Official Languages Committee on June 14th, 2017

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Ms. Boucher, please let Mr. Choquette continue what he started.

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

I understand that communities want new investments. Their budget has not been increased in 10 years. It would appear that no new investments have been made in francophone immigration or justice in communities during that period.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Mr. Chair, Ms. Joly is not answering my question.

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

I hear what you are saying and I want to assure you that we will have a Commissioner of Official Languages. That is an important position. Moreover, we will have leadership in official languages.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

I look forward to the new announcement, which will determine what happens next. I hope that, this time, the Official Languages Act will be enforced and that the opposition leaders will be consulted.

Mr. Hussen—

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

Mr. Choquette, I just want to tell you that the act has always been enforced. You know that. We have discussed it in the past.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

That remains to be seen. A complaint has been filed with the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages. We will see what that complaint will lead to.

Mr. Hussen, recommendation 10 says the following:

That Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada... implement an official immigration policy to increase the demographic weight of official language minority communities...

That is related to what I said to you earlier. Who is in charge of immigration? There is no such person. Mr. Hussen, will we have, yes or no, in accordance with our recommendation, an official immigration policy to increase the demographic weight of official language minority communities?

Unfortunately, I have very little time left.

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

We do have a policy on that. I just went through it in my speech.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Since this is a recommendation in our report—recommendation 10—I don't think there is currently an official immigration policy to increase the demographic weight of official language minority communities. If you do have such a policy, we would appreciate you sending it to the committee, so that all the members can have access to it.

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

I can speak for my ministry. We do have a policy of increasing francophone newcomers to Canada, with a target of 4.4% of the total number of economic immigrants settling outside of Quebec, by 2018.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thank you, Minister.

We will continue with Darrell Samson.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you very much to the two ministers and their staff for joining us.

Mr. Hussen, I would like to congratulate you on your knowledge of French. Every time we see each other, we speak in French, and I appreciate that.

I have one question for you, Mr. Hussen, and two questions for Minister Joly.

I have been sitting here and listening to what has been said. Today, I am surprised to hear that this was the first time in Canada a conference on francophone immigration was held. That was a historic meeting. What has happened over the past five, 10 or 15 years to prevent that kind of a conference from taking place? You planned the work. How do you think you can make a difference if nothing has happened over the past 10 years?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

It's absolutely critical for both the Minister of Immigration and the Minister of Canadian Heritage to work together, because one of the most important ways, but not the only way, that we can contribute to the vibrancy and vitality of francophone communities outside of Quebec is through immigration. It not only adds to their vitality, but also fills the skills and labour shortage, reduces the demographic decline, as well as increases the prosperity of those communities. I'm absolutely committed to making sure that we continue on the good path we've taken.

I'm proud of the fact that Mobilité francophone is having an impact. I'm proud of the fact that the changes to express entry are already increasing the percentage, to 2.9%, and will continue to do so. I'm proud of the fact that we're using the Atlantic immigration pilot program as one of the options to increase francophone immigration into Atlantic Canada.

Finally, even in our promotional activities, which need to be improved, we will use the department's ability to market Canada to potential skilled immigrants to make sure there is robust space—a substantial space—to market Canada as a destination for economic immigrants who happen to be francophone.

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

Thank you very much. That's great.

Minister, I have two important questions for you. I will ask them at the same time.

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

Yes.

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

I chaired the caucus on official language minorities. As you know, that important issue is a major concern for me and other members of that caucus.

Can you explain to us the exceptional work you are doing with various departments to finally get them to talk about their responsibility in terms of official languages? I don't know what you are doing, but it has been very effective, including in the case of the announcement made by Minister Duclos and others.

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

Yes.

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

The second point, which was raised by witnesses at a meeting of the Official Languages Committee, is the concern they feel with regard to agreements, like the one announced by Minister Duclos.

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

Yes.

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

How can we put enough weight in our bilateral agreements with the provinces to make them feel responsible for cooperating on the implementation of those initiatives? Those agreements will encourage the organizations on the ground to put pressure on the provinces to get their portion of the funding.

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

Yes. Thank you very much.

For us, it goes without saying that increasing our leadership in official languages is the responsibility of the federal government. Only last week, I announced $2.24 million in funding for 280 new youth jobs across six organizations involved in official languages.

Another very important breakthrough is the fact that we put $35 million on the table for the three territories—Nunavut, Yukon and Northwest Territories—to improve their services in French. We are talking about $35 million, from 2016-2017 to 2019-2020. The funding covers three years, and it's a lot of money.

Generally speaking, at the last federal-provincial meeting of the francophonie and official languages ministers, we clearly wanted to highlight the importance of economic development in official language minority communities and of support for tourism.

The francophone tourism route is a need that dates back several years. Finally, in the context of the 150th anniversary, we announced significant funding for creating a tourism corridor.

Earlier, I talked about the provision of bilingual services. We imposed a moratorium on the closing of bilingual service centres. We put an end to cuts at the translation bureau. We did so to ensure that services would be provided in people's language of choice, but also to ensure that services are provided by competent human beings. Everyone knows that the federal public service is world renowned for its translation, thanks to our leadership in official languages.

I talked earlier about the work issue with Jody Wilson-Raybould for the court challenges program, the appointment of a bilingual judge to the Supreme Court and immigration. In short, there are many issues.

I have worked very hard with my colleagues to accomplish this, to show leadership and to take action while we were working on the next plan. The current roadmap was developed by the previous government. It covers the period from 2013 to 2018.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thank you very much, Minister.

With your permission, we will move to a second round. I am checking how much time we have left. Members will have four minutes each.

I first invite René Arseneault and Linda Lapointe to share their time.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Hussen, congratulations on your French. You have impressed me today.

Minister, during your presentation, you said that the new action plan's second area of focus was the vitality of francophone and anglophone communities.

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

Yes.

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

The plan recognizes that those communities are facing very different challenges and also have very different needs.

You are familiar with the peculiarity of my riding, which includes the northern suburb of Montreal. It consists of four cities, including Deux-Montagnes and Rosemère.

What do you do with the Quebec provincial government to assure the prosperity of their community?