Evidence of meeting #8 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 languages.
A recording is available from Parliament.
5:05 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Denis Paradis
Thank you very much, Ms. Lanthier.
Mr. Choquette, you have the floor for six minutes.
5:05 p.m.
NDP
François Choquette NDP Drummond, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Ms. Lanthier, you mentioned the reports of the Commissioner of Official Languages. If I understood correctly, you also submitted a brief in 2009 in which you referred to a lack of coordination and to the fact that no authority was responsible for the implementation of official language policies.
This leads me to understand why the Translation Bureau seems to be suffering, as we observe currently, from an official languages erosion. The situations described by the commissioner speak for themselves.
I asked officials from Canadian Heritage if they were considering establishing better coordination or designating an authority that would be responsible for official language compliance. They seemed to think that that was not necessary.
Why, in your opinion, is it so important to have a distinct authority responsible for applying official language policies, and how would this impact the Translation Bureau?
5:10 p.m.
Chair, Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada
This would ensure a certain level of coordination, and see to it that within the public service as a whole, action plans would have a certain cohesion, a consistency, and would contain clear objectives for everyone. We would also be in a better position to verify what is done or not done. We have been saying for a long time that it would be important that a federal authority, perhaps Treasury Board, be given a clear mandate in this regard.
We also have to remember that the Department of Canadian Heritage itself has quite a clear mandate, and a very important role to play in supporting part VII of the Official Languages Act. The department also has a horizontal coordination mandate for what is done throughout the provincial departments and institutions covered by the Official Languages Act. This is an extremely important role Canadian Heritage plays or should play.
5:10 p.m.
NDP
François Choquette NDP Drummond, QC
Have you had the opportunity of submitting this recommendation to the Minister of Canadian Heritage, and if so, what was her response?
5:10 p.m.
Suzanne Bossé Executive Director, Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada
In fact, the brief presented by the FCFA in 2009 was in the context of the 40th anniversary of the adoption of the Official Languages Act. From 2009 until the elections last fall, we have repeatedly asked the government to appoint an authority responsible for enforcing the act.
Currently, as Ms. Lanthier said, Canadian Heritage has an important role to play, as do Justice Canada and Treasury Board. Those are the three federal institutions responsible for the enforcement of the Official Languages Act. Each one of them has a specific role to play involving different parts of the act.
However, none of these ministers, pursuant to their respective mandates, have the authority to tell their colleagues what they must do in their department, or to ask them to ensure that the legislation is applied. That is the authority we are asking for, or which we had been asking for up until the fall. The reply we got was that no such authority existed.
5:10 p.m.
Executive Director, Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada
That authority used to belong to the Privy Council Office, in other words, to the Office of the Prime Minister.
5:10 p.m.
NDP
François Choquette NDP Drummond, QC
Have you made any recommendations recently to the government on this issue?
5:10 p.m.
Executive Director, Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada
We have not had the opportunity of discussing this matter recently.
5:10 p.m.
Chair, Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada
If I may, I would add that we intended to do so. We think that there has to be a better understanding of the Official Languages Act, of what it means and of how it could better be implemented within government structures.
5:10 p.m.
NDP
François Choquette NDP Drummond, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Let's go back to the translation bureau.
Ms. Lanthier, you talked a lot about the importance of the new generation. Over the past four years, there has not been any hiring at the translation bureau. The people who leave are not passing on their expertise to those who arrive. That is a real problem. In addition, they do not intend to hire anyone in the next few years.
What would your recommendation be in this regard? What are your comments with regard to the importance of young people having access to quality positions within the translation bureau, and to expertise?
5:10 p.m.
Chair, Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada
For us, it is important to think that there will be a new generation of translators in our country, and in the Canadian government in particular. There is such a crying need within the federal apparatus for good communication with Canadians in both languages.
There has been a change over the last few years. Calls for tenders had to be put out to the private sector. The translation bureau competes with private sector translation firms. This has all kinds of repercussions that are not necessarily the ones that were aimed for at the outset.
Competing with the private sector may be a good thing, but it also may not be. It may weaken the internal capacity within government of providing an important service. This is part of the things that should in our opinion be analyzed.
5:15 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Denis Paradis
Thank you, Mr. Choquette.
I am now going to give the floor to Ms. Lapointe, who will be sharing her time with Mr. Arseneault.
5:15 p.m.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good afternoon ladies, I am pleased to meet you.
We have talked a lot about translation tools. I would like to hear your comments on Google Translate, which many people use.
Did you know that the data are kept outside the country? Would there not be an advantage to using the Portage tool, since the data would stay within Canada?
I like your recommendation to provide mandatory training on obligations regarding official languages. I find that interesting. It would ensure that everyone has a good understanding of their obligations.
If the Portage translation tool were used, there could be a notice indicating that this is a comprehension tool and not a translation tool. What do you think of that?
I mentioned three things.
April 13th, 2016 / 5:15 p.m.
Chair, Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada
To answer your first question, regarding the safeguard, we totally understand the problem there. Should we post a warning saying “Warning, danger” when we use—
5:15 p.m.
An hon. member
Like for peanuts.
5:15 p.m.
Chair, Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada
That's it. Some people could be allergic.
It is interesting as a potential solution, but by the same token, this would be a type of admission that there is a problem there. I do not have any specific answers to give you, because we would really need to think about it.
When we do this type of thing, are we furthering the implementation of the Official Languages Act? That is our concern. Are we promoting the right of public servants to work in the language of their choice?
I think this has to be analyzed using very concrete criteria that would allow us to see whether the Official Languages Act is being implemented and whether public servants' rights are being respected.
5:15 p.m.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
You talked about mandatory training. In your opinion, should all public servants, both current ones and those to come, be given training so as to ensure that they have a good understanding of their obligations with respect to official languages?
5:15 p.m.
Chair, Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada
Yes, we think that all public servants should be given training on the federal government's official languages obligations. In that way they could understand what this means for their department, what it means for them, their colleagues, and thus develop harmonious and respectful behaviours or work methods that would allow them to solve problems on a day-to-day basis more easily.
5:15 p.m.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Thank you, that is interesting.
I am going to give the floor to my colleague.
5:15 p.m.
Liberal
5:15 p.m.
Vice-President, Language Industry Association
I think there's a great opportunity here. This whole situation has created an explosion in the media and everyone's aware. We'll see the educating of the fonctionnariat, and it'll trickle down. Going further in the analysis of educating everyone on what a translator is, what a revisor is, what the documents that you have can do or will do for you and what their limitations are is a great opportunity, an excellent opportunity, for this country to actually bolster exactly what we're complaining about.
That's my comment.
5:15 p.m.
Liberal
René Arseneault Liberal Madawaska—Restigouche, NB
My question is addressed to Ms. Bossé or Ms. Lanthier.
There have been a lot of references to official languages obligations.
Do you know if there has been a study or a legal opinion on the Portage tool with regard to the respect of official languages rights and obligations?