Official Languages Committee on Nov. 1st, 2018

[Yvan Déry]

You say “the next election”, but it must be done before the next census, in reality, because it is during the census that the count will be done.

As a result of the work of this committee—you heard from Statistics Canada officials—the government's response was quite clear. It mandated Statistics Canada to examine all the possibilities, all the possible ways to enumerate rights holders. It has set up a committee of experts who are testing questions, and you mentioned, I believe you mentioned, that they came to see you last March to discuss them. So the work is being done and different approaches are being tested.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Now that the Department of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages are divided, how does that change your daily activities?

[Denis Racine]

Honestly, not much has changed.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Okay.

[Denis Racine]

We are still part of the Department of Canadian Heritage, but we also serve Minister Joly with the help of Ms. Roy, who was here earlier.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

For example, in the case of the Netflix agreement, the responsibility was with the Department of Official Languages and the Department of Canadian Heritage.

In terms of communications—earlier, we talked about community media—is it the Department of Canadian Heritage or the Department of Official Languages?

How do you you find your way through that?

[Denis Racine]

We clearly have a privileged relationship, if I may put it that way, with our colleagues responsible for the various issues within the Department of Canadian Heritage. So, on a daily basis, nothing changes. We have access to those people, we can discuss and point out concerns or opportunities.

In terms of operations, we are still located in the same place, on the same floor, in the same offices—

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

I understand, yes.

[Denis Racine]

—and it's business as usual.

I think the good news is the positive feedback from organizations, telling us that the transition has not had an impact on their relationship with us. People wanted to create a seamless process and we are very proud of it.

We are pleased that this change within government, within cabinet, has not had a negative impact on the people we serve on a daily basis. I must tell you that we have made an effort to ensure that there is no negative impact as a result of this change.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thank you very much, Mr. Choquette.

We will move on to the next remarks, those of Ms. Lambropoulos and Mr. Rioux.

They will be sharing the time.

Go ahead, Ms. Lambropoulos.

[Emmanuella Lambropoulos]

Exactly. As you said, I will be sharing my time with my colleague Mr. Rioux.

Sorry, I'll ask my question in English.

Are there any specific programs or monies allocated for immigrants who come to Canada and who are part of a minority language group but live in a different language reality, such as immigrants who come to Quebec whose second language is English and who do not speak French? Is there any plan for these people? Is there any help coming from this action plan?

[Denis Racine]

Again, that is an initiative that is under the leadership of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. One major initiative that falls under its lead is to create a pathway for immigrants when they come to Canada, which applies to anglophones who have English as a second language and immigrate to Quebec. The department is working on a pathway to facilitate the process of arriving in Canada, integrating into the community, and getting access to services in one of the official languages of this country. This initiative is being delivered by the department in collaboration with some community stakeholders, which is key to the success of this initiative. This is how your concern will be addressed over the next few years.

France, I don't know if you have some additional information.

[France Fortier]

No.

[Denis Racine]

Okay.

[Yvan Déry]

In the particular case of Quebec, though, there's a difference. The Government of Canada has devolved the selection and integration responsibilities for immigrants to the Government of Quebec through multiple agreements since 1978. With that devolution, Quebec has what they call the maîtrise d'oeuvre with respect to the selection and integration of immigrants.

The action plan has measures for francophone immigration outside Quebec, and we have targets for that. The IRCC and the Government of Canada are really hands-on for francophone immigration. In the case of Quebec, it's really the province that is the key player here, so the action plan doesn't go there.

[Emmanuella Lambropoulos]

Okay. Even though it's the provincial government that gets to pick, there are quite a few anglophone immigrants who live in Quebec. I've met a lot of them. Are they at risk of being removed by the Quebec government because they don't speak French? What happens in these cases?

[Yvan Déry]

We cannot really comment on the position that the Quebec government, Mr. Legault and la CAQ, has made on that, but it was made clear that, while Quebec has a major role to play vis-à-vis immigration, deportation is a federal responsibility, and discussions would have to be had if they were to move in that direction. Those discussions won't be had with us. There's certainly a federal responsibility there that would be called upon, and those discussions would be with IRCC.

[Emmanuella Lambropoulos]

Okay, thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Mr. Rioux, you have the floor.

[Jean Rioux]

Thank you.

Ms. Bombardier was on Tout le monde en parle.

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

My goodness, not here!

[Jean Rioux]

No, not here.

I found her comments alarming for you who are promoting bilingualism.

According to the figures, in Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island, there has been an increase in the number of people who speak French. In New Brunswick, the mother tongue of 32% of the population is French. In Ontario, 527,000 people speak French as their mother tongue. There are 2,000 students at the Université de Saint-Boniface, which is a French-language institution. In Alberta, the number of people who speak French at home has increased by 53%, and in Vancouver, it has increased by 21%. The Vancouver area has 40 French-language schools and there is still a shortage.

According to Ms. Bombardier's comments, the francophonie is not significant. Is she wrong?

[Denis Racine]

The data you just shared with us and many other data are not necessarily in line with the statements made by Ms. Bombardier. For example, there has been quite a significant increase in enrolment in minority schools across the country.

We can also see a sort of renewal, if I may say so, of francophone artistic expression. We are going through a fairly interesting time in terms of creativity among official language minorities across the country. As you have seen, the communities immediately reacted to Ms. Bombardier's comments. People reacted that very evening. They did not remain indifferent to such a statement, they reacted very strongly. In the days that followed, the intensity of the reactions even increased.

I think it's an unfortunate situation. Fortunately, there are people across the country arguing that this version of the facts is not entirely accurate.

For our part, we continue to promote, provide data and use the tools at our disposal to encourage people to always keep a close eye on all the positive work that is currently being done in communities across Canada.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thank you very much.

If there are no further comments from the committee members, we will—

[Alupa Clarke, Conservative, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Am I next?