Official Languages Committee on Sept. 26th, 2018

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC]

Yes, I know.

It's difficult, but it is possible.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thank you, Mrs. Boucher.

Again, thank you to the witnesses for their presentations. They are very helpful to our committee.

We will suspend.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

We are resuming the meeting.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108, we are continuing our study of the Action Plan for Official Languages 2018-23: Investing in Our Future.

We are pleased to welcome Glyn Lewis, from Canadian Parents for French, Yvon Laberge, from Educacentre College, Robert Rothon, from the Fédération des francophones de la Colombie-Britannique, Brian Conway, from RésoSanté Colombie-Britannique, and Donald Cyr, from the Société de développement économique de la Colombie-Britannique.

Gentlemen, welcome. We'll listen to your testimonies for about five minutes and then, as usual, we'll go around the table so that my colleagues can ask questions and make comments.

We'll start with Mr. Cyr.

[Donald Cyr, Executive Director, Société de développement économique de la Colombie-Britannique]

If you wish. I didn't know I was supposed to make a presentation, so I will make some notes. Could you start with someone else instead?

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

No problem. You'll see that we are very flexible.

So we'll start with Glyn Lewis.

[Glyn Lewis, Executive Director, Canadian Parents for French - British Columbia, & Yukon]

Thank you very much.

My name is Glyn Lewis, and I am the Executive Director of Canadian Parents for French — British Columbia and Yukon. I think this is the second time I've appeared before your committee.

I will speak to you in English, but I invite you to ask your questions in French. It will give me a chance to practise speaking French a bit.

I don't want to reiterate too much of what I said last time—I think it was about a year ago that we met—but I will summarize some of the key points and then obviously put them within the context of the announcement of the official languages action plan.

First of all, I want to start by thanking the Government of Canada for its commitments in the action plan. I think there were some bold and important funding commitments and some new priorities and initiatives in the action plan that are going to help us. I think it was very much reflective of some of the things that we had been mentioning to this committee and to the government before, in terms of priorities that we saw in the community. I just wanted to start by thanking the government for listening and for recognizing some of the things that we have identified over the years.

The context, from our organizational perspective, is that we promote French as a second language, which makes us different from some of the other organizations that you've heard here today. We promote programs such as French immersion and core French. These are not constitutionally protected programs. The programs are considered to be “by choice”, and I put “by choice” in quotation marks. The good news is that in British Columbia and in Yukon, we have seen phenomenal growth in French as a second language programs for almost 20 years now. I think that's a wonderful testament to bilingualism in Canada and the promotion of our two official languages.

Specifically, for French immersion, we've seen 20 years of growth. There are now over 53,000 students in this province in French immersion programs, which is just about 9.5% of the entire student body. That's an incredible development, and we're actually celebrating 50 years of French immersion this coming year here in British Columbia.

On the core French side, there are about 170,000 students learning French, typically between grades 6 and 8. Now, the challenge that I identified last time I met with the committee is that because of all of this phenomenal demand and all of this growth in French as a second language programs here in B.C., one of the things we've seen is a very serious shortage of French teachers.

Our organization estimates that we are short today roughly 100 to 150 French teachers in the province of British Columbia, and we believe that this has a detrimental impact on two fronts. One is in terms of accessibility of the program. Here in Vancouver, a year and a half ago the Vancouver School Board cut one-quarter of their entire French immersion program, which was oversubscribed, because they said that they couldn't find enough French teachers. That means hundreds and eventually thousands of little kids here in Vancouver are going to be turned away from learning French through the French immersion program because they said they couldn't find enough French teachers. We don't think that's acceptable.

The other way that this has an impact is on the quality of instruction. As soon as school districts can't find enough French teachers, in some situations they start putting teachers into classrooms who might not feel comfortable teaching the subject. We believe that potentially has a detrimental impact on the quality of instruction and the quality of learning.

That was one major thing that we mentioned to this committee last year. I was very pleased to see that the action plan has $31 million set aside for French teacher recruitment and retention strategies over the course of the action plan. We think that's going to help not just in B.C. but all across Canada, because this French teacher shortage is a pan-Canadian problem now.

We've identified a number of different strategies that include recruitment, including recruitment in other provinces to recruit teachers here to B.C. but also out-of-country recruitment. We think recruitment is one important pillar to address this French teacher shortage.

The second one is to train more teachers here in our post-secondary institutions, and the third pillar to address this French teacher shortage is retention, doing better to support teachers and to help them stay in the classrooms. I have a brief on this that has much more detail and I will submit to the clerk so that the committee members can have it and can read over some of the recommendations. I think this is important, because within the context of the $31 million that has been set aside for French teacher recruitment and retention, the question now is what we prioritize, and I think that's going to be a very important conversation going forward.

That's my five minutes, and I'll just leave it there.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thank you very much, Glyn.

We will now go to Yvon Laberge.

[Yvon Laberge, President, Educacentre College]

Good morning, Mr. Chair, honourable MPs and members of the Standing Committee on Official Languages, dear colleagues and participants present.

Mr. Chairman, first of all, I would like to thank you for inviting us, on behalf of the board of directors of Educacentre College, of which I am president.

A non-profit organization since 1992, Educacentre College was designated as a private college by the British Columbia Ministry of Advanced Education, Skills and Training in 2015. Our institution is the only French-language college in British Columbia. Educacentre College is a key contributor to the implementation of the continuum of lifelong learning and education in French in this province.

The college offers college-level training services, continuing education and basic training in French. It is not a traditional training institution, as we normally understand it. In addition to training services, we offer students services and resources that include, among other things, academic and career counselling, employment assistance services, and immigrant orientation and integration services. The global and integrated model used at Educacentre College allows us to direct our participants to various services and training within the college, but also within the francophone community. If services are not available in the francophone community, we look to the broader community according to the needs expressed.

Educacentre College will benefit from funding under the Action Plan for Official Languages 2018-2023: Investing in our Future. We draw attention to increased investments in areas such as early childhood. In the federal-provincial agreement, the college is recognized as a training institution. In the health field, the college is recognized as an institution that can develop and offer new courses and programs to facilitate and encourage access to French-language health services in British Columbia.

With regard to immigration, we can already see that language training services—in French and English—namely the LINC and CLIC courses, are expanding and that integration and reception services are being improved. Funding for literacy and essential skills can also be accessed through Employment and Social Development Canada.

In this regard, I would like to thank the committee. The study and report you produced on this subject have helped us enormously in accessing this funding. Your recognition of the social aspect of literacy and essential skills has ensured that the department's social development component will contribute to the funding of literacy and skills courses. Many thanks to you.

If, in these areas of intervention, we benefit from increased funding and diversification of funding sources, it is partly due to the interventions and recommendations of the Standing Committee on Official Languages. However, all good things need to be improved. Educacentre College does not receive core funding. In our case, the funds obtained from the Ministry of Education come from the federal government through bilateral agreements under the official languages in education program. To my knowledge, the federal funds provided through this program have not been increased for more than 15 years. If we take into account the increase in the cost of living and inflation, this is actually a decrease in the federal contribution. This situation is worsened by the fact that needs are increasing, registrations are growing, and we want to increase our offer of services and programs.

In addition, the federal government has for several years adopted a strategy of transferring certain responsibilities for the provision of services that fall under federal jurisdiction to the provinces and territories through federal-provincial agreements.

Responsibility for the application of and compliance with the Official Languages Act is therefore transferred to the provincial and territorial governments. The enforcement of the act in British Columbia by existing governments is not as rigorous as it could be. Service delivery models are developed by the majority using the majority lens, without consulting the minority.

Two main areas of devolution affect Educacentre College more directly. In the early childhood sector, we are subject to the same standards as English-language colleges. It is assumed that the training programs are already developed and have been approved by the professional order. In the case of employment, francophones are defined as a specialized population, just like young people facing multiple barriers to employment, such as people with physical disabilities or indigenous people. We do not consider the fact that francophones can be young and face multiple barriers. These may include young people with physical disabilities. We also serve indigenous people.

In addition, the delivery model requires francophones to present themselves as subcontractors in about 20 geographical areas, making it almost impossible for the francophone community to provide services.

These are just two examples of issues that concern us. We hope that the renewal of the Official Languages Act will partly address our concerns.

It is important to be able to count on the committee's support to back up our demands that the language clauses in devolution agreements to the provinces and territories be strengthened and that stronger means be provided to ensure that these clauses are respected.

Once again, I sincerely thank you for inviting me here today. I will be delighted to answer your questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thank you very much, Mr. Laberge.

Now it is Robert Rothon's turn.

[Robert Rothon, Executive Director, Fédération des francophones de la Colombie-Britannique]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Fédération des francophones de la Colombie-Britannique is delighted to welcome you to its territory, in a way. It isn't every day that a committee travels outside Ottawa. We thank you for this effort and encourage you to continue this initiative across the country.

I will summarize some of the main elements of the brief we submitted to the committee. If time permits, I will add one or two new elements.

Basically, we have tried to answer the questions the committee asked.

Overall, the federation is satisfied with the content of the action plan, since it contains much of what the francophone community asked for during the consultations held in 2016, namely a commitment by the government to official language minority communities.

Of course, the objectives of this plan, which is very ambitious, will only be achievable if a substantial financial effort is made. This is all the more true since investments in official languages have stagnated for 12 years, in a province where the cost of living is among the highest in Canada and growing year after year. I would like to come back to this point if I can, since it affects some of the service delivery methods included in the action plan.

We are satisfied with the way in which consultations and meetings have been conducted since 2016. I must say that, since the implementation of the action plan, the federation has also been satisfied with its interaction with Canadian Heritage officials, and I can give you some concrete examples, as well as with IRCC officials, another example worth highlighting.

We think it is a little early to say if there are any areas that are not in the action plan, but that would deserve special attention. However, we have immediate concerns about the lack of mention of federal-provincial agreements, in particular with respect to the following elements: specified and verifiable linguistic obligations, a clear and transparent accountability process and a willingness to specify positive measures under part VII of the act, including through regulations.

I will probably echo what has already been said this morning, but the education sector has informed me of its concern about the financial impact of the delay in signing federal-provincial agreements on certain higher education institutions. We can come back to this point. In our opinion, these agreements should provide for mechanisms for the involvement of professional orders in order to facilitate the recognition of diplomas acquired outside Canada. I would like to pick up on the point raised by Glyn Lewis and my colleagues in the education sector.

As it is a little early to evaluate the action plan, it may not be easy to know how to improve it at this stage. However, we want there to be a monitoring mechanism that involves our communities throughout the life of the action plan. We would like to take advantage of the action plan to renegotiate the Canada-community agreements, now tacit agreements that are renewable annually, and make them official, so that the communities also have their mechanisms in place under the action plan.

I would also like to mention that we just had a regional immigration summit with IRCC last week. We are delighted with the cultural shift that this department is taking by developing a service approach designed by and for key stakeholders. I think this is something that cannot be overemphasized. Until the arrival of this policy or measure, immigration, overall, had contributed to the assimilation of francophones outside Quebec. In fact, immigration to Canada was a way of assimilating francophones. I think that was an unexpected consequence. The government now has objectives, a strategic plan and a mechanism date, and that is quite commendable.

In conclusion, we are very satisfied with the efforts made by the government in the action plan. However, there are still systemic barriers that this plan does not seem to address, and we can discuss them later. Before I conclude, I will simply point out the decision of Judge Gascon of the Federal Court against the federation last spring, in which the whole of part VII was called into question.

For us, this means that the overhaul or modernization of the Official Languages Act becomes, for the future of our communities, a crucial issue and a heavy responsibility for the government and for all parties, since we want to see all parties commit to modernizing this legislation and support any effort to that end.

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thank you very much, Mr. Rothon.

We're now going to hear from Brian Conway.

[Dr. Brian Conway, President and Medical Doctor, RésoSanté Colombie-Britannique]

Thank you very much, members of the committee and fellow stakeholders.

As president of RésoSanté Colombie-Britannique and director of the Centre médical francophone de Vancouver, I'd like to begin by thanking you for the opportunity to speak with you today.

The Action Plan for Official Languages 2018-23: Investing in Our Future is, in my view, vital to the future of the francophone community here, in the province. The action plan sets out investments that are more than 20% greater than those in the previous roadmap. If properly targeted, these funding commitments will make it possible to meet the expectations of many in our community, expectations that have been clearly laid out. For these people, their quality of life, sense of belonging and hope for a bright future, as Mr. Trudeau says, are largely dependent on access to services, resources and community activities in French.

This is especially important in health care, where language goes hand in hand with the delivery of optimal services. In other words, people have the right to be sick in their mother tongue, French. The action plan makes clear the importance of innovative projects in improving access to French-language health services.

Working at the St. Boniface Hospital, as a very young infectious disease specialist—longer ago than I care to admit—I could clearly see how well this type of infrastructure served the francophone community. Its existence was entirely warranted given the geography and size of Manitoba's francophone community. That isn't the case here, in B.C., however, where the community is far more spread out and diverse, I would say. Regardless, one thing is clear: the community is growing. I hope I'm not about to contradict what the school board told you, but it serves more than 6,000 students and has seen its student body increase by more than 25% over the past five years.

When people tell you that B.C.'s francophone community is in decline, you should know that is absolutely not true. More and more families are choosing to live in French and enrol their children in French-language schools. This really highlights how important French is to us. All those people are entitled to receive health services in the language of Molière.

How are we going to deliver those services? RésoSanté Colombie-Britannique put together a directory of health care professionals who wish to serve patients in French. Nearly two weeks ago, we released the latest edition of the directory, and I can tell you that more than 2,000 professionals in every corner of the province have expressed their desire to serve people in French. That's right, I said 2,000, so the supply is clearly there.

Over the past five years, I've had the pleasure of establishing the Centre médical francophone de Vancouver, located just two blocks from here. If you ever have the chance, whether during this visit or another, I encourage you to come by for a visit. The medical centre was integrated into an existing clinic. The centre is well-recognized by the community as a point of service for French-language health care. In the course of a year, we can accommodate more than 1,600 visits from francophones who use the medical centre as a gateway. You might liken it to a much smaller version of St. Boniface Hospital; it's a much smaller institution delivering a much more limited range of services.

What can we accomplish over the next five years? As I see it, the challenge is really to match supply with demand and use the directory as a tool. People will use the centre as a gateway. We use the directory to refer them to health professionals who have made clear their desire to serve patients in French. New techniques like telemedicine can be used to serve those who live in remote areas. The action plan is explicit about improving access to health services, and this may be one way of doing that. It's something we need to recognize, because we need to create the infrastructure to improve those services.

The second thing I want to draw your attention to is that the action plan mentions the need for better access to mental health and addiction services.

You are currently in the heart of the opiate crisis. Keep in mind that, every day in this province, more than four people die as a result of opiate overdoses. You may have seen on the news that, on July 27 alone, 130 people in the Downtown Eastside overdosed and required medical attention. Think about it: 130 overdoses in the span of 24 hours. That's a serious problem. Now think about this: 7% of the population in the Downtown Eastside identifies as francophone. That's roughly 1,500 people we could reach more effectively if we were able to provide health services to them in French.

The research group at the Centre médical francophone de Vancouver has identified a number of shelters where nearly 25% of the incoming clientele in a single evening are francophone. Not only are there many of them, but also, they appear to gather in the same places.

We've set up a temporary community clinic, as a pilot, in an effort to encourage these people to access health care. By promoting and expanding these kinds of projects, we are able not just to offer more French-language services, as the public is demanding, but also to address a major crisis.

In closing, I want to underscore how important it is to find ways of improving health care services in French. If we do our job properly, public health will improve so much so that the English-speaking community around us will want to adopt our best practices. That is our goal.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thank you very much, Mr. Conway.

I will now turn the floor over to Donald Cyr.

[Donald Cyr, Executive Director, Société de développement économique de la Colombie-Britannique]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Good morning.

I came here to listen. I didn't know I would be addressing the committee. That's my fault. We just celebrated our 20th anniversary, so I haven't really had time to read all my emails in the past three months.

That said, I'd like to focus more on the Société de développement économique de la Colombie-Britannique, or SDE for short.

Gil Rémillard, a former Quebec minister and founder of the International Economic Forum of the Americas—one of the largest forums in the world—said something that really struck me: the standing of a language is in direct proportion to its economic power.

Say what you will, but when a person doesn't work, they lose their dignity. I believe economic integration is essential. It's the only way for a person to keep their integrity within a community. If a person comes here and does not work, they lose their standing. Bear in mind that 87% or 88%—forgive me, I don't have the exact figures, having not prepared for this—of francophones in B.C. come from away. When a francophone comes here, it's essential that they be able to either start their own business or find employment in order to integrate into community life.

During the economic forum that just took place, one thing that came up again and again was an individual's need to adapt to their community. Technology, immigration and ways to adapt are recurring topics of discussion.

The SDE partners with a number of anglophone groups. Our mission is to educate employers about the economic integration of francophones who come to B.C. Last year, we were able to educate 1,700 businesses, in B.C. alone, support the start-up of 350 businesses and deliver pertinent training. We work with Collège Éducacentre, but we also do a lot of one-time training. We've seen more than 750 people. We do a lot to help integrate francophones who are not from here into the economy. Without that integration, they can't go any farther.

Since our operating budget hasn't increased in eight to 10 years, we have to limit our service offerings to Vancouver. All over the province, though, the demand for the kind of expertise we provide is huge, from both a training and business creation standpoint. We don't have the capacity to serve the entire province, however, given that the funding we receive is enough to cover only Vancouver.

I looked at the upcoming plan, and it doesn't contain all that much in terms of economic measures, so I'd like to see more along those lines. I'm speaking for my own bailiwick, of course, but it bears repeating that the strength of a language is in direct proportion to its economic capacity. Without that capacity or the services needed to integrate all the francophone newcomers into our economy, the effort isn't worth the trouble.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thank you very much, Mr. Cyr.

Thank you to the witnesses for their presentations.

We will now move right into the question and answer portion.

Ms. Boucher, you may go ahead.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC]

Good morning all. Thank you for being here today.

Thank you, Mr. Conway. What you said made me very glad. I fought very hard for French-language health care services back when I was Josée Verner's parliamentary secretary. I remember coming here to provide funding for a study exploring the creation of a small hospital. You've just told us that, today, that hospital exists. Congratulations.

[Dr. Brian Conway]

Thank you for your support.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC]

It was something the community needed. I remember talking a lot about it.

We talk a lot about French-language health care in this committee. It's an issue I cared deeply about when I was a parliamentary secretary, and still do today.

As you said, the new action plan sets out funding for French-language health services. Do you have any concerns about how those initiatives will be implemented into health care programs? Are there other measures we should be looking at so that members of minority communities—in this case, francophones in Vancouver—can access health services in their language more easily? It remains a challenge.

[Dr. Brian Conway]

Naturally, I wanted to share success stories with you, but we do indeed continue to face major challenges.

It's not so much of a legal issue for us. We simply think that, in order to improve the health of a certain population, it's necessary to deliver health services in the best possible way from the very first moment a person seeks out those services. Part of doing that is serving a person in their mother tongue. It's an approach that is well-suited to this area, when you consider the non-francophone and non-anglophone linguistic minorities that surround us. If we develop good programs in French, the underlying structure will be of use to all the other communities, no matter their language, Chinese, Punjabi and so forth.

With this attitude, we are able to open up a dialogue that will probably help us achieve the goal we all share: delivering French-language services to anyone who wants them. I think we're on the right track. We need to continue down this path with a view to improving the health of these populations. This approach has served us well thus far, as opposed to one based on demands.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC]

Oftentimes, a community isn't aware of all the available resources, be they French or English.

Does the francophone community know that you exist and that it can easily access health services in French?

[Dr. Brian Conway]

We have a directory, and we do the best we can. That said, I will ask Mr. Rothon to answer your question. It's possible to be so close to the issue that you lack perspective.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC]

I ask because, in my community, people don't seem to realize even though it's well indicated.

[Robert Rothon]

I'll do my best to answer your question.

I take for granted that the francophone population, which is made up largely of newcomers and immigrants, is always learning about the existence of French-language services. Upon arriving in B.C., people automatically expect that all the services are provided in English, so the effort to promote French-language services never ends. I would say that, with the tools and resources at our disposal, we manage to reach a good chunk of the population. Do we reach everyone? No. Do we reach the majority? Probably not.

I do, however, know that RésoSanté Colombie-Britannique gives a lot of thought to the advertising of health services. I think any sector that provides little-known services is confronted with the same challenge. That's certainly true of immigration.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC]

Thank you.

Mr. Chair, do I have any time left?

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

You still have a few minutes on the clock.