Evidence of meeting #90 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 organizations.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Margo Legault  Executive Director, Literacy Quebec
Linda Shohet  As an Individual
Clerk of the Committee  Ms. Christine Holke

4:20 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Denis Paradis

Mr. Samson, you have the floor.

4:20 p.m.

Liberal

Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS

Thank you for your presentations.

I really enjoyed them.

They give us another lens to look through so that we can get a better understanding of what the status is.

I just want to make sure I understand. At one point it was said that the core funding was eliminated, and then you said there was still core funding. Can you distinguish that? Is that provincial or federal?

4:20 p.m.

As an Individual

Linda Shohet

Margo's group gets core funding from the education ministry in Quebec.

4:20 p.m.

Liberal

Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS

That's provincial.

4:20 p.m.

As an Individual

Linda Shohet

Right; that's provincial. It is the only province that provides core funding of that kind, so this is unique. It's not for anglophones; it's for about 185 groups in Quebec.

4:20 p.m.

Executive Director, Literacy Quebec

Margo Legault

Yes, there are 127 literacy organizations, and 13 of them are English.

4:20 p.m.

Liberal

Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS

Secondly, you made a comment that the minorities were hit the greatest with the cutbacks. Can you explain that?

4:20 p.m.

As an Individual

Linda Shohet

Yes. That's because the minority populations didn't have a lot of other resources to draw on. When these cuts came, it meant that in fact a lot of what they were doing simply didn't continue any longer. That was the main source of funding for their activity, so that's the impact it had. They didn't have other sources.

4:20 p.m.

Liberal

Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS

It's always going to have a greater impact on minorities.

4:20 p.m.

As an Individual

Linda Shohet

I think so.

4:20 p.m.

Liberal

Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS

I just wanted you to expand on that.

When the former minister said they were only going to fund useful projects, how did that make you feel, the people on the ground?

4:20 p.m.

As an Individual

Linda Shohet

We were not overjoyed. It felt insulting, in fact, because what they're saying indirectly is that nothing we have done is useful, that we're not providing any useful service or support of any kind, so they're not directing any money our way.

4:20 p.m.

Liberal

Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS

How have the changes to targeted funding improved services for minority groups?

4:20 p.m.

As an Individual

Linda Shohet

They haven't.

4:20 p.m.

Liberal

Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS

Why not?

4:25 p.m.

As an Individual

Linda Shohet

It's almost ad hoc. If you actually look at the projects that have been funded, first of all, you've probably been told that a lot of the monies allocated by Treasury Board to the Office of Literacy and Essential Skills in fact haven't been expended, so there is money that gets left unused every year in literacy and essential skills. That's number one.

Secondly, it's not directed specifically to minority language groups. Probably RESDAC and COFA have already indicated this to you, but in the last years of the previous government, and I don't know how much has changed since then, a lot of the monies that used to be designated pour et par started to be disbursed to other groups and were no longer coming to the minority groups and minority organizations.

The government said, “Oh, we didn't say it had to go to those groups; we said that they had to be serving the minority language population.” So if a group from somewhere else came in and said that 10% of what they were going to do in their project would serve the minority language group, they took some of the monies that were designated for minority language group projects and put it into the pot that went to that project.

There has been a subtle erosion of the funds.

4:25 p.m.

Liberal

Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS

You said there were cuts in 2014 and 2006.

4:25 p.m.

As an Individual

4:25 p.m.

Liberal

Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS

You mentioned 2006.

In 2006, what came in?

4:25 p.m.

As an Individual

Linda Shohet

In 2006, there was a big policy shift. In 2007, the National Literacy Secretariat was replaced by the Office of Literacy and Essential Skills.

4:25 p.m.

Liberal

Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS

Did that help or cause a problem?

4:25 p.m.

As an Individual

Linda Shohet

That caused more difficulty because it narrowed the focus even more than it had been before.

That's also when the federal-provincial agreements ended. They didn't end in 2014; they ended in 2007. There has not been a federal-provincial agreement since 2007.

4:25 p.m.

Liberal

Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS

We have a saying in minority communities that means when money is tight, the minorities are the ones who suffer. We say that when there is less water in the lake, the animals who drink from it look at each other differently.

It is clear that we have been suffering more since 2007, and we have to remember that the Conservatives were in power in 2007 and in 2014 when the cuts were made. So there is some work to be done.

Thank you.

4:25 p.m.

As an Individual

Linda Shohet

Thank you very much.

4:25 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Denis Paradis

Thank you, Mr. Samson.

Let us move on to Mr. Généreux now.