Official Languages Committee on June 13th, 2017

[Ghislaine Saikaley]

Again, we must work together toward a common goal. If all these stakeholders were committed to the vitality of the communities they represent—

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

You're talking about agreements, but what do you say to the governments that say it's provincial and can't be addressed?

[Ghislaine Saikaley]

That's what they're saying, but was there a dialogue first with the provinces? Was there discussions first about whether people are really holding to their positions and don't want to interfere in their jurisdictions, or whether they would be willing to contribute, under certain conditions, for example if their jurisdictions are respected?

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thank you, Mr. Samson.

We are now going to hear two interventions, from Mr. Nater and Mr. Choquette.

[John Nater, Conservative, Perth—Wellington, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I will be brief. I want to follow up on some of the questions from Mr. Choquette about language of work. You referenced that the Mendelsohn-Borbey working group ought to be publishing soon. Do you know when that might be published, and whether that will be made available to this committee or publicly? I wonder if you have any thoughts on why this is being chaired by a PCO official, someone who is not that directly related to language of work; Mr. Mendelsohn is in results and delivery.

[Ghislaine Saikaley]

First, I'll answer your second question because the report was asked for by the clerk, and the clerk, being in charge of the public service, wanted to have a sense of the present situation in the public service as far as language of work is concerned. He asked Mr. Borbey, who I think was an associate deputy minister at Canadian Heritage at the time, who was very concerned as well, very preoccupied with what he was seeing. We mentioned committees where senior officials of the government only speak English at those meetings. He offered Patrick Borbey the chance to get on that committee. Mr. Mendelsohn with his portfolio of delivery, which is a way of getting better results, was also asked to be on the committee.

As far as the report is concerned, the last time we spoke with PCO they mentioned it was imminent, so probably this summer. They had progress reports. We haven't seen the report yet. I asked to see the report before it gets published. We'll see if they accept that. When we receive the report we will definitely analyze the results.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thank you, Mr. Nater.

We will end with François Choquette.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Recommendation 10 of your last report on the action plan for official languages concerns immigration and asks Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada to “implement an official immigration policy to increase the demographic weight of official language minority communities”. It's an important aspect that many of my colleagues have also talked about. I want to speak to this because the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship will be with us tomorrow.

What action strategies could you suggest he implement to encourage immigration in a minority environment, which is a fiasco at the moment? I am thinking, for instance, of the complaints you received about Syrian immigrants and the fact that official language minority communities weren't consulted on how to integrate these immigrants into their regions. What can we do? What action strategies could we suggest to the minister tomorrow?

[Ghislaine Saikaley]

First of all, I think he should be commended for his efforts to re-establish the express entry system and Mobilité francophone program, two excellent tools that will surely help to improve the situation.

As I said earlier, it is important that immigrants and refugees arriving in Canada are aware that there are two official language communities here and that there are francophone communities across the country. They need to know that and be welcomed by organizations funded to do that. Next, they must have access to the infrastructures and support needed to integrate and acquire an identity within these communities. All these aspects are important. Support services to immigrants must be well funded, and we hope there will be something in the roadmap.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thank you very much.

That brings an end to your presentation and our questions.

On behalf of the committee, I would like to thank you very much for appearing here, Madam Commissioner, Madam and Mr. Assistant Commissioner, and Madam General Counsel of the Office of the Commissioner.

We will suspend the meeting for a few minutes.

Please note that the second part of the meeting won't be televised.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

We are resuming the meeting.

We are now moving on to committee business.

First, I have to say, for the record, that members of the committee have informed me that they have no comments to make on a letter to be sent, the content of which we determined together. I will sign and send it. It is relative to our study on nursing science.

Mr. Choquette, you have the floor.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Mr. Chair, I would like to start with the motion concerning the QCGN and the FCFA. I don't know whether we have it on hand. If not, I have it in my files.

The clerk will distribute the motion.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

I can read it to you; I have it here:

That the Committee recommend to the Prime Minister that he meet with the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadiennes du Canada and the Quebec Community Groups Network in order to include them in the process for selecting the next Commissioner of Official Languages; and that the Chair report this to the House.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Exactly.

I know that John Nater has an amendment, which I will support.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Go ahead, Mr. Nater.

[John Nater, Conservative, Perth—Wellington, ON]

I want to make a slight amendment. We spoke beforehand with Mr. Choquette about it. I'll just read the change. It's just to change it more to consult rather than to include, just to make it more reflective of it. It would read as follows:

That the Committee recommend to the Prime Minister that he meet with the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada and the Quebec Community Groups Network in order to consult them regarding the process for selecting the next Commissioner of Official Languages.

I think that more reflects the consultation rather than being more involved. I think it would be more appropriate.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thank you, Mr. Nater.

First, I will give you the floor to speak to the amendment.

François Choquette has the floor.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I would like to mention that I support the amendment.

Why is this amendment important? Because it reflects the will of the FCFA and the QCGN.

In fact, this motion isn't François Choquette's motion. It if were possible, we would even call it the QCGN and FCFA motion because they are the ones asking to meet with the Prime Minister and to be consulted before any action is taken regarding the appointment of a commissioner.

I have a letter here that every member of the committee received. I'll take the time to talk about it because I want all Canadians to be aware that, as I mentioned, this isn't my motion. It's really a motion by the groups concerned.

The letter is from James Shea, president of the Quebec Community Groups Network. I will read it to you:

The QCGN has been contacted by M. François Choquette about the motion he intends to introduce to the House Standing Committee on Official Languages (LANG) during its meeting on June 13, 2017. The motion makes a recommendation to the Prime Minister to meet with the FCFA and QCGN stakeholders, with a view to consulting our organization in the process for selecting the next Commissioner of Official Languages. The QCGN strongly supports this motion. We were disappointed that the process that led to Mme. Meilleur's nomination for Commissioner of Official Languages did not involve input from Canada's English and French linguistic minority communities, and have asked to meet with the Prime Minister regarding this matter. We are aware that s. 49(1) of the Official Languages Act requires the Governor in Council to only consult with leaders of every recognized party in the Senate and House of Commons in the nomination of a Commissioner, however, the foundational nature of language rights, and the national importance of official language minority communities in our view must include Canada's French and English linguistic minority communities. We urge you to support M. Choquette's motion next Thursday.

It's signed by James Shea, president of the QCGN.

That's why I would like to rename the motion the QCGN and FCFA motion, symbolically, of course, because we can't do it concretely. In fact, I don't think a group can table a motion before the committee. That said, I just wanted to mention that it wasn't my motion or the NDP's motion, but the motion of the QCGN and the FCFA. For those reasons, everyone should support it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Mr. Choquette, I just want to mention to you that we are currently studying the amendment. You're talking about the amendment, right?

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Of course; I'm talking about the amendment that was made to the motion.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

The motion hasn't been amended yet.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

No, but I think everyone will agree to amend it.

I'd like to mention one thing about this. When Sylviane Lanthier was president of the FCFA, the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne, she had asked to meet with the Prime Minister of Canada about this. Last weekend, the FCFA held an election, and Jean Johnson was elected president. The FCFA recently tweeted that Jean Johnson had reiterated this request to meet with the Prime Minister of Canada about this process.

We have all witnessed the controversy, you might say, about the appointment of the Commissioner of Official Languages. What the communities that represent the FCFA and the QCGN want is to avoid any controversy and eliminate partisanship. Admittedly, we all fought in a somewhat partisan way about this. Let's remove all of this and make sure that there will be no more squabbling about the appointment of the next Commissioner of Official Languages. Let's make sure that all members of the committee, all political parties, and all members of the FCFA and the QCGN will agree that they are adopting this process and that they will accept the next person appointed to the position of Commissioner of Official Languages.

The motion asks, like those organizations, that they meet with the Prime Minister. Given what has happened, this request is fair and respectful to them. It would give them the opportunity to share their views and put that forward.

Let me repeat: this motion isn't mine, but that of these organizations. Therefore, I hope that everyone will adopt it as it amended by John Nater.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

In that case, I will proceed immediately to the vote on the amendment.

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

One moment, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

You want to speak to the amendment, Mrs. Boucher?

I'm listening.