Official Languages Committee on Feb. 22nd, 2016

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the second meeting of the Standing Committee on Official Languages. This is actually our first meeting, apart from the one where we elected the chair.

The agenda is simple. We are only dealing with committee business. At the last meeting, we said we would try to establish a timetable and priorities. We will try to be succinct.

I asked you to think about the topics we should discuss. I will first hear your topic suggestions for future committee business. Afterwards, we will try to set priorities, and we will be able to establish a series of work we will have to undertake on Monday and Wednesday afternoons. I would like us to discuss work to carry out by the summer adjournment and to set a complete timetable.

Would anyone like to start?

[Paul Lefebvre, Liberal, Sudbury, ON]

I would like to start, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Go ahead, Paul.

[Paul Lefebvre, Liberal, Sudbury, ON]

I saw that there are already motions on the table and that we could begin discussing concrete topics immediately. A number of those motions are laudable, and we should discuss them.

However, I would like to suggest that we start at the beginning, since the committee has several new members. I would like to hear from people on the ground, such as the representatives of the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada. I would also like to hear from the Deputy Minister of Canadian Heritage, as well as from Graham Fraser. I know that my colleague had also proposed a motion on that issue.

All those people who work on the ground could elaborate further on issues they are facing. When the time comes for us to set the order of business for next year or beyond, we will be better equipped thanks to those individuals' testimony. That will be better than establishing a list now and confining ourselves to it, when there may be other issues we are not familiar with and could obtain insight on. We could start with more general topics, over the next few meetings. I wouldn't want that to take up a whole month. From there, we could discuss more specific issues.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thank you.

Who else would like to take the floor?

Go ahead, Bernard.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I would like to begin by thanking Chloé Forget, the committee analyst working at the Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs Section, for preparing the document that gives an overview of the roadmap for official languages that has been in effect for several years.

I realized something important when I read that document. Across the country, a tremendous amount of money is being spent on official languages, on various actions that are probably all just as important. I am not denying their importance. However, the report shows in a fairly concrete manner that it is difficult to establish a direct connection between the money spent and the results.

It is important to try to quickly determine how we could implement an effective system. I understand that the lack of a horizontal evaluation system prevents us from quantifying the results.

I agree with Mr. Lefebvre. We could obtain those kinds of results or learn more by hearing from people working on the ground. They could provide concrete testimony on the money spent in their area of activity and tell us about the concrete results those investments have yielded.

When $1.124 billion is spent, it is important to know where the money is spent and what is being done with it.

Mr. Lefebvre is right to point out that the committee has several new members. It is important for us to know about that. We have to see what actions could be undertaken by the committee to ensure that we have appropriate financial reporting.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Would you be in favour of having a department representative, for example, coming to shed light on those expenditures? I have taken note of the fact that we will look at the roadmap.

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

Certainly. Once again, I want to thank Ms. Forget for her document. However, I would like officials to come explain exactly what has been done, what justifies the decisions that have been made and what can be done to improve the monitoring of the money spent. I think that would be important.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thank you, Bernard.

Would anyone else like to speak?

Go ahead, Mr. Samson.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I have heard some good suggestions, be it in terms of motions or other things. There are some very interesting topics. I have noted several that may certainly interest me, but may also interest our team and the entire committee. In particular, services in French and access to justice are always very important issues. I am very interested in the census and the questions it will contain. Anything involving immigrants in minority francophone communities is also extremely important, and the list goes on. The Official Languages Act has not been reviewed in more than 30 years. There are so many topics to discuss.

Moreover, as my colleagues Mr. Lefebvre and Mr. Généreux said, I believe we should lay the groundwork. To do so, we have to obtain information from the department. We should first invite Hubert Lussier, who is the Assistant Deputy Minister at the Department of Canadian Heritage. He could invite his team to accompany him.

I would also like to hear comments from people on the ground, such as the representatives of the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada, which has been dealing with all those issues for a number of years. They could also bring us up to speed on their outlook. That would be very important.

Finally, we should invite the Commissioner of Official Languages, Graham Fraser, to present his report, his update and the issues covered there.

I would also like to have indicators that will help us determine where we should focus our efforts to improve the situation.

We are a team. I am convinced this committee's objective is to make sure that the issues are advancing. This is an opportunity to begin the process.

Mr. Chair, if the committee will allow it, I could present a motion to invite the three groups to meet with us, so that we can have a solid understanding of the entire situation. Afterwards, the committee could decide what other witnesses could help us and provide us with information to enable us to make the best decisions.

I am ready to present the motion, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Before I can receive your motion, François has asked to take the floor.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I want to thank all the colleagues who have spoken before me. Their comments were very relevant and hit the nail on the head.

I agree with Mr. Samson and I support his idea for a motion.

I think we should also invite representatives of anglophone minority associations from Quebec. We want to invite the representatives of the FCFA, which is an association of francophones from around the country. Therefore, we should also invite the representatives of an association of Quebec anglophone minorities.

The idea of hearing from Graham Fraser and department representatives during the first meetings is very worthwhile.

Although I support Mr. Samson's idea, I would also like to bring up a short-term priority that is very important for me. A number of people have already mentioned it. This issue is currently in the media, and it is very worrisome. Two member of this committee have prepared motions on the issue—Mauril Bélanger and myself. It has to do with the Translation Bureau. I am glad Mr. Fergus is here, especially since the Translation Bureau is in his riding.

So I support Mr. Samson's motion. Afterwards, once we have debated his motion and it's my turn, I will move mine.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thank you.

I would like to come back to Mr. Samson's proposal. As far as I understand, we could hear from the representatives of the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada on Wednesday, at our next meeting, as they are here, in the city.

If this is convenient for the committee members, we could meet with them on Wednesday. They are already here, in Ottawa. We could hear from them for an hour and spend another hour with someone from the department. You mentioned a deputy minister.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

I was talking about Assistant Deputy Minister Hubert Lussier.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

He could go over....

[Paul Lefebvre, Liberal, Sudbury, ON]

He could talk to us about the roadmap and the funding.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Do the committee members agree?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

I agree.

Next week, we could welcome two other individuals we have mentioned—the Commissioner of Official Languages, Graham Fraser, and a representative of the anglophone association. I don't know the association's name.

[Paul Lefebvre, Liberal, Sudbury, ON]

What is its acronym?

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

I will do the necessary research and let you know what the association's name is. I wouldn't want to rename it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

I think the association in my region, the Eastern Townships, is called Townshippers.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

There is an association that brings together all anglophones from Quebec.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

It brings together all Quebec anglophones?

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Exactly.