Official Languages Committee on Feb. 26th, 2015

[Joe Daniel, Conservative, Don Valley East, ON]

So in your opinion it's a great benefit to our young people to get educated in both languages, to have all these skills such as software, aviation, structural engineering, and all those things, right?

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

Absolutely.

I believe education is the gateway for them to get into the workforce to be able to provide for their own families, and to have a successful and productive life. I hope that anyone who's considering both of the languages during their education takes that to heart because it really does open doors for them when they have both of those languages under their belts.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Mr. Nicholls.

[Jamie Nicholls, NDP, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Minister Glover, I hope you know that there is a difference between the legal status of official languages and the legal status of national languages. In Canada, we have two official languages, but we have dozens and dozens of national languages. The difference is that the so-called “national” languages are not protected by legislation.

That's perhaps the reason why Mr. Leung mentioned that first nations languages are sadly facing assimilation. When I hear in your discourse that you use the term interchangeably, it's very important to note that they have a very different legal status. I'm very optimistic that you know that difference.

Your Conservative government is increasingly turning its attention to social funding. Several stakeholders have shared their concerns with us regarding social funding. You are asking community groups to find equivalent funds before they can receive funds from the federal government.

Ms. Glover, what is the Department of Canadian Heritage doing to ensure that social funding will really be there for minority official language communities?

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

Thank you for the question.

I would like to address the issue of official languages and national languages.

In my opinion, when we talk about official languages, this is something that involves our legislation. We have the Official Languages Act. However, when I talk about national languages, it is because I am proud to see that we speak both official languages in each province and each territory. We cannot say that about all of the aboriginal languages. We cannot say that about the other languages, but we can certainly say that in Canada, within our nation, French and English are the two languages that are spoken everywhere. This means that they are national languages. They are official languages, of course, since we have an Official Languages Act. I believe they are complementary.

As for the other topic you raised, this can really be found in the roadmap and in Minister Poilievre's department. That is where the funding you referred to can be found. Once again, the roadmap provides funds to that department. The question you just asked really concerns that minister or that department.

[Jamie Nicholls, NDP, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

Did your department do an impact study to see whether social funding can be applied specifically to minority official language communities?

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

Since I have only been in charge of the department for a year and a half, I am going to yield the floor to Mr. Hubert Lussier. He will answer that question.

[Jamie Nicholls, NDP, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

Thank you.

What is your response, Mr. Lussier?

[Hubert Lussier, Assistant Deputy Minister, Citizenship and Heritage, Department of Canadian Heritage]

We have carried out a few studies on social funding, but we have not yet applied this to the Department of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages. That does not mean that we will not do so. I know that the Department of Employment and Social Development has teams that have been looking at that for a long time. We spoke to them. Some of their experts used to work for the Department of Canadian Heritage. So we have had some discussions about this.

However, it would be going too far to say that we have done an impact study. For the moment, our work is somewhat preliminary.

However, we do require from each of the organizations that receive funds, with a few exceptions, that they also raise their own funds.

[Jamie Nicholls, NDP, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

Does the Department of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages intend to study social funding to see whether this type of funding meets the specific characteristics of minority official language communities?

Does the minister intend to do that?

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

As Mr. Lussier just said, there is a partnership. We are having discussions with the Department of Employment and Social Development. We are going to pursue our dialogue and explore the next steps together.

[Jamie Nicholls, NDP, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

I've spoken quite a bit with Youth Employment Services in Montreal. This is an agency that provides services to anglophone Montrealers usually in search of work and employment. They told me about their worry that in searching for dollars in private sector money a lot of their attention was taken away from actually providing services to their clients.

Does Canadian Heritage or the official languages portfolio have any intention of giving operational funding for this activity?

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

I want to be clear about your question. Are you asking me about the youth employment strategy?

[Jamie Nicholls, NDP, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

No, I am not. It's an organization in Montreal called Youth Employment Services, YES Montreal. They told us at this committee that they spend a lot of time, maybe 30% to 40% of their time, in private fundraising activities to finance the services they give. In doing so, they are not able to offer as many services because a lot of their resources are put toward looking for this private money.

Do you have a solution to this problem in the fact that they are not getting enough public money? They are doing a great job getting private money, but it takes away from the services they are giving.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thank you, Mr. Nicholls.

Minister Glover.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

That again would be under ESDC, Employment and Skills Development Canada. Our ministry through Canadian Heritage actually funds a number of youth programs—Youth Take Charge, the exchange programs—which provide opportunities to our youth.

We're not the only ministry, of course, that does that. There are other ministries that provide opportunities for youth. We reach probably about 280,000 youth every year through things like Canada Summer Jobs, etc., and there are significant funds that are placed for youth.

It is a question for ESDC, unfortunately, once again.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Okay, thank you.

Mr. Chisu.

[Corneliu Chisu, Conservative, Pickering—Scarborough East, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Madam Minister, I would like to thank you for your testimony and congratulate you on your work. I would also like to talk about the other official language, which is English, and ask you a question about that.

It is a question concerning something you mentioned in your speech regarding the protocol for education agreements that you proposed with the provinces and territories to pay special attention to measuring the acquisition of language skills and to promote the sharing of best practices in this area. I know that education is not our purview, but I'm looking not necessarily at the schools, where bilingualism is quite well established—we have French immersion schools, we have French schools—but at the university level.

At the university level in part of, let's say, my other life where I come from, Transylvania—I am not a vampire, but anyway.... When I was at the university in the engineering faculty we were obliged to learn and to have an examination in a foreign language. I took German; that's another issue.

It is possible to encourage the universities to promote the other official language of the country, because when you are going into various specializations—biology, engineering, and so on—the language is a little different from everyday language. This would be an asset for our students and also would provide a better understanding and ability to speak well in both languages.

I'm just asking whether you have had any discussion on this matter.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

This is one of those topics that I take really to heart. When I went to school, because we were learning a second official language, we spoke French all the time. It was immersion; you were immersed. I'm seeing more and more that the kids who are going into these programs are having some difficulties when they finish. They're not able to necessarily communicate at the same level as in previous programs.

That's why I asked the provinces to look at ways in which we can provide opportunities and maybe engage the students, so that they know what to expect when they get out of high school. Then, when they go to university or college, they have a better chance of success. This is why I'm trying to encourage the provinces.

But you are right; it is a provincial responsibility. Having said that, we provide funds to many institutions. I have a list here. From Université Sainte-Anne in Nova Scotia, Université de Moncton, La Cité collégiale.... I have a list here of bilateral post-secondary institutions that are supported under our federal-provincial-territorial bilateral agreements that is probably about 30 names long and includes every province and almost every territory. So we are actively involved in supporting, but the decision-making actually happens at the provincial and territorial level.

That's why I take on the role of encouraging and working together with them, not to step outside of the jurisdictional boundaries that have been well established, but to demonstrate the experience that we have. We have a lot of experience and many things to share, and I believe we ought to share best practices. It's also why I put this in a letter of recommendation to the provinces and territories.

[Corneliu Chisu, Conservative, Pickering—Scarborough East, ON]

Thank you very much.

Our government is preparing for Canada's 150th birthday. Commemoration of birthdays gives Canadians the opportunity to reflect on our history and our identity, including obviously bilingualism, which is very important for us.

Can you give us an update on the planning of the 150th anniversary and how we will promote the two official languages of our country and how Canadians can benefit from bilingualism?

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

Thank you very much for mentioning it. This is something I've spent a great amount of time on as minister.

We did consultations across the country. Of course, we made sure that when we did these consultations we involved communities, particularly the communities in minority situations, so that we could get the best possible suggestions to put forward a plan to assist. We also focused quite a bit on youth involvement in those consultations. We provided every member of Parliament with a tool kit to go out and solicit suggestions from their communities and submit them to us. We had a website that was active and collected 12,000 suggestions across the country. I myself, and our parliamentary secretary for heritage, and parliamentary secretary Monsieur Gourde did consultations.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Okay, thank you very much, Minister Glover.

We'll finish with Monsieur Gravelle.

[Claude Gravelle, NDP, Nickel Belt, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Glover, for being here.

You keep referring to the unprecedented investments your government has made in the roadmap. However, we realized that several programs existed already and were simply included in the roadmap. I am thinking, for example, of the $120 million for Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

Can you tell us exactly how much money in the roadmap comes from new investments and how much is from programs that existed already and were simply included in the roadmap? We would like to have some clear and precise information on that.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

I am going to be clear and precise.

All of the funds are new funds. This is a new roadmap. Several organizations have expressed their support. We are going to continue in the same direction and maintain the same three pillars, i.e. education, immigration and the communities.

I have a list of the programs that existed before and had attained their objectives. At that time we evaluated the programs to decide, in consultation with minority official language community organizations, which had succeeded well and which had succeeded less well. We made changes. On the basis of our observations, we produced the Roadmap for Canada's Official Languages 2013-2018.

So these are new funds and we have changed some things in some programs. That is quite clear and precise.

[Claude Gravelle, NDP, Nickel Belt, ON]

Your government is disregarding its obligations under part VII of the Official Languages Act. In short, the ministers are not consulting the communities when the time comes to implement programs or to establish criteria for the implementation of programs. Because of this lack of consultation, minority official language communities are not taken into account, and the programs that are available are not adapted to the communities. There are several examples of stakeholders who have not had access to federal funding because the program criteria were not adapted to the communities.

What are you doing, concretely, to raise the awareness of other federal institutions that have obligations under part VII of the Official Languages Act, regarding the importance of consulting the communities so as to ensure that the programs are adapted to their specific characteristics? Can you give us some concrete examples of that? Are you ready to commit here, in committee, to sending a letter to each one of your colleagues in every department to remind them are their obligations regarding consultations?