Evidence of meeting #95 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 questions.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:05 p.m.
Liberal
Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS
Okay.
That means that 100% of respondents will be asked those questions.
4:05 p.m.
Assistant Director, Social and Aboriginal Statistics Division, Statistics Canada
It means that 100% of respondents will answer the questions in the short form.
4:05 p.m.
Liberal
Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS
Okay.
So there is a chance that my 75-year-old uncle will be able to do it.
4:05 p.m.
Voices
Ha, ha!
4:05 p.m.
Liberal
4:05 p.m.
Assistant Director, Social and Aboriginal Statistics Division, Statistics Canada
All the population does not answer all the questions in the long-form census, which is much more exhaustive and which is why it is called the long-form census.
4:05 p.m.
Assistant Director, Social and Aboriginal Statistics Division, Statistics Canada
Right now, it is not an option. Otherwise there would be no short form.
In terms of rights holders, we are certainly looking at both options.
4:05 p.m.
Liberal
Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS
If I understand correctly, you do not think this will negatively impact data consistency since it was not there in the past. Do you also agree on that? Adding new questions that will provide a foundation—for the first time and 36 years late—is not a problem. There will be a foundation to build on and evolve.
4:10 p.m.
Assistant Director, Social and Aboriginal Statistics Division, Statistics Canada
That is why we are doing qualitative and quantitative testing. If the population understands the questions properly, both in a small sample and in quantitative testing, with a much larger sample...
4:10 p.m.
Liberal
4:10 p.m.
Assistant Director, Social and Aboriginal Statistics Division, Statistics Canada
We will have initial data that is scientific and robust right from the start, if we make sure that...
4:10 p.m.
Liberal
Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS
I understand, but the fact that those questions were not there before is not a problem.
4:10 p.m.
Assistant Director, Social and Aboriginal Statistics Division, Statistics Canada
No, absolutely not.
4:10 p.m.
Liberal
4:10 p.m.
Liberal
Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS
In that case, I would just ask you to continue your work. We hope you succeed, because the minority population has suffered for a very long time. They have not had access to francophone schools and have not had the opportunity to develop. The communities and the people are assimilated. We are counting on you to help Canadians with our country's linguistic duality.
Thank you.
4:10 p.m.
Conservative
Sylvie Boucher Conservative Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île dOrléans—Charlevoix, QC
Hello, Mr. Corbeil and Ms. Badets.
For my part, I have to say that I would have liked to hear more. In particular, I do not want to sugarcoat things. For as long as the Standing Committee on Official Languages has been preparing reports on linguistic minorities, I cannot believe that, in 2018, you still do not understand.
That being said, as someone who hates statistics, I am anxious for Statistics Canada to start speaking in human terms. We are more than just numbers. Rights holders are more than just numbers. They are French-Canadians right across the country and they have rights.
I am really tired of hearing about figures only. Rights holders are human beings who have suffered from the lack of schools. You just have to look around—the committee has just returned from a trip—to see that people are struggling every day. It is not possible that, in 2018, you have not had the time to consider the situation.
Statistics Canada wears a lot of other hats. There a lot of other subjects, but they are not all as important as the two founding peoples. In 2018, we should not even be having this conversation. That is what makes me angry, Mr. Corbeil.
In your view, we are just figures—and I have nothing against that. Behind those figures, however, are human beings, human beings who have the right to simple questions. Show us those questions and we will see if we understand them. There are people here who come from minority communities. For my part, I am from Quebec. We are more than just numbers, we are human beings, and I want you to treat us and treat rights holders as human beings.
The Standing Committee on Official Languages has been producing annual reports for years. In the past, I was part of the government, a parliamentary secretary. We issued a number of reports. If you do not read them, that is a problem. We put our heart and soul into our work here.
What I am asking you today is to provide the questions on March 31. We will understand them and we will try to help you. We are here to help you. We are here to defend linguistic minorities. Please stop treating us as numbers. When you talk to us that way, I do not feel involved. I am working on issues other than rights holders. The black hole in my riding can still be traced to statistics.
I don't know how things work at Statistics Canada. Behind the numbers, are there human beings who understand the problems we have had for much more than two or three years? I have been in federal politics for 10 years and we have been talking about this the whole time. In the past 10 years, surely you have come up with some numbers somewhere. This is not the first time we have asked you this. You said you did a study of rights holders in 2006. So you do have something to work from.
Why is it so complicated today to talk about issues that are so essential to people in remote regions and minority communities? With all the time we have spent talking about this, I do not want to wait until 2020. It startled me earlier when I saw that because this is not the first time we have talked about this. If it had been the first time, I would not have said anything, but we have been talking about it for 10 years. You must have some figures.
4:15 p.m.
Liberal
4:15 p.m.
Liberal
Dan Vandal Liberal Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB
Thank you very much.
In the report, I read that there had been a meeting with the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne, the FCFA, in October or November.
4:15 p.m.
Assistant Director, Social and Aboriginal Statistics Division, Statistics Canada
Yes, we have had a few meetings and discussions with the FCFA on various topics.
4:15 p.m.
Liberal
Dan Vandal Liberal Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB
What came out of those meetings? Is the FCFA taking part in this initiative?
4:15 p.m.
Assistant Director, Social and Aboriginal Statistics Division, Statistics Canada
Absolutely. The FCFA has designated someone to be part of our advisory committee. We are discussing this with the people from the FCFA.
4:15 p.m.
Liberal
Dan Vandal Liberal Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB
Are there members of minorities on your advisory committee, someone representing the anglophone minority in Quebec, for instance? Are those people represented on the advisory committee?
