Evidence of meeting #110 for Official Languages in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was health.
9:45 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Denis Paradis
Thank you very much, madame.
Now we'll turn the floor over to Mr. René Arseneault from New Brunswick.
9:45 a.m.
Liberal
René Arseneault Liberal Madawaska—Restigouche, NB
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thanks to the witnesses for their excellent testimony. I'm tempted to call them "the resisters". I obviously appreciated the answers given to Mr. Clarke, which are very useful in a general way. However, I won't take the same tack as my colleague since we have to gather the most diverse range of arguments and testimony possible in order to draft our recommendations and report.
Bilateral federal-provincial agreements should definitely include linguistic obligations. I'm asking the witnesses to make suggestions in turn in a concise manner. We have our own ideas, of course, but our report and recommendations must reflect what the witnesses have told us or recommended.
9:45 a.m.
An hon. member
That's because you're a lawyer.
9:50 a.m.
Liberal
René Arseneault Liberal Madawaska—Restigouche, NB
I'm a troubadour first and a lawyer second, but it's true that our role is to report what the witnesses tell us and the solutions they suggest to us.
I'm going to address the representatives of the health field first. What criteria or obligations do you think we should consider in federal-provincial agreements?
9:50 a.m.
Executive Director, Réseau santé en français de la Saskatchewan
On health, I think I would go back to what Ms. Leis previously said.
Where federal funding is allocated to mental health or home care, for example, the act should require that provisions be included in those agreements compelling the provinces and territories to consult francophones and provide them with services in French.
9:50 a.m.
Liberal
9:50 a.m.
Executive Director, Réseau santé en français de la Saskatchewan
That's true, but I assure you the provinces don't do it that much. The idea is to provide services to francophones and to take the minority into account.
9:50 a.m.
President, Réseau santé en français de la Saskatchewan
I think they should make decisions together. That goes beyond consultation. They should work together. As they say in English: Nothing about me without me.
9:50 a.m.
Liberal
9:50 a.m.
Chair, Conseil des écoles fransaskoises
We don't want these clauses to be mere scarecrows: they must have teeth. In modernizing the act, we could solve the structural problem by including binding provisions that enhance the Commissioner's powers. The idea is to guarantee compliance with the linguistic clauses in bilateral agreements. I won't repeat the fine phrase I just heard, but that's the philosophy we want to have.
9:50 a.m.
Liberal
9:50 a.m.
Manager, Accountability, Conseil économique et coopératif de la Saskatchewan
I think this point has already been raised. It's quite clear that, in the case of an agreement between the federal and provincial governments, local organizations must be engaged at some point, through either a representative organization or the relevant organization. It's important to bear in mind that we in the francophonie are well organized: regardless of the program or service, there is an organization specializing in that program or service. The question then is how those organizations can be mobilized. That's my viewpoint.
9:50 a.m.
Liberal
René Arseneault Liberal Madawaska—Restigouche, NB
Thank you, Mr. N'Goandi.
Mr. Kasongo, do you wish to add anything?
9:50 a.m.
Executive Director, Collège Mathieu
I think my colleagues have mentioned this. Provisions should be included that compel the provinces to deal with the francophone community.
Consider the labour market agreement, for example. Institutions such as the Collège Mathieu were unaware that we could provide our communities with basic essential skills training. It's that kind of detail that's important. If the agreement has that binding character that requires the province to deal with its francophone community, we will be able to participate in the program and provide the service to the community.
9:50 a.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Association des parents fransaskois
If there is one thing that bothers me about this entire funding issue, it's the fact that there's no continuity. We're required to submit every project again, changing only one or two sentences in the description from one year to the next, to obtain funding, even if the project is already working well. Could we put a stop to this cycle and guarantee that funding and projects will continue?
9:50 a.m.
Liberal
René Arseneault Liberal Madawaska—Restigouche, NB
That is a good point.
Mr. Labrecque, do you have anything to add?
9:50 a.m.
Executive Director, Assemblée communautaire fransaskoise
Regarding the agreements, there are some very good examples of changes made to language clauses in Ontario and New Brunswick. I think we can look to what has already been done in those provinces and other good potential solutions that are out there.
9:50 a.m.
Liberal
9:50 a.m.
President, Assemblée communautaire fransaskoise
I will add a couple of things.
First, I think we need to find a way to make it mandatory for governments to work with the Franco-Saskatchewanian community, the Acadian community and other francophone communities.
Second, it is extremely important to note that in almost every agreement, the province has to match the amount of investment.
9:50 a.m.
Liberal
René Arseneault Liberal Madawaska—Restigouche, NB
Excuse me, Mr. Simard. When you talk about “governments”, do you mean provincial governments?
9:50 a.m.
President, Assemblée communautaire fransaskoise
Yes, absolutely.
These agreements raise the issue of matching funds. Provinces have to match the investment made by the federal government.
What I would like to see is for all provincial organizations or departments to match the federal investment with an infrastructure equivalent. Take the Cité universitaire francophone in Regina, for example. The government could say, “Here, we are not giving you any money, but the building you are currently using is now yours.” The Franco-Saskatchewanian community could then add value to the infrastructure it is using.
I am essentially suggesting that the matching investment be made with infrastructure first, and then with funding. The Franco-Saskatchewanian community could attest that it owns and benefits from dozens of millions of dollars—I am making up a number—worth of infrastructure. We could provide equivalent amounts to what the province would invest as infrastructure. Why not give us an amount equivalent to our share?
9:55 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Denis Paradis
Thank you all for your answers, and thank you, Mr. Arseneault.
We will now turn to Mr. Choquette.
9:55 a.m.
NDP
François Choquette NDP Drummond, QC
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I thank all witnesses for their great presentations and very useful answers.
It is true that the action plan raises a lot of questions and passionate feelings about a possible update to the Official Languages Act.
When we travelled to Yukon, we received two or three major proposals about modernizing the Official Languages Act. You mentioned a few, including the language clauses and the need to apply them to every sector. We have to make sure that the money transferred is also invested in health and education services in French, and so on.
There is one thing, however, that has not been mentioned a lot, and that is sustainability. What was suggested about that in Yukon is that the obligation to present a five-year plan every five years should be enshrined in the Official Languages Act. That would ensure that there is no vacuum when a plan comes to an end.
A recent article by #ONfr revealed that francophone organizations are still waiting for the funding they were promised. I wondered about the 20% increase that was promised in May to most of the organizations. We were told that some organizations received the funding, but not others.
I know that you probably received a letter telling you that you would get that money soon. However, in the meantime, you are still waiting.
What is your situation? What are the consequences? Does it prevent you from launching initiatives or from hiring and retaining employees?
I would like to hear your thoughts on that, briefly. Time is short, unfortunately.
Please, go ahead.
9:55 a.m.
Executive Director, Réseau santé en français de la Saskatchewan
We at the Réseau santé en français de la Saskatchewan are not funded by Canadian Heritage. The 20% increase does not affect us. We are funded by Health Canada through the Société santé en français.
Regarding the new action plan, as it relates to our basic operations, the amounts for networking have seen little increase.
Our challenge is more with small networks that offer few services in French, compared to others who have synergies with systems already in place because they offer more services. I would say that our funding is insufficient, because we really are the network that urges the regional health authority to act.