Official Languages Committee on Feb. 26th, 2015

[Lise St-Denis, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Minister, you talked about the National Arts Centre receiving artists, but does the promotion of the French language affect the majority of Canadians? It is easy to say that you are investing $1.2 billion over five years, which is still only $250 million per year. There are also activities, such as the ones you have described. However, does that actually make a difference? We all agree that the French culture is important and that bilingualism is the greatest thing on earth, but all of this is theory.

In practical terms, based on your experience, does the promotion of language have an impact on all Canadians?

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

I think we can always do more, but I see that Canada is flourishing in both official languages. When I became the Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages, I wanted to know the situation of the official languages in the provinces and territories.

So I had a map drawn up, which I will share with you. I actually wanted to have a comparison. We know that the Commissioner of Official Languages, Mr. Fraser, said that 250,000 more people are bilingual than there were 10 years ago. However, we should check the statistics.

I personally come from Manitoba. The people in my province are proud of the francophonie. I am the result of French immersion. I wanted to see how the situation compared to other places. I was astonished to see how many people were bilingual in Manitoba. Compared to other provinces and territories, we rank fifth. Yukon is third in terms of the percentage of bilingual people.

Who would have thought that we are affecting all the provinces and territories in such a significant way? Once again, I wanted to share these very interesting facts with you.

[Lise St-Denis, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

Okay, let's talk about Yukon.

Why today do you think the francophone communities in that territory still have to use the legal system to have their rights recognized? In your view, is that normal? The Official Languages Act has been around for some time. Why do they still have to go to court?

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

That case has to do with the minority community in Yukon. I am sorry, Ms. St-Denis, but that question is for the territorial authority.

[Lise St-Denis, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

Yes, okay.

Let's go back to the issue of funding.

Do you support the idea of recurrent funding for the social and community infrastructure of francophone communities? Do you think the funding should be recurrent?

I have asked you this question in the House before. You said that an amount of $1.2 billion over five years was earmarked for the activities. We know that and we cannot say that nothing has been done since some things have been done. Is recurrent funding part of the Department of Canadian Heritage's philosophy?

My next question has to do with the cuts. We have not talked about that, but do you think the recurrent funding is important?

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

First, I think that the organizations that receive recurring funding are very happy with the work that we do. I am proud to say that about 85% of the funds provided to minority official language communities by the Department of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages are recurring funds.

[Lise St-Denis, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

Does that include funds for literacy, for example?

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

If you look at the roadmap, you will see the funds available in the 14 departments. Some funds have been allocated. We have changed the name. It is no longer HRSDC. The old roadmap has the previous name.

In the roadmap, $7.5 million come from the literacy and essential skills program of the Department of Employment and Social Development Canada. Minister Poilievre is very well aware of the need to provide opportunities to those who need them. The funds in that roadmap provide assistance in that regard.

[Lise St-Denis, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

Let's talk about Radio-Canada.

You said that there were no direct funds for artists following the cuts. Surely that is a very small part of available funds.

Let's talk about this from a more general point of view. Do you think that minority francophone communities can develop culturally without a national radio or television broadcaster?

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

In my opinion, Radio-Canada reaches minority official language communities and particularly francophone communities outside Quebec.

[Lise St-Denis, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

What is the impact of these cuts going to be?

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

As you know, we give Radio-Canada $1.1 billion a year. That is a large amount. Radio-Canada can thus implement its mandate. If it does not do so, the CRTC makes sure it deals with that problem.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thank you, Ms. Glover.

I also thank Ms. St-Denis.

I now give the floor to Mr. Leung.

[Chungsen Leung, Conservative, Willowdale, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

You are the Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages, which has a slightly broader mandate than just the two official languages.

What is your department doing to support, maintain, and preserve Canada's aboriginal languages. As we know, around the world, many of these native aboriginal languages are lost due to there being no critical mass of population to support them.

What is Canada doing to preserve and maintain them?

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

Thank you very much for the question.

I'm proud to say that we have what's called the aboriginal peoples' program out of Canadian Heritage. That program is essential for those who want to ensure that their languages do not disappear. We have many aboriginal languages across the country. The funds that are available through the aboriginal peoples' program go to communities or organizations that strive to ensure that they're teaching teachers and that those teachers will then go on to continue. From there the population that knows these languages, and that develops and keeps these languages, will continue to grow.

This program has been working very well. The program is 114 projects over a year. We put about $16 million towards the aboriginal peoples' program to make sure that they are able to retain their values, their culture, and of course their traditions. Language is important and we're proud to be a part of that.

[Chungsen Leung, Conservative, Willowdale, ON]

It would be tough to grow a language by spreading it into the general population of Canada. We already have to deal with two official languages. The acquisition of a third language would be hard and not necessarily contribute to our overall national strategy.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

I would say that knowing more languages helps us. I think knowing more languages is something that we should all strive to do. I think it contributes very much to the fabric of who we are as Canadians. That's why it's important that we retain this program and that we continue to assist where we can.

You're right, we don't see the aboriginal languages being practised in some of our more southern locations. I have to say that on many reserves in Manitoba, the Cree language, Ojibwa, and even Michif through my own Métis communities, are still being used, and we encourage them to continue to preserve those very significant languages.

[Chungsen Leung, Conservative, Willowdale, ON]

I can certainly appreciate and attest to the fact that multiple language skills are very important. With my colleagues to the right of me, the three of us probably could handle about 14 or 15 languages.

In my role as Parliamentary Secretary for Multiculturalism, I think the 20% of people who are born outside Canada are our best cultural link, linguistic link, and family link to their country of origin. They certainly could help us promote and build Canada.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

Absolutely and we're so proud of the abilities of our members on both sides. We have some members on the opposition benches who have also retained languages that are very important to the enrichment of Canada. That is what having multiple languages does and that's what having multiple cultures does: they enrich Canada. We are the greatest country in the world, and it really has a lot to do with what we're talking about.

In your role as the PS for multiculturalism I know you work very hard with many of these cultural groups. I want to thank you because I know you're everywhere. You seem to never go home, PS Leung, but we do appreciate all of your efforts and I know it's recognized.

[Chungsen Leung, Conservative, Willowdale, ON]

Thank you for your recognition.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thank you, Mr. Leung.

Now we'll go to Mr. Daniel.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister, for being here. It's always good to see you when you come up here.

As part of the things I'm involved in, I'm the chair of the aerospace caucus. I've had the great opportunity of going and visiting our aerospace industry in the Montreal area: Bombardier, Pratt & Whitney.... There are a number of companies there, all of which are growing in leaps and bounds. In particular they need skilled young people as part of their organizations, all of which strive to be bilingual in every aspect.

It's critical that our young people get a quality education. What is the government doing to support students getting training in high-demand fields—and not just high-demand but highly skilled and highly paid—in both official languages across Canada?

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

Thank you for mentioning the aerospace industry.

As you know, I come from Manitoba where we have a very strong aerospace industry as well. We just met with them in fact yesterday. They were on the Hill. It is one of the industries that frankly is really putting Canada on the map. They do need people who are equipped to work in both languages. It benefits their industry.

We all know, as members of this committee, how knowing both national languages helps us to reach out. Trade is improved. Our ability to connect with people is improved. Our connections lead to long-term plans and contracts that benefit our economy.

In our efforts to educate young people in these languages, we do provide funding. We have bilateral protocol agreements with the provinces and the territories. It's about $259 million every year that is provided. We also have partnerships with le Réseau des cégeps et des collèges francophones du Canada, which also assists in making sure that we provide the best possible quality education for these students.

We have to work in concert, obviously, with some of the other universities and colleges as well. I have to mention that MITT, in Manitoba, recently partnered with la Division scolaire franco-manitobaine to bring students to do their first year in the trades together. It's a technical college, but they're bringing in grade 12 students. It's an innovative process.

These are the types of things that we see happening. Partnerships are what we're all about.

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

Thinking out of the box here a little bit, as you know, we as a government have made many trade deals, in particular, the most recent one with Europe. Having an advantage of both languages, how do you see that enhancing our trade with Europe, for example?

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

I can't even explain exactly how much benefit comes out of knowing the two languages. Most of us are either studying it, or we know it, or we wish we knew it. There again, in Europe, it's not just French and English. Our national languages are official languages. They have a variety of languages.

Every time we can provide someone who can dialogue with them to attain the deals we need to increase our economic wealth, it is a bonus for Canada. It is an advantage that should not be dismissed lightly. I believe that Canada is going to do very well under CETA. It has a lot to do with the fact that we are a multicultural country.