Official Languages Committee on March 9th, 2016

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, John Nater]

Is the committee in agreement?

[Greg Fergus, Liberal, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

I'd like to begin by thanking Mr. Généreux for his motion. I completely agree with the idea of acknowledging everything Mr. Bélanger has done to help official language minority communities around the country, throughout his career in Ottawa, and even before he entered politics.

Mr. Chair, can we entrust the proper wording of the motion to the subcommittee or planning committee? If so, we could vote to adopt it at our next meeting.

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

Again, I'm not sure whether the committee has the authority to do this or not.

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

I have put forward a similar motion in the past.

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

I'm unsure as to whether associations representing official language minority communities can contribute to this motion, since they are witnesses, not members of the committee, and have no formal ties to the committee.

It would be wonderful if it were possible, as it would be a public show of everyone's support.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, John Nater]

Thank you.

With the committee's permission, Mr. Boissonnault would like the floor.

Is the committee in agreement?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, John Nater]

Go ahead, Mr. Boissonnault.

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

That's very kind. I think this is the first time I've spoken about something not related to an event involving my colleague Mr. Choquette.

Thank you, Mr. Généreux.

There were a lot of tears today in the House of Commons and the Hall of Honour, as we paid tribute to our dear friend Mauril.

My preference would be for us to spend a bit of time outside this room to find the right wording for the motion. We can't ask the groups here today to vote on committee business, but we can invite groups all over the country to send Mauril flowers and kind words, as long as he is able to read them and do things on his own.

We can refer the motion to our planning committee. I will make the services of the Department of Canadian Heritage available to the committee in order to find the right words to express our sentiment to our dear colleague.

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

We are running out of time.

Regardless, we'll have the opportunity to meet again in the months ahead. I think the committee has already decided that it will take a trip out west, to visit St. Boniface, Manitoba, and probably Edmonton. No doubt we'll see each other again, at which point, you can probably come before the committee for another appearance. I'll end on that note. Even though I have more questions for you, I'll hold on to them until we see you out in the trenches.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, John Nater]

Yes, thank you.

Mr. Fergus, you have six minutes.

[Greg Fergus, Liberal, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you very much for being with us today, ladies.

I wasn't aware that francophone communities outside Quebec were lacking funding support. You mentioned 30%. When the Quebec Community Groups Network made its presentation, you heard me say that it was important to get that information on the record.

Can you describe the situation? Even if funding were to go up by 30%, I imagine there would still be challenges to overcome. Could you speak to the importance of continuing to promote official language minority communities outside Quebec, even with a funding increase?

[Sylviane Lanthier]

It is certain that those needs are quite pressing in our communities. We are talking about building environments that really allow people who want to live in French to live a maximum number of aspects of their life in that language. That means having extracurricular activities, for instance, that allow young people to play soccer in French or to play volleyball in French. My daughter is 17 years old and has played volleyball her whole life. She went to a French school, but all of the volleyball terms she knows are in English, because that is the way it is.

In my community, a small organization was created by a youth group and was then set up. This is the Manitoba Sport Directorate, whose mandate is to allow people of all ages to participate in sports activities that take place in French. The organization has very little funding, but what it does is important. A lot of small organizations like that one do things to make it possible for life to be lived in French as much as possible, and they do it with very few resources and very little funding. These people aren't trying to become millionaires. Nor will they become millionaires tomorrow either with the activities they manage, but they want to have the means to succeed in their undertakings and have some impact thanks to the activities they set up. They want their activities to have an impact and change people's lives and allow them to really be included in our francophone communities and to live as much of their lives in French as possible. I am referring here to cultural and sports activities. I am referring to health services. Sometimes it is difficult for a senior to be greeted in English when he or she goes to a hospital or to an emergency ward, and francophone specialists are not always available. There are also needs in that regard that must be taken into account and where action needs to be taken.

In a lot of sectors we talk about economic development, we talk about culture, we talk a lot about helping our young people build what we call their francophone identity, so that they can take part in their community and want to continue to live in that community and promote French.

There really are a lot of needs that cannot be met fully when we don't have the appropriate resources. Indeed, organizations that do not see any increase in their funding year after year, and sometimes find it more and more difficult to meet the conditions to obtain that funding, wind up doing a lot of administrative work and doing less work in the field. Proportionally speaking, they pay too much for their rent and do less work on the ground, whereas what they want to do is be present in the field.

[Greg Fergus, Liberal, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

I'm going to be brief.

I imagine you would also like to have multi-year funding in order to ensure some stability.

[Sylviane Lanthier]

Yes. Anything that reduces the administrative burden and facilitates the work, that is to say an injection of funds into activities as such and multiplies their impact is important.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, John Nater]

Ms. Lapointe, you have the floor.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I thank the witnesses very much for being here with us today. I appreciate their presence here.

Earlier, the representatives of the Quebec anglophone minority community indicated that they have a lot of trouble keeping their young anglophones in their community. Is it an issue for you to keep your young people?

You spoke earlier about education at the primary, secondary and university levels. I know that there is higher education in Saint-Boniface and also in your area. Is that an issue? I'd like to hear your views on this.

[Suzanne Bossé]

Yes, that is an important issue, and more so in certain regions. The FCFA recently did some research with the Quebec Secrétariat aux affaires intergouvernementales canadiennes on the migration of young people.

We would be pleased to share the results of that study with you. The study is currently in its second phase. It looks at the reasons why people move and attempts to determine where the deficiencies are in our communities. The third phase will consist in offering a toolbox and programs that will facilitate access to schooling in French and access to jobs. In that last case, it would be in French or in English, but in our communities, the objective is to live in French. Five provincial governments are contributing to that study.

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

Thank you very much. That is important.

I don't have much time left, but I am going to give it to my colleague Dan Vandal.

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

I would simply like to move a motion once question period is over.

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

Fine.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, John Nater]

I thank the witnesses.

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

Is the meeting over?

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, John Nater]

If you have a question, it has to be very brief.

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

Concerning the services offered to the public in both official languages by federal institutions, you are questioning the methods used for calculating what is known as “significant demand”.

What do you mean by that?