Official Languages Committee on May 30th, 2016

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Kings—Hants, NS]

I agree with the fact that it is a comprehension tool. It's also important for us to recognize that public servants use tools like Google Translate. But I don't trust Google Translate. In my opinion, it's a tool that is not dependable since it does not use government vocabulary. We have to see to it, consequently, that the work gets done in close cooperation with the translation bureau and that it be given the tools it needs to fulfil its obligations.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thank you very much.

This marks the end of interventions.

Mr. Choquette, you have the floor.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Mr. Chair, I would like to know whether the minister might have 15 or 20 minutes to spare so that we can go around the table one last time.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

I think Mr. Brison is expected in the Senate.

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Kings—Hants, NS]

I do, in fact, have to appear before another committee.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

You are too popular.

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Kings—Hants, NS]

That said, I look forward to meeting with you again.

I respect the work committees do. I have been a member of Parliament since 1997 and was a minister for two years. As a committee member, I worked very hard for 17 years. Needless to say, I recognize the importance of committees. I would very much like to come back and meet with you.

I'd like to tell you a short anecdote. I know that I make little mistakes in French. My mother-in-law, Ms. St-Pierre, who is from Drummondville, speaks only French. When I speak with her or Mr. St-Pierre, I try to speak in French only. I think this story is important for Mr. Paradis, who has a vineyard in Quebec. I, too, have a small vineyard, but I also have apple trees.

I remember one summer evening when we were at my place and I mistakenly asked my mother-in-law, Ms. St-Pierre, in French, whether she had seen a certain part of my anatomy—mon verge—when I had meant to say "orchard" or verger.

I meant to say verger. You have to have courage when you're venturing into new languages, but I wanted to let you know that I continued even after that foray into French, and I continue to progress. She was, like you have been, very patient with me.

My partner was not very patient under the circumstances.

Thank you once again for your patience and your passion for both official languages. I share that passion, and I'm eager to continue working with you.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Minister, I just want to tell you that I am very happy that I have a vineyard rather than an orchard.

It was a great pleasure for all of us to have you, as well as Mr. Tremblay and Ms. Smart. I thank all three of you.

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Kings—Hants, NS]

I thank the public servants.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

You are welcome at our committee anytime.

We will now break for a few minutes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

We will resume proceedings.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), we are continuing our study of the translation bureau.

Before we begin, we will hear from Mr. Choquette.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I would like to thank all of the representatives of the translation bureau for being here with us again.

The committee's recommendation was to have representatives from Public Services and Procurement Canada appear to answer our questions on behalf of the Honourable Judy Foote. This is what we had requested. I understand that she cannot be here because she is travelling or has other commitments at this time. We would have therefore liked to have the deputy minister appear in order to ask her more general questions on governance and find out the department's role in relation to the translation bureau?

Mr. Chair, I don't know whether the other committee members would like you to find out what happened and why no one is appearing on behalf of the Honourable Judy Foote today, as we had requested.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thank you for your comments.

First of all, I think committee members had made it clear that they wished to have Ms. Achimov appear to discuss certain specific points, as they had a number of questions. We can therefore take advantage of her presence here this afternoon to hear her talk about the specific points on which committee members sought clarification.

Furthermore, Ms. Foote is not in Ottawa this week. We would therefore be able to invite her again at a later date. We have no objections to that.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

When the Commissioner of Official Languages tables a report, our committee has a tradition. Mr. Choquette brought forward a motion to that end. It reads as follows:

That the House of Commons Standing Committee on Official Languages invite Graham Fraser, Commissioner of Official Languages, to appear before a televised session of the Committee by June 1 to provide clarification on the report.

In my view, the wording “by June 1” poses a problem. Normally, we invite the Commissioner of Official Languages following the publication of a report. By order of priority, we need to finish the report on the translation bureau and, right after that, according to our standard practice, the committee should have the Commissioner of Official Languages appear following the tabling of his latest report. I will check with the clerk for possible dates.

Mr. Choquette, you have the floor.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Mr. Chair, I absolutely agree with you. Of course, I introduced a motion, and it is indeed a tradition to show respect for our commissioner, who is doing solid work. He tabled his report recently. He also tabled a report on justice, and on June 7, he will be tabling a special report on Air Canada. It would therefore be better to hear from him after June 7 for us to ask him questions about the three reports he had produced within a short timeframe. If the committee agrees to proceed in this way, that would be my recommendation.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

That is an excellent suggestion. June 7 is a Tuesday. Would you like us to plan that meeting for June 8?

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

If it's on June 7, when will we meet next after that?

[Paul Lefebvre, Liberal, Sudbury, ON]

June 7 is a Tuesday

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

It would be the following day, Wednesday, June 8.

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

No problem.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

So Wednesday, June 8, works then, is that right?

We will hear from the Commissioner of Official Languages on Wednesday, June 8. Then it's settled.

I would now like to welcome Ms. Achimov. She is accompanied by the following individuals from the translation bureau: Adam Gibson, vice-president, linguistic services, Nancy Gauthier, vice-president, business strategies and partnerships, and Lucie Séguin, vice-president, corporate services.

Some committee members wanted clarification on certain points. I will therefore proceed more quickly than usual so as to be able to obtain answers to our questions in the next half-hour, while sticking to the regular speaking order. Ms. Achimov has already appeared before the committee. It is a question of clarifying certain points.

We will start with Mr. Généreux.

Mr. Généreux, you have the floor.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Welcome, Ms. Achimov, and the other witnesses.

I will begin by explaining the reason why we wanted to see you again and also meet the people who designed the Portage tool.

At an earlier meeting, a witness emphasized the software's corpus. From what I understand, the corpus includes expressions that are entered into the system so that, once the translation has been completed, there is a match in both languages. I would like to understand how the corpus is created. This inevitably comes with costs attached, since you need people to put it together. Can a simple user contribute to building the corpus, or are people paid to add data? The committee wasn't able to grasp exactly how it works, and so I am providing an opportunity to all four of you to enlighten us on the matter. How are the data entered into the corpus, and what kind of results have you obtained?

In addition, I have already voiced my financial concerns, namely, how much it will cost to maintain the tool. It's all well and good to create an application or software, but who is putting the data in and how is it being done?

Ms. Achimov, you have the floor.

[Donna Achimov, Chief Executive Officer, Translation Bureau, Department of Public Works and Government Services]

Thank you for the question—it will allow us to provide a better understanding of the tool.

I will let Ms. Gauthier field the question. She is responsible for client relations, and innovation as well.

[Nancy Gauthier, Vice-President, Business Strategies and Partnerships, Translation Bureau, Department of Public Works and Government Services]

Thank you.

Thank you for the question.

The software's corpus is supplied with phrases and terminology from the government. These are drawn from current government websites. The corpus was developed by the National Research Council of Canada.

In terms of assessing content, I believe you want to find out what kind of results we obtain once the data has been entered. It's really all about looking at the statistical recurrence of data. If a match in content, for example "dog means le chien" comes up quite frequently, that is the result that's going to appear. The content has to be re-worked and validated by professional language experts, who will also enure quality control. After that, the corpus is sent to the National Research Council, which does what's known as retraining of the engine to search for those reoccurrences. We can add the content we want to the corpus so as to obtain the best results possible.