judges?

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

I am getting there. Frankly, there is a shortage of people with the skills, the legal distinction and the availability to take those positions. That is why I am always encouraging lawyers to apply.

I can tell you that we regularly ask the chief justices of the provinces to do so too. If we had more, it would be good, it would be a feather in Canada's cap. We have to encourage them but we cannot force them.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

There is something I do not understand, Madam Minister. Last Tuesday, officials from the Department of Justice came to testify before the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights. One of them was Michel Francoeur. He talked about sections 530 and 531 of the Criminal Code, which clearly describe the right to be tried before a judge in the official language of one's choice.

I asked the witnesses if there were enough judges to guarantee that right. I gathered from remarks by Mr. Doyle, another of the witnesses, that there were a lot of bilingual judges in Canada. I asked him to confirm that for me and he replied that it was true, that there are enough.

There is some contradiction, you might say, between the comments of certain federal officials and those of the Commissioner of Official Languages. The former say that there is a sufficient number of bilingual judges, the latter says there is not. I find it difficult to understand. I will be honest with you, I purposely made him repeat his answer three times, because I had such a hard time with it.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

I cannot speak for other departments. Personally, I am not familiar with any court that has claimed to have insufficient judges for a trial to be held in a specific language. I have never heard of that in Canada. Perhaps that is what they were talking about.

As Minister of Official Languages, I tell judges how strongly we should encourage all bilingual lawyers to apply, for one thing, and, for another, encourage those who are not bilingual to make an effort to learn both languages.

Clearly, as you know, there are already free courses for sitting judges. There is also training for others working in the justice system, like police officers and court clerks, as a result of the investment our government has made.

So we are going to continue along those lines, because it helps. One day, perhaps, the time will come when we can say we have more.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thank you, Mr. Godin.

Mr. Gourde now has the floor.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you for being here this morning, Madam Minister. It is very generous of you. Thank you, Mr. Lussier and Mr. Gauthier.

Madam Minister, I know that teaching in Canada is one of your great concerns. What is the status of the negotiations for the new agreements on minority language education and second-language instruction? I am talking about the 2013-2014 to 2017-2018 agreements with the provinces and territories.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

Thank you for the question, Mr. Gourde. In a way, that ties in with what Mr. Godin was saying about immersion.

Let me talk about the agreements that are currently being negotiated. The work is about half done. In the coming weeks, I am sure that you will hear announcements about those agreements with the provinces and territories. In August, one of the first things I did as Minister of Official Languages was to sign the protocol for agreements with the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada. That work is almost finished.

The investments we are making are in the order of $1.3 billion, approximately $260 million each year. That is a really significant amount. The investments are essential if we want to train bilingual people, whether they be judges, politicians or a host of others.

It is not just a question of immersion, but also of second-language learning, both for anglophone students who want to learn French, and the other way round in Quebec. These agreements will allow more students to learn both national languages. I see that as the best opportunity we can give our students.

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

Minister, what impact does Canada's linguistic duality have on you personally?