Evidence of meeting #89 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 communities.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Is it the officials from Canadian Heritage who ask you to support the vitality of linguistic minorities?
Manager, Office of Literacy and Essential Skills, Department of Employment and Social Development
No.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
So it is really an initiative by your department. Very good.
Ms. Bertrand, you said earlier that you are not responsible for delivering services. You also said that the territories and provinces do a lot of the work.
Does that mean that services are delivered by the linguistic minority's provincial education system?
For my part, I represent a riding in the Montreal area where the linguistic minority is English-speaking. How can we promote literacy among anglophones and make sure that people get level 2? You mentioned that earlier.
Director General, Employment Program Policy and Design Directorate, Department of Employment and Social Development
In terms of the provincial programs, the money that we are providing to provinces and territories is through transfer agreements, so the programs are provincial programs, and the provincial programs don't fall under the Official Languages Act.
Having said that, in each agreement that we have, there are official language provisions, and the official language provisions in these agreements stipulate that a province or a territory will, in an area of significant demand, provide services in the chosen language of the client. We meet with the provinces and territories twice a year, and we ask these questions: “Do you know what the needs of your official language minority communities are? How are you addressing those needs of the official language minority communities?”
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
You are talking about the provinces, but how do you specifically evaluate the minority's language skills?
I imagine you draw on the census, where respondents indicate the level of education they have completed, grade school or high school, for instance.
How do you evaluate competency levels?
Manager, Office of Literacy and Essential Skills, Department of Employment and Social Development
That is actually done through the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies, a skills assessment program designed by the OECD.
February 7th, 2018 / 5:20 p.m.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Will this program be able to evaluate skills right across Canada?
Director General, Employment Program Policy and Design Directorate, Department of Employment and Social Development
Yes, definitely.
Liberal
Manager, Office of Literacy and Essential Skills, Department of Employment and Social Development
That might not have been done in all the provinces—and I am sticking my neck out here—, but I think certain provinces have been targeted for the evaluation of linguistic communities.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
I read earlier in your document that the needs are different in Quebec. Yet we went to the Eastern Townships and found that, in the large regions where the linguistic minorities were very separate from one another, people tended not to go to school as long and were facing problems similar to those you described earlier. The less education they had, the harder it was for them to keep a job. The problems were all related to that. You said that this does not apply in Quebec, but I can tell you, based on what we saw and heard in the Eastern Townships, that that is not the case. I think therefore that that statement should be revised.
Manager, Office of Literacy and Essential Skills, Department of Employment and Social Development
If I may, I would say that the reality in Quebec is somewhat different, but the situation of the linguistic minority community must not be overlooked. I agree with you.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Okay.
Mr. Samson, would you like to ask another question?
Liberal
Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS
Yes, but my turn is coming up so you may continue.
Conservative
Sylvie Boucher Conservative Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île dOrléans—Charlevoix, QC
Hello.
I was very pleased that my colleague Bernard Généreux asked you earlier whether the change in policy in 2014 had been the result of a political order. That would have really put mud on our face since the Conservative Party was in power at the time.
So I will ask you the question again, but with reference to 2018. Was the change at RESDAC the result of a political order or did officials at Employment and Social Development Canada decide to take a different approach?
Director General, Employment Program Policy and Design Directorate, Department of Employment and Social Development
We're generally strengthening performance measurement and reporting of results across all our programs. The reason we are doing that is analytical. We are in the business of continuously improving our programs and services to Canadians, and the only way you can do that is when you measure and report on results, and when you collect the right data and you're able to analyze it. If you do not have that, you cannot improve your programs and services.
Conservative
Sylvie Boucher Conservative Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île dOrléans—Charlevoix, QC
You just said that is what you wanted. Yet we heard from the witnesses from RESDAC that this decision did not help minority communities whatsoever. Instead, it caused disorganization among francophones in small municipalities outside Quebec. I do not know if the same is true for the anglophone communities in Quebec because we have not heard a lot about them. So I will focus on francophones outside Quebec.
This is 2018. The members of our committee are from the Liberals, Conservatives and NDP. We could certainly play political games, but we are not doing that because our official language minority communities are extremely important to us all.
There is something I am trying to understand. When the government provided core funding to organizations, that helped certain linguistic minorities in remote communities. If funding is now provided on a per project basis, how can you evaluate the results of two different projects? How can you distinguish between the two?
Manager, Office of Literacy and Essential Skills, Department of Employment and Social Development
In terms of projects—perhaps I am oversimplifying in my analysis—, let me tell you about a current project that will include essential skills in a tourism program. At the end of the program or project, we will be able to say that a certain number of people were trained. Based on this experience, we will be able to say whether it was a success, as we hope, and whether the model should be used again. We will be able to say that the partners and the employers got involved in the project.
This is more specific than an organization that did good mobilization work. I am not saying that mobilization work is not necessary, but it is easier to talk about the results of a project because they are more concrete, more tangible.
Conservative
Sylvie Boucher Conservative Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île dOrléans—Charlevoix, QC
You have discussions with your minister, Minister Duclos, if I am not mistaken. Do you discuss the official languages—
Conservative
Sylvie Boucher Conservative Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île dOrléans—Charlevoix, QC
It is Minister Hajdu? Sorry, I got them mixed up. Thank you for clarifying that.
Do you have discussions with the minister about the direction she wants to take on the official languages?
On this committee, we all defend the official languages. I myself am a member of the opposition. My colleagues in the governing party also fight for the official languages.
Do you have that kind of discussion to determine what approach to take with the current minister?
Director General, Employment Program Policy and Design Directorate, Department of Employment and Social Development
Yes. Our minister is certainly aware of the upcoming consultations. I think she is anxious to hear the results of the consultations and to make some decisions when the time comes.
Conservative
