Evidence of meeting #43 for Official Languages in the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was immigrants.
A recording is available from Parliament.
5:15 p.m.
Conservative
5:15 p.m.
NDP
Claude Gravelle NDP Nickel Belt, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Dubé, in your speech, you said that for every francophone job in your city, two more anglophone jobs are created. Did I get that right?
5:15 p.m.
City Manager, City of Moncton
What I said was that the New Brunswick Commissioner of Official Languages published a report yesterday by Pierre-Marcel Desjardins and David Campbell, two experienced economists who live in Moncton. They did an analysis and discovered that each position filled by a bilingual person creates two unilingual positions. In other words, when a bilingual position is created in New Brunswick, there are direct economic impacts on the community, especially the anglophone community.
5:15 p.m.
City Manager, City of Moncton
Yes, I can send it to you. Actually, it's available on the website of the New Brunswick Commissioner of Official Languages, Ms. d'Entremont.
5:15 p.m.
NDP
Claude Gravelle NDP Nickel Belt, ON
Okay, thank you very much.
Ms. Kenny, I think it was you who said that embassy employees in Europe send francophones to Quebec instead because they think there are francophones only in that province.
I spend a lot of time in western Canada. When people hear me speaking French, they ask me if I live in Quebec. When I say that, no, I live in Ontario, they don't believe me. It's not just embassies that have this problem but Canadians, too.
5:15 p.m.
President, Fédération des communautés francophones et acadiennes du Canada
Yes, and I would say that it's largely the case in Quebec. Francophone and Acadian communities are a well-kept secret. To be honest, I blame the media. Even in national news broadcasts, the media speak very little about language issues outside Quebec. If no one hears about us and our reality, we will remain a well-kept secret.
As for the embassies, work is being done by Citizenship and Immigration Canada. Have we caught up with the 67 member countries of the francophonie, including Romania? I've had the opportunity to visit these countries, where I spoke French and Italian the entire time I was there. The embassies, particularly the Canadian embassy in Paris, are working to raise the awareness of potential immigrants by offering evening information sessions to tell them about some communities.
I myself took part a webinar on the Journée internationale de la Francophonie. I spoke to 130 participants who were potential immigrants about each region in our beautiful country and about our communities. Work is being done, but we are still in the early stages. In 2004, during the first Destination Canada—which I took part in—we were doing more promotion. People now are a little more aware of us, but there is still a lot of work to be done in terms of promotion.
When I arrive in Paris, people also say to me, “Oh, Quebec, ceinture fléchée, Céline Dion”. I answer that, no, I'm Franco-Saskatchewanian. That's what happens. It's the same thing across the country.
5:20 p.m.
NDP
5:20 p.m.
President, Fédération des communautés francophones et acadiennes du Canada
Francophones who tend to come to Canada have mainly heard about Quebec. They arrive at the embassy and mention the province of Quebec. Staff at our embassies don't necessarily tend to say that there are places other than Quebec where French is spoken, including Ontario, New Brunswick and, in fact, across the country.
5:20 p.m.
NDP
Claude Gravelle NDP Nickel Belt, ON
You just said that there's a problem with the media. When I stepped out a few minutes ago, I spoke to a Radio-Canada reporter who works in Sudbury. He told me that they lost seven positions today.
5:20 p.m.
President, Fédération des communautés francophones et acadiennes du Canada
Fifty positions in communities outside Quebec have been cut.
5:20 p.m.
NDP
5:20 p.m.
President, Fédération des communautés francophones et acadiennes du Canada
I'll tell you the same thing I've been saying for two years now. The very identity of our communities is in jeopardy. If we can't see ourselves or hear ourselves on television, that's a problem. In Regina, where I'm from, the only local news in French is broadcast by Radio-Canada. It's pretty much the same thing everywhere. Half an hour has just been cut from my news program.
People tend to say that we want news in French. Of course, I can get news in French, but in Regina, how many times do I have to hear that the Champlain Bridge in Montreal needs to be replaced? That's the news I get. If I don't get a local news broadcast where I live, I have TVA and the national Radio-Canada talking about the Champlain Bridge.
Mr. Dubé and I say that, after hearing about the Champlain Bridge a few times, we have no interest in it.
5:20 p.m.
NDP
Claude Gravelle NDP Nickel Belt, ON
Thank you very much.
I hate hearing the Montreal traffic report on Radio-Canada.
I have a quick question for either Ms. Ouellet or Ms. Martel.
In your document, you say that the Ottawa Legal Information Centre is a four-year pilot project. What will happen at the end of four years?
5:20 p.m.
Executive Director, Association des juristes d'expression française de l'Ontario
That's an excellent question.
The pilot project will essentially be funded until the end of the roadmap. We are in the process of diversifying our funding. We want to request funding from the province and the City of Ottawa. We are also hoping that, with the renewal of the roadmap, the project will also be renewed, depending on statistics and the centre's use.
5:20 p.m.
Secretary, Association des juristes d'expression française de l'Ontario
I would like to add something.
5:20 p.m.
Secretary, Association des juristes d'expression française de l'Ontario
The site cliquezjustice.ca started with a “careers in justice” component. Initially, this component was fully funded by the Ministry of Justice. However, over the years, it became a larger project. We sought other sources of funding, and it became a pan-Canadian project. It was initially a pilot project in Ontario and then became a model applied across Canada.
Let me tell you about the approach that AJEFO has adopted for this kind of project. Like the City of Moncton, we used funding and strategies. We didn't think the justice system was the sole responsibility of lawyers, but also of the entire community. That's why these kinds of projects have broken boundaries. They have made it possible to create a provincial strategy with the Ministry of the Attorney General and various sectors to set objectives. The strategic plan to improve services in French has been around for 15 years now.
There is something you could do when it comes to official languages. It is important to realize that many sectors need to work together, particularly in immigration. You have to talk about employment, local development and communities. You need to adopt a multi-party approach with very specific objectives. Obviously, things won't change overnight, but you need to work bit by bit. It will be positive and will get some results.
5:25 p.m.
Conservative
5:25 p.m.
Conservative
Joe Daniel Conservative Don Valley East, ON
Thank you, Chair, and thank you, witnesses, for being here.
Let me just put it on the record first that the recruitment strategy for CIC was not only in Europe, but it was also in Tunis, in Africa, on November 24 and 25. In a funny way, I think this whole situation is because of the fact that even in the francophone communities, the francophones are not staying there, and they're not staying there because of economic development in many cases. So I was delighted to hear from Mr. Dubé about their approach to it.
Madam Aden, you spoke about jobs, finding the jobs. We were at Bombardier and at Pratt & Whitney, and all these other companies in Montreal. They expected a growth of some 30% this year and had no idea where they were going to fill those positions from. These weren't just highly technical positions. There was everything, right across the spectrum.
I really want to see how you feel about what the role of the business sector should be in the recruitment and integration of francophone immigrants in Canada.
5:25 p.m.
President, Fédération des communautés francophones et acadiennes du Canada
First, I'd like to say that I live in Saskatchewan—economic boom in Saskatchewan.
It's wrong to say that people come here and leave because they don't have a job. There are a lot of jobs there, but there aren't necessarily the tools to let employers know about French and the advantage of having bilingual workers. As I said, there isn't that carrot that existed in the past.
Some employers recruit at fairs like Destination Canada, which was also in Tunis. The entire Destination Canada fair didn't go to Tunis, just a part of it. The same is true for Belgium. There are some employers and even some recruiters that come. An employment database was created for Destination Canada for that event.
I'm a businesswoman. When Destination Canada was cut, I was the first to say that if I wanted to recruit employees in France, Belgium or Tunis, I would pay for my trip myself, knowing that ultimately it would let me recruit employees elsewhere. What was cut was all the help that communities provide to these employers. The connection is lost. In the past, employers were told to recruit a good, bilingual employee, in other words someone who speaks English and French, and we helped to welcome and integrate that person.
That's what we need to do. Employers have an important role to play, but if they don't know about francophone immigration and don't see the advantages of recruiting a francophone or an anglophone, they are going to wonder why they would and what the benefit would be for them.
5:25 p.m.
Conservative
