Official Languages Committee on March 7th, 2016

[Sally Thornton]

I am sorry, but both documents are in English and French.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

It seems to me that they are indeed in both languages.

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

Mine is in English only.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

The clerk will give you a French version.

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

Thank you very much.

I should perhaps know the answer to this question, but I would like to know how you determine that a region is bilingual.

[Marc Tremblay]

I suppose you are referring to the regions that are designated bilingual for language of work purposes. That is generally how it is formulated.

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

That is correct.

[Marc Tremblay]

The 1988 Official Languages Act included for reference a list of regions that had been designated pursuant to a Treasury Board directive. The list includes the national capital region, some eastern and northern Ontario regions, as well as the west of Quebec, the Island of Montreal, the Eastern Townships, Gaspé and New Brunswick. That list is an integral part of the act.

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

Can you send us a copy of the list? My colleague here is quite excited. He would like to know if Manitoba includes such regions. I would also like to know if there are any in Nova Scotia. I would like to know if we are on the list, and if so, which locations are designated.

[Dan Vandal, Liberal, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB]

What year was the list created?

[An hon. member]

In 1988.

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

My next question concerns your roles, duties and responsibilities.

Part IV is entitled “Communications with and Services to the Public” and part V is entitled “Language of Work”. According to several reports, it is clear that we are far from having attained our objectives. We often hear it said that the number of complaints about the language of services is continually increasing. It is also said that French remains underutilized and that this is also the case for English in Quebec.

You said that follow-ups were done. However, what I see in the reports leads me to wonder whether these follow-ups are effective.

What measures are you considering in order to bring about changes, or to review things so as to ensure that there will be real changes on the ground?

[Marc Tremblay]

Ensuring that institutions respect their obligations is an ongoing challenge. We are talking about far-reaching obligations. Treasury Board policies are designed to ensure that institutions have a common understanding of the scope of their obligations.

The purpose of regulatory compliance review is to make sure that offices required to deliver services in both official languages are clearly designated as bilingual. That's an important element.

Clarifications made to Treasury Board policies over time have paved the way for tremendous progress. The fact that more people in bilingual positions meet the language requirements of those positions attests to the fact that institutions have a greater capacity to respect official languages obligations than they used to.

Is the work done? No, and that's why we continue to support institutions, by determining what their challenges are and endeavouring to identify how each of them can improve their performance.

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

I appreciate that process. But as someone who comes from the education sector, I can tell you that efforts are made to improve the situation when something isn't working.

What I'd like to know is whether the situation has improved over the last three years in the regions where problems had been identified.

I have another question for you.

What can we do to make sure that language minorities feel comfortable speaking their first language in the workplace?

[Marc Tremblay]

According to the public service employee survey, francophones may be less comfortable doing so in some cases. We talked about that earlier.

What are we doing to improve the situation? It's really important to take steps in every single workplace. I don't think issuing a centralized directive is the way to change workplace psychology so that every person feels more comfortable speaking their native language.

As the Commissioner of Official Languages often says, it's really a matter of having every organization demonstrate leadership. First, our role is to ensure that organizations dealing with challenges are aware of the situation. Then, we have to determine whether some organizations are doing better than others, and whether they have best practices to share with those in need of help. Lastly, we see to it that the performance of each institution is always getting better.

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

My last question has to do with Bill S-209, which has now been introduced in the Senate four times.

If the bill is passed, what impact do you think the changes will have?

[Sally Thornton]

I think the bill is at second reading in the Senate, so we'll have ample opportunity to discuss it.

It would have fundamental repercussions. It would change how we determine which segments of the population can receive services in both official languages.

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

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thank you.

You said that regions designated as bilingual had been listed in the act since 1988. Does that mean a legislative amendment would be necessary to add or remove designated bilingual regions in the country?

[Marc Tremblay]

Yes. Specific provisions in the act govern the list of designated regions, and any changes to add or remove regions would have to be made through the regulatory process.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thank you.

Dan, over to you.

[Dan Vandal, Liberal, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB]

Thank you for your presentation.

I'd like to know the total budget for your official languages activities.

[Marc Tremblay]

Are you referring to the total budget of the official languages centre of excellence?

[Dan Vandal, Liberal, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB]

I'm referring to everything you do in the official languages sphere.

[Marc Tremblay]

The official languages centre of excellence has an annual budget of $3.4 million, and that includes funding for 23 positions.