Thank you.
Mr. Chair, committee members, thank you for inviting me to appear before this committee once again. I very much appreciate the opportunity.
I am accompanied by Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, and his departmental officials.
Allow me to introduce the officials from my department: the friendly Hubert Lussier, assistant deputy minister for citizenship, heritage and regions, and the amiable Jean-Pierre Gauthier, director general of official languages.
First, I would like to mention your report entitled “Toward a New Action Plan for Official Languages and Building New Momentum for Immigration in Francophone Minority Communities”. This report contained good recommendations on issues like early childhood and infrastructure, and highlighted a lack of funding for community organizations. I'd like to thank you for your work.
We responded to part of your report and will, of course, respond to the rest when we submit our official languages action plan, which will be released by year's end. I will come back to that in a few moments.
First, let me review our government's recent achievements.
The year 2016 was a year of unprecedented consultations. Of course, as you well know, the Official Languages Act requires us to do these consultations. These were the most open consultations ever in the history of the Official Languages Act.
My team and I also brought in over a hundred key organizations representing official languages communities as well as those active in bilingualism to update them on the consultations. That took place in December 2016.
It was also a year of action. We granted university accreditation to the Collège militaire royale de Saint-Jean. We named a qualified bilingual justice from Newfoundland and Labrador to the Supreme Court of Canada. We supported immigration to official language minority communities through new initiatives.
Also, last fall I joined Scott Brison, the President of the Treasury Board, in announcing that our government would review the official languages regulations, as they pertain to communications with and services provided to the public in English and French across the country.
Earlier this year, we announced the reinstatement and modernization of the court challenges program. This restored and modernized program will include dedicated funding and a newly created panel of language rights experts.
We also provided $2.4 million to the Réseau de développement économique et d'employabilité, or RDEE, for the creation of a francophone heritage, culture, and tourism corridor as part of Canada 150. That was something the provincial ministers responsible for Canada's francophonie had been calling for for a number of years.
In fact, Budget 2017 included $80 million over 10 years toward community educational infrastructure in official language minority communities—the first explicit investment of this kind by the federal government; $2 million over two years to increase federal courts' ability to render decisions that are available in French and English; $7.5 million per year ongoing to improve parliamentary translation services; and the extension of eligibility for the tuition tax credit to include occupational training in a second language.
We also announced $2.24 million in additional funding for the young Canada works program for organizations that promote official languages and the vitality of official language minority communities. As part of the major celebrations marking Canada's 150th anniversary, we helped fund events to honour Quebec's national holiday and Canada's francophonie nationwide, which will take place on June 24.
I worked with my counterpart Minister Duclos on a new memorandum of understanding on early childhood development in recognition of the importance of francophone services.
In addition, I worked with my three territorial counterparts on agreements to boost financial support for French-language services in the territories.
We allocated $35 million for 2016-17 to 2019-20.
Finally, due to considerable feedback on issues facing the English-speaking community in Quebec, my department has begun working with the provincial government of Quebec to look at improved ways of supporting the vitality of that important minority language community.
Our public consultation report is now online. I'd, of course, like to thank my colleagues who took part in the consultations.
I'd also like to thank the various community members who participated for their excellent work, which was very appreciated.
The report summarizes the consultations, but I will highlight the key issues that were raised: the rate of bilingualism in the general public and Canadians' desire to raise that rate; the role of early childhood development in the promotion of French among francophone students in minority communities; the role of immigration in the vitality of francophone minority communities; the many community infrastructure needs; the importance of access to services, which are often delivered by the provinces, territories, or private sector; and the survival of minority language media.
For the first time, my department directly consulted with representatives from every minority language school board, either through existing consultations with provincial and territorial education ministers and ministries or through separate consultations.
As we look forward to our next action plan, our government has decided to play a bigger leadership role in official languages after 10 years of inaction. Liberal governments have a strong history of taking concrete measures on official languages, be it the Manitoba Schools Act, the Official Languages Act, the Charter, or le plan Dion. In the coming months, we will be putting forward a new action plan on official languages drawn from extensive conversation and dialogue with stakeholders and communities. In it, we will recommit to three important roles of the federal government in official languages.
First, we will increase bilingualism. Our two official languages are at the heart of who we are as a country. They are central to our identity and key for our future.
The second area of focus is the vitality of official language minority communities. This means ensuring the vitality of the anglophone community in Quebec as well as that of francophone communities in the rest of the country.
The third area we will focus on is being a government that leads by example and shows a clear path forward for official languages. This area concerns us, in particular, as a government. Our new action plan for official languages will be in place on April 1, 2018. As I mentioned earlier, the plan will be announced by the end of the year.
Much work has been done, but, as you can see, much remains. There are many opportunities for us to work together.
I would be happy to answer any questions you have.
Thank you.