Official Languages Committee on March 10th, 2020

[Geoffrey Chambers]

There is a very good case for there having been a restriction in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, but there's a diminishing argument for its validity going forward. The French language in Quebec is in good shape, partly because there's a lot of vigilance to support it. We're not against that, but it's going to go some day. It is a violation of civil rights.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

So your position is you would like to see the National Assembly, or alternatively the Government of Quebec, declare its approval of section 59?

[Geoffrey Chambers]

Absolutely. As we graduate high school students who are as capable of taking a job in the Quebec economy as the high school students that come out of the majority schools, the francophone schools, it will seem more and more irrational to have this distinction, whereby people are not failing to participate in the larger project of Quebec being a French society at a working level, but come from our community.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you, Mr. Chambers.

Your turn, Mr. Duguid.

[Terry Duguid, Liberal, Winnipeg South, MB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I represent Winnipeg South, and for 5% of the population I represent their first language is French and 17% are bilingual—I made sure both my daughters went through French immersion—and so the French fact is growing in our community.

And thank you so much. I've learned a lot today about how to serve my community better.

We have the French school division in my district, the DSFM, which many of you would know. The French-only K-to-8 school is Noël-Ritchot. He was the bishop to Louis Riel. Guess what? There are many portables outside.

My district is exploding in growth. It's 40% new Canadians. It's very much like a suburb of Toronto. We're building new schools while portables are outside the French-only school. I wonder whether there's evidence to suggest that parents who should be sending their children to Noël-Ritchot are going to be sending their kids to the new French immersion schools instead.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

You have less than a minute left.

[Terry Duguid, Liberal, Winnipeg South, MB]

Are permanent residents, refugees and others who don't have citizenship or other status counted in the census? That's probably a question for next week.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

You have 20 seconds.

[Valérie Morand]

I would like to provide an answer to your first question as to whether there is evidence that parents are choosing French immersion rather than French as a first language. We don't have hard data, but we know it does happen for a number of reasons. If there's not a nearby school, parents will be tempted to send their kids to French immersion. If the French language school is located very far away, they're reluctant to have their kids on the bus for a long time. We have kids travelling over an hour to get to school and an hour back, two hours and sometimes more. Those are dedicated parents, who are determined to have their kids enrolled in a French language school, but if you don't have a nearby school, that's playing against your clientele.

[Terry Duguid, Liberal, Winnipeg South, MB]

Or if it's too crowded.

[Valérie Morand]

Or if it's too crowded.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you very much.

I now give the floor to Mr. d'Entremont, who has two minutes.

[Chris d'Entremont, Conservative, West Nova, NS]

Thank you very much.

On Thursday, we will have the opportunity to ask questions of the chief statistician. What direct questions should we ask him? As that song from the 1980s said....

She Blinded Me with Science, they've blinded me with details that are not important.

[Denis Chartrand]

Why do they not want to include the questions?

[Marie-Pierre Lavoie]

Yes. How would that hurt?

[Denis Chartrand]

As the gentleman said, if the paper is too short, get longer paper! I am just an engineer.

[Marie-Pierre Lavoie]

The questions were tested this summer and they work. It is just a matter of including them in the short form and not only in the long form.

[Chris d'Entremont, Conservative, West Nova, NS]

The questions may have already been tested, but it remains to be seen whether the government will accept them. This is not a question for Statistics Canada, but for the government.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

The question has been answered.

I give the floor to Mrs. Lalonde for two minutes.

[Marie-France Lalonde, Liberal, Orléans, ON]

Because I waited until the end, I am allowed five minutes. I've been patient!

Good afternoon. It's nice to meet you or see you again.

There has been a lot of talk about why you are here and how important your presence is. I have always said that when you build a school, it fills up. I firmly believe that is one reason.

If I may, I would like to talk about Ontario specifically, because I represent the riding of Orléans.

Over the past few years, if we could have had a short-form census with all three questions, or at least the questions that tell us what we want to know, would that have made things better with the provincial government? How would that have improved things for you and prevented the need for so many portable classrooms? There were still 17 to 23 in some locations.

[Denis Chartrand]

Because your question is about Ontario, I will answer it, but it will apply to all provinces.

Having questions on the form will not guarantee more schools, but it will give us the data we need to fight. Right now we have no data except our own, but we are told it doesn't count. Probative data will help us fight for a school in Toronto.

[Marie-France Lalonde, Liberal, Orléans, ON]

Basically, it would confirm what you are already know.

I have another question.

You seem pretty sure of what Statistics Canada might tell us or the position it has already taken. Why is that?

Ms. Martin-Laforge, go ahead.

[Sylvia Martin-Laforge]

I have an answer to Monsieur d'Entremont's—

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Unfortunately, there are only 15 to 20 seconds left to respond.

[Sylvia Martin-Laforge]

StatsCan is going to tell you all the reasons...or you're going to tell them all the reasons they should do it.

They're probably thinking that the risk of putting in more questions and doing this in the short form opens the door to other groups and other questions. I think that the constitutional right and what we're trying to do in Canada around the two official languages and the linguistic minority is primordial.

They are risk-averse, I believe, in that they would not want to do this because it would open the door to other groups.

That's my take on not accepting that answer from them.