Official Languages Committee on Feb. 2nd, 2017

[Carl Trottier]

We take note of the changes, of course, and we are providing support to those departments. I cannot tell you specifically what we have done in this case, but I can forward you the information if you wish.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

I would very much appreciate it.

[Carl Trottier]

We could also provide you with more details about our reasons for doing so.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Yes.

[Carl Trottier]

Our role—

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

That agency does not seem to have reached a percentage as high as the 95.5% you mentioned earlier.

[Carl Trottier]

No.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

It really seems to be at the back of the pack.

[Carl Trottier]

Yes, I agree with you.

As I mentioned earlier, some departments have more difficulty than others. Some do very well. We also know that most departments are very successful in certain areas, but have work to do in others. We are trying to work with the departments to make changes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thank you, Ms. Lapointe.

Mr. Choquette, the floor is yours.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Once again, thank you very much for being here today.

The idea of self-assessment and the objectivity of these reports remains a little fuzzy for me. The annual reviews have turned into three-year reviews, just as we hear about reinstating the long-form census to gather more data. Similarly, I think the annual reports should be reinstated so that we have more information.

I believe the annual reports on official languages should automatically be sent to the FCFA and to the QCGN. It seems that those organizations have difficulty following up on what they are entitled to receive and what they do not receive.

Does the Treasury Board Secretariat provide the FCFA and the QCGN with a list of institutions that must submit a report during the current three-year cycle so that they can keep track of whether they have received everything or whether something is missing?

[Carl Trottier]

I identified two questions. Let me answer the first one that deals with self-assessment. Is that right?

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Yes.

[Carl Trottier]

You said that we should go back to an annual review. It is important to understand that the small departments, the departments that do well and the departments that have the least impact conduct a review every three years. There are still some large, high-impact departments that carry out annual reviews. So we must make a distinction.

The Auditor General has looked into this issue. He told us that it was a good approach to manage the risks and to ensure that the assessments are relevant and provided in time.

We feel that our approach is not bad. We have not established a clear guideline requiring that reviews be conducted every three years in all cases. That's not true. The more at-risk groups have to do annual reviews. In those cases, we like to have the data.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Are the annual reports submitted to the FCFA and the QCGN?

[Carl Trottier]

I'm getting to your second question.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Okay.

[Carl Trottier]

At the moment, we do not send the reports. The Treasury Board Secretariat is going to change its practice in order to provide the necessary information to the FCFA and the QCGN. At the moment, it is not our practice to provide that information, but nothing prevents us from doing so. We are going to ask the federal institutions that send in data to add two email addresses to their distribution lists. It’s really not because we don’t want to be transparent. On the contrary, we do want to be transparent. We are just simply going to change our practice.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Okay.

At the same time, can you send the committee the list of federal institutions subject to the Official Languages Act and a list of institutions that have to complete a report in any cycle, whether every year or every three years? Some institutions have to submit an annual report while others have to submit a report every three years. Can you send that to the clerk, so that we have a complete list of the institutions that are subject to the Official Languages Act, as well as of those that have to submit a report every year or every three years? In that way, we will be able to follow up and check whether we have received all the documents or whether we are missing some.

[Carl Trottier]

Yes. We will even provide you with a little template that will allow you to more easily monitor the documents you have received.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

There have been a number of complaints about job postings because bilingualism was no longer mentioned. They simply said “bilingualism preferred” rather than “bilingualism essential”, CAC, or whatever.

What discussions have you had with the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages about the complaints you have received?

[Carsten Quell]

The Commissioner has decided that every supervisory position should require a level of CBC and the President has taken careful note of that.

After an exchange of correspondence, we have set up a working group with the Office of the Commissioner. We hope that the working group will allow us to come up with solutions. One of the challenges for the institutions is to correctly establish the linguistic profile of the positions.

We are very interested in having all available information about the practices being used. Those responsible for official languages must be provided with the best possible information, which they will then communicate to managers. That will give us a system that complies with section 91 of the Official Languages Act.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

That's fine, thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

We will give the floor to Mr. Arseneault.

[René Arseneault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

I will let Mr. Samson speak instead.