Official Languages Committee on May 18th, 2017

[Paul Lefebvre, Liberal, Sudbury, ON]

Did you also play a role in setting the 5% target for immigration?

[Madeleine Meilleur]

Yes.

[Paul Lefebvre, Liberal, Sudbury, ON]

And what was your role?

[Madeleine Meilleur]

I had to convince the minister of the need to set a target for francophone immigration, since Ontario francophones were losing ground demographically. Because of immigration, the anglophone population was growing more rapidly.

[Paul Lefebvre, Liberal, Sudbury, ON]

So you played a key role in that.

[Madeleine Meilleur]

Yes.

[Paul Lefebvre, Liberal, Sudbury, ON]

Did you also play a role in the SOS Montfort campaign, and were you instrumental in helping the Montfort Hospital become a university hospital?

[Madeleine Meilleur]

Yes, I did. The Montfort Hospital is my alma mater. That is where I did my nursing course. At the time, that course was given in hospitals.

Of course I was in the front row of the demonstrations when the government wanted to close the Montfort Hospital. It was a big victory. I was also very happy when the expansion of the Montfort Hospital and its new status as a university hospital was announced, as this allows health professionals to be trained in French.

[Paul Lefebvre, Liberal, Sudbury, ON]

Your resume and your leadership have demonstrated your commitment to official languages, especially for minority communities in Ontario, but I would like to know what led you to apply for this position, and why you feel you are the best candidate.

[Madeleine Meilleur]

My objective was to continue to work in the field of official languages. I had thought to do this in the Senate, but that proved impossible.

I never thought I would have the opportunity to top off my 25-year career in this way. When I worked at the City of Ottawa, I was one of four municipal councillors who fought to have the city adopt a bilingual services policy.

[Paul Lefebvre, Liberal, Sudbury, ON]

That is true. At the same time, I would like to reiterate to all the parties represented here that it is 100% clear that you have the skills to do the job.

[Madeleine Meilleur]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thank you, Mr. Lefebvre.

We have two more blocks of three minutes each. I had offered one of them to Mr. Choquette, but he would rather give the time to Mr. Mulcair.

Mr. Mulcair, you have the floor.

We will then finish with Mr. Hoback.

We'll have him for a few minutes after that.

Tom.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Outremont, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Gerald Butts, Katie Telford, and Mathieu Bouchard from the Prime Minister's Office, with whom you had contact prior and who was on your own selection committee, that for us is a source of real concern. That's political. That's partisan. That's not neutral. That's not transparent. That's not open. That's political.

There is something else that I am concerned about. It is the presence of that person and others from the justice department who contacted you to tell you that you had been...

[Madeleine Meilleur]

It was not the department that contacted me, but the minister.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Outremont, QC]

The Minister of Justice called you herself. I see absolutely no reason for the Minister of Justice to be involved in the appointment of the commissioner of official languages, on the contrary, in fact. The commissioner has to go to court to defend the rights of francophones outside Quebec and the English-speaking minority in Quebec against the government, against the justice department.

So it is very worrisome for us to learn that the Minister of Justice herself informed you of your new position, when she is not your ally. She is a person you will be required to hold to account.

I would like to end with a quote that I consider extremely important. It is from a decision by Justice Martineau, of the Federal Court of Canada. He repeated the words of the commissioner at the time, Mr. Fraser, who described his role as follows:

“As an officer of Parliament, I provide parliamentarians with unbiased advice based on objective and factual information to help them fulfill one of their important roles—that of holding the federal government accountable for its stewardship of the equal status of English and French in Canada.”

This requirement to hold the government to account is the commissioner's primary responsibility. With all we have heard today, far from being reassured, we are more convinced than ever that, based on both the form—as to the lack of consultation so clearly laid out by my Conservative colleagues—and the substance of this supposed consultation, that it would be a mistake and would undermine the credibility of the role of the commissioner of official languages to approve this appointment.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thank you, Mr. Mulcair.

Randy.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

I have one question. You mentioned that you had talked to the former official languages commissioner about universities and colleges for post-employment. What were those colleges again?

[Madeleine Meilleur]

Université francophone in Ontario. We have started on that, as you know. A few years ago, we decided that we would like to have a francophone university in Ontario, a completely francophone one, and—

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

When did you talk to him about that?

[Madeleine Meilleur]

We have appointed her. I recommended her name just before I left to be—

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

While you were an MPP?

[Madeleine Meilleur]

Pardon me?

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

While you were still an MPP you recommended her?

[Madeleine Meilleur]

Yes, when I was Minister Responsible for Francophone Affairs.