Official Languages Committee on Sept. 20th, 2016

[Paul Lefebvre, Liberal, Sudbury, ON]

Yes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

That's on Thursday.

[Paul Lefebvre, Liberal, Sudbury, ON]

Then I suggest that the committee hear the representatives of the National Community Table on Francophone Immigration.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thursday or Monday?

[Paul Lefebvre, Liberal, Sudbury, ON]

No; they would be the next witnesses. It depends on their schedule.

We are here. We can set four or five priorities for the first four meetings. It does not matter to us if we don't know right now which witnesses can come, nor in which order. May I suggest a general order?

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Fine.

In third place, whom do you suggest?

[Paul Lefebvre, Liberal, Sudbury, ON]

I suggest we hear the FCFA.

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

Mr. Chair, I'd like to say something.

[Paul Lefebvre, Liberal, Sudbury, ON]

Mr. Généreux, I'd just like to finish my list. You can suggest other names when I've finished.

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

I'm sorry, Mr. Lefebvre. I just have a question, if I may.

In order, we have Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages, and Canadian Heritage, who together will represent the Government of Canada. Afterwards, we will be hearing from national community organizations.

May we simply hear them in the order in which they appear on the list?

[Paul Lefebvre, Liberal, Sudbury, ON]

We have to establish an order, but there are meetings where nothing has been scheduled yet. We have to find out who can come and when.

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

Of course it depends on the availability of witnesses.

It would be interesting to be able to hear them in blocs. In fact, they are already organized in blocs. I don't think we should mix the community organizations and the whole government aspect. Those are two different things.

[Paul Lefebvre, Liberal, Sudbury, ON]

We want to invite representatives of the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages of Canada, but we already heard them when they tabled their report in May. Do we want to hear them again? They sent us their report, some data and their comments on immigration. We can hear them again, I wouldn't refuse.

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

Personally I would hear them again, because it might be good to refresh our memory on this very specific issue. They would only be here for an hour.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

You said an hour. That is the sort of thing I need to know as well. When you mention the name of one group or another, could you also indicate how much time you would like us to allocate to them?

Ms. Boucher, you have the floor.

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

Concerning Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada at the federal level, is it the minister we want to see?

[Paul Lefebvre, Liberal, Sudbury, ON]

It might be possible on Thursday.

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

I would not begin with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, because it is important to allocate at least two hours for those witnesses.

I am sorry, but I want to talk about Air Canada during the hour that is reserved for them.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Mr. Godin, you have the floor.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Mr. Chair, from what I understand, on Thursday we are going to devote one hour to discussing our work, and another hour to Air Canada. After that, we will establish a list of witnesses, giving the priority to the federal government and to the community organizations. However, this would take place next week.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Your chairman is confused.

[Paul Lefebvre, Liberal, Sudbury, ON]

I'm sorry if I threw the ball too fast. I will go over the details.

We will hold between eight and ten meetings. As for the witnesses, it is not certain that any given association can appear during the first week of October. Of course we are sending out invitations according to an order of priorities, but we have to be flexible. We can't expect that a given organization will be able to come and meet with us on a specific date. It might be impossible for them.

We have to determine who we will invite first. Mr. Généreux made a suggestion. For instance, if the FCFA can only come later, that will not be a problem.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

I would simply like to clarify something. During the first hour on Thursday...

[Paul Lefebvre, Liberal, Sudbury, ON]

We already said that Thursday we would deal with immigration and that we would hear federal representatives.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Very well. So, as for the witnesses...