Evidence of meeting #23 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 tests.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Clerk of the Committee  Ms. Christine Holke
Lucie Lecomte  Committee Researcher
David Manicom  Acting Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic and Program Policy, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Corinne Prince-St-Amand  Director General, Integration and Foreign Credentials Referral Office, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Stefanie Beck  Assistant Deputy Minister, Corporate Services, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Donald Cochrane  Senior Director, International Region, Department of Citizenship and Immigration

9:05 a.m.

Liberal

René Arseneault Liberal Madawaska—Restigouche, NB

So we have to let them know.

9:05 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Denis Paradis

The clerk will arrange that.

Is that okay with everyone?

All right.

Since there is nothing else, we will not move on to the list of witnesses for the study.

Mrs. Boucher, do you want to speak to that?

9:05 a.m.

Liberal

Dan Vandal Liberal Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB

Is this just for immigration?

9:05 a.m.

Conservative

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

That is what we discussed yesterday. It is specifically about francophone immigration...

9:10 a.m.

Liberal

Dan Vandal Liberal Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB

... in minority communities.

9:10 a.m.

Conservative

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

Yesterday, we said that was what we wanted.

9:10 a.m.

Liberal

Dan Vandal Liberal Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB

On the other hand, we are going to have other witnesses come to talk about the roadmap, is that right?

9:10 a.m.

Conservative

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

Yes.

9:10 a.m.

Liberal

Dan Vandal Liberal Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB

All right, I understand.

9:10 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Denis Paradis

Mrs. Boucher, could you tell us the outcome of your discussion?

9:10 a.m.

Conservative

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

Mr. Samson, Mr. Arseneault and I talked about a lot of subjects because all three of us were a little lost. We said there had to be a structure. That is really necessary. We kind of have the feeling that everything is going back and forth and we repeat ourselves every time, the same things. There comes a time when we have to move forward. We do not have a lot of time to study immigration. There is a deadline to be met in the case of the roadmap. Last time, we talked about 22 hours in total. I checked in my documents. If we spend 10 hours on immigration, we will have 12 hours left for the roadmap.

9:10 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Denis Paradis

Is that 22 hours on top of the hours we need for writing the report, in particular?

Is it 22 hours with witnesses?

9:10 a.m.

Conservative

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

Yes. We had already got to a total of 22 hours and you asked us to condense it so that 10 hours would be allocated to immigration and 12 hours to the roadmap.

At some point, the present government will let us know what approach it is going to take on this. That will help us arrange ourselves in terms of whom we invite.

9:10 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Denis Paradis

On the sheet that was distributed to us, it talks about 10 hours for immigration.

9:10 a.m.

Conservative

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

We are hearing from representatives of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada today, and on Thursday from the Fédération nationale des conseils scolaires francophones and the RDEE.

9:10 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Denis Paradis

All right.

Mr. Samson, you have the floor.

9:10 a.m.

Liberal

Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS

How many hours do we have in total to cover the roadmap?

9:10 a.m.

Conservative

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

We have 22 hours. That is what we said last week.

9:10 a.m.

Liberal

Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS

So it is 22 hours?

9:10 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Denis Paradis

That is what we calculated.

9:10 a.m.

Liberal

Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS

I just wanted to confirm. In that case, in practical terms, we have to do our homework for Thursday. We can perhaps decide on candidates for addressing the roadmap.

9:10 a.m.

Conservative

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

Yes.

9:10 a.m.

Liberal

Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS

The people who will talk about the roadmap at that time will not be coming back before our committee.

9:10 a.m.

Conservative

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

No.

9:10 a.m.

Liberal

Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS

So we will have to dig a little deeper.