Evidence of meeting #51 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 information.
A recording is available from Parliament.
11:20 a.m.
Director General, Census Subject Matter, Social and Demographic Statistics, Statistics Canada
Yes, the questions in the census do not pertain to mother tongue.
11:20 a.m.
Liberal
Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS
So they do not pertain to section 23(1)(b).
11:20 a.m.
Director General, Census Subject Matter, Social and Demographic Statistics, Statistics Canada
No, they do not pertain to language of instruction.
11:20 a.m.
Liberal
Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS
So you agree with Mr. Corbeil on that.
You said that people are surveyed to gather more information. Do you think that including questions pertaining to the subject of subsections 23(2) and 23(3) would yield additional information? If the census were to include such questions as of tomorrow morning, would a scientific analysis of the data pertaining to these two sections yield additional information?
11:20 a.m.
Director General, Census Subject Matter, Social and Demographic Statistics, Statistics Canada
Right now, we are looking for a way of obtaining information about rights-holders. We are considering the possibility of obtaining that information through the census. We are also considering other options, as I said in my presentation.
11:20 a.m.
Liberal
Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS
Okay, but my question is simple: would it be possible to obtain that kind of data by using specific and scientific questions?
11:25 a.m.
Director General, Census Subject Matter, Social and Demographic Statistics, Statistics Canada
We would have to develop the questions, test them, and make sure they are properly understood in order to obtain precise and accurate information.
Once again, the scientific process is extremely important because ultimately you want very precise and accurate information.
11:25 a.m.
Liberal
Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS
Exactly.
When you have more information on a subject, does that help people?
11:25 a.m.
Assistant Chief Statistician, Census, Operations and Communications, Statistics Canada
It depends on the quality of the information.
11:25 a.m.
Liberal
Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS
It will be good because the questions will be scientific.
March 9th, 2017 / 11:25 a.m.
Assistant Chief Statistician, Census, Operations and Communications, Statistics Canada
As Ms. Denis said, the questions have to be developed and tested in order to confirm that people can understand them before they answer them.
11:25 a.m.
Liberal
Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS
Thank you very much.
If the data is very good and everything goes well, will that help the francophone community or the province better understand what is happening on the ground?
11:25 a.m.
Director General, Census Subject Matter, Social and Demographic Statistics, Statistics Canada
Of course, if we do appropriate tests and make sure that we can measure the phenomenon precisely and accurately, we will help the communities.
We have to find the right way of doing this, however, which is what we are committed to doing.
11:25 a.m.
Liberal
Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS
Excellent, bravo.
Now I would like to talk about the 11 additional questions. When Mr. Corbeil was here, he said 11 additional questions would be needed. I have reviewed these questions. I am not an expert, but I can tell you that at least 7 of these 11 questions are not necessary. They would yield additional data, but that data is not really central to the issue. I will not recommend these 11 questions therefore, but I am merely a member from Nova Scotia.
A brief was presented by Mr. Landry and some lawyers. Mr. Landry was here a few days ago. He did a quick study of the subject, although he is not an expert on these matters as you are. He felt nonetheless that two or three questions could be slightly modified in order to obtain certain information, and that a further question or two could be added, in order to give us a complete picture.
Would it be possible to modify one or two of the questions in order to get a bit more data?
11:25 a.m.
Director General, Census Subject Matter, Social and Demographic Statistics, Statistics Canada
I will say again that we will do everything we can to measure the number of rights-holders. I am not here to criticize or to review the 11 questions that Mr. Corbeil spoke to you about during his appearance on February 14. Once again, we will use a scientific process to determine the best way of measuring the number of rights-holders and the number of questions that are needed to get that information.
11:25 a.m.
Liberal
Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS
I have just one minute left so I will try to keep it simple.
Whether there are 11 additional questions is not important. I simply want to know whether we can modify or add one or two questions. I suspect the answer is yes.
That said, the committee has some concern as to preparing the questions that will be tested in the field. What happens if, after testing three questions, the results are not what was hoped for? There might not be enough time to manoeuvre, meaning that we would lose the opportunity to do something in the 2021 census.
I have an idea. I don't know if you have heard this before. We are talking about preparing two, three or four scientific questions to obtain the maximum data. You are the experts on this. Would it be possible, however, to work with the francophone community? You mentioned that. Are you open to the idea of working with the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada, with four or five other associations that truly represent what is happening on the ground, and perhaps also with a French-language school board? Would it be a good idea to analyze the questions and to have discussions with two or three groups on the ground? It would not be a consultation strictly speaking, but a discussion with experts on the ground to see if the questions are good. That would increase the likelihood of these questions proving successful in the subsequent test.
Mr. Chair, can the witnesses have another 30 seconds to reply?
11:30 a.m.
Director General, Census Subject Matter, Social and Demographic Statistics, Statistics Canada
As I said earlier, Mr. Corbeil is already in contact with the federation. They are talking. We certainly do already work with the organizations.
11:30 a.m.
Liberal
11:30 a.m.
Liberal
Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS
—Fédération nationale des conseils scolaires francophones.
That is all I wanted to say. Thank you very much.
11:30 a.m.
NDP
François Choquette NDP Drummond, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
To the ladies from Statistics Canada, did the Department of Industry ask you to analyze the possibility of including questions in the next census in order to obtain answers about all of the rights-holders?
11:30 a.m.
Assistant Chief Statistician, Census, Operations and Communications, Statistics Canada
We have not had any talks with that department.
11:30 a.m.
NDP
François Choquette NDP Drummond, QC
Oh, no?
Mr. Shute, you represent the Department of Industry. We are doing a study on the census. Since the Mahé case, the government has not complied with the need to calculate the total number of rights-holders. Are you going to submit an official request to Statistics Canada to have them change the census so that it respects the ruling in the Mahé case?
