Official Languages Committee on Aug. 12th, 2020

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Good afternoon, everyone. I call this meeting to order.

First of all, I want to welcome you to the fifth meeting of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Official Languages. I see a few new faces, new members who are replacing others. I want to give them, too, the warmest of welcomes.

The committee is meeting today because a meeting was requested by four members of the committee pursuant to Standing Order 106(4) to discuss their request to undertake a study of the government's decision to select WE Charity, an anglophone organization, to implement the Canada student service grant.

Today's meeting is taking place in person, and the proceedings will be made available via the House of Commons website. So that you are aware, the webcast will always show the person speaking rather than the entire committee.

To ensure an orderly meeting, I would like to outline a few rules to follow. First, Occupational Health and Safety have requested that we limit our movement in the room and wear a mask unless seated. Floor markings indicate the path of travel, which goes counter-clockwise, starting at the right. Individuals should respect physical distancing and remain two metres from one another, particularly when unmasked. Seats and microphones have been placed in manners which respect physical distancing, therefore we ask that they remain in the same location.

To respect physical distancing, you will note that limited personnel have been permitted to attend today. Staff have received a phone number by which they can listen to the proceedings in real time.

Please note that there is usually a break between the appearances of the various panels, but that won't be necessary today, since there are no witnesses. Lastly, you will note that no paper documents have been distributed. All documents have been distributed electronically to members. Should you require a copy of a document, please advise the clerk of the committee present.

Before we begin, I'd like to return once again to the agenda, according to which the committee is meeting today because a meeting was requested by four members of the committee pursuant to Standing Order 106(4) to discuss their request to undertake a study of the government's decision to select WE Charity, an anglophone organization, to implement the Canada student service grant, the CSSG.

Mr. Godin, you have the floor.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'm always happy to see you again, today especially, since we haven't met in a few months. We've been through part of the pandemic. So I welcome my colleagues from all parties. I think it's important to greet each other in the halls and talk about what we've been going through in our ridings, where we have been very present in the last few months.

Before going any further, there's something I'd like to check with the group. An amendment to the motion was distributed yesterday. Before we begin our discussion, I'd like to ask everyone to go directly to the notice of amendment, which encompasses the main motion.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Mr. Godin, under normal circumstances, a motion would have been distributed. Normally, we would discuss the motion, unless there are amendments to it.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

The amendment that was sent yesterday refers to the main motion, which was stated in the request of the four signatories.

Would it be possible to seek unanimous consent of the committee to proceed directly to discussing the amendment to the motion?

[Sherry Romanado, Liberal, Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC]

A point of order, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

You have the floor, Mrs. Romanado.

[Sherry Romanado, Liberal, Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC]

Mr. Chair, according to Standing Order 104(1), when a meeting is requested by four members of the committee, we have to start with that request, but that isn't what we did. So, we have to deal with the meeting request before we can discuss the motion before us.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

You have the floor, Mr. Godin.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

In this case, Mr. Chair, I will yield the floor to my colleague from Louis-Saint-Laurent so that he can talk to you about the main motion.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Mr. Deltell, the floor is yours.

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'm pleased to see you, someone I've sat with at other times and in another place, the Quebec National Assembly.

Welcome to all my colleagues.

The motion before us today refers to an urgent event, which is why we have called the committee members together. We believe that there is an urgent need to act, to understand and to hear from the key players in this situation involving WE Org.

The motion reads as follows.

That the Committee undertake a study of the government's decision to select a unilingual anglophone organization, with no presence in Quebec, to administer the Canada Student Service Grant;

That the Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages, Melanie Joly, be invited to appear for at least two hours and before August 21st, 2020;

That other witnesses include, but are not limited to:

The Minister of Diversity and Inclusion and Youth, the Honourable Bardish Chagger;

b) NATIONAL Public Relations;

c) WE Charity;

d) The Commissioner of Official Languages, Mr. Raymond Théberge.

The reason we asked for these people to appear is the following. All Canadians are aware that when the pandemic occurred, emergency measures had to be taken and choices were made, sometimes quickly. We understand that. However, there were some ground rules that still had to be followed. We all know that for over 50 years, Canada has been a country with two official languages. Each of its policies must therefore reflect that reality. There's a reason that a minister's primary responsibility is to protect these two official languages.

We have learned that the government decreed that a unilingual English organization with no presence in Quebec would be responsible for a contract worth more than $912 million. We aren't talking about a $16 orange juice, but rather a fairly large amount. So we want to understand what happened and why it happened that way.

There is an urgency to act because the government is setting the stage as we speak and will soon be bringing forward other programs to help Canadians. We aren't against those programs, and we aren't against helping Canadians. Of course we're in favour of that, but it has to be done in a way that respects who we are as Canadians and as a country. We need to understand why the government rushed into this situation and how it happened, what steps were taken to get there and what steps weren't taken, so that this doesn't happen again. We're here to help the government not make the mistakes that were made in this case.

That's why we believe there is an urgency, and we invite the government and the key players in this debate to come and tell us what happened. We want to give the government a chance to explain.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you.

If you want to speak, let me know.

Go ahead, Ms. Lambropoulos.

[Emmanuella Lambropoulos, Liberal, Saint-Laurent, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

First of all, I completely agree that the organization should be present across Canada and do its work in both official languages. That's why I am a little confused as to why we're here today. WE Charity does indeed have a presence in Quebec. Not only does it has an office in Quebec, but it works with our students.

I was a teacher before entering politics. In my school in Quebec City, students were supposed to go to Ecuador to be part of a project that WE Org had organized. So it's not true that this organization has no presence in Quebec. The truth remains that it is present. Furthermore, WE Day Montreal is an event that took place in February. WE Org's last major event took place in Montreal, and it was held entirely in French. The music may not have been completely in French, but everyone who spoke at that three-hour event did so in French.

I don't know where you got your information that this organization is unilingual andthat it has no presence in Quebec.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you, Ms. Lambropoulos.

Mr. Beaulieu, you have the floor.

[Mario Beaulieu, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

I have some comments to make, but I also have an amendment. Would it be better for me to move my amendment first?

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Go ahead, Mr. Beaulieu.

[Mario Beaulieu, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

I consider there is, indeed, an urgency, but there's no fire either.

To give us time to call witnesses, among other things, I propose that the minister be invited to testify between August 24 and August 28, or starting August 24, rather than before August 21.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Mr. Beaulieu, excuse me—

[Mario Beaulieu, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

I'm talking about Mr. Godin's motion, which states, “That the Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages, Melanie Joly, be invited to appear …”.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

We're now discussing the first motion, under Standing Order 106(4).

[Mario Beaulieu, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

Okay.

It seems to me there was a date, wasn't there?

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

No, there was no date.

[Mario Beaulieu, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

In that case, then, I'll make some comments.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Go ahead, Mr. Beaulieu.

[Mario Beaulieu, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

It seems to me that WE Charity is a unilingual anglophone organization. It appeared to have an office in Quebec, but it's closed. In any case, we went to knock on the door of the office, and it was closed. We phoned the other offices, including the one in Toronto, but they answered in English only. There was no option in French. I'm not familiar with WE Charity, and the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne, the FCFA, aren't familiar with it either.

So I think there's a need for an investigation. It's unacceptable to give a mandate like this to an organization that can't speak French without using an outside firm and that doesn't seem to have a network among francophones, whether in Quebec or elsewhere in Canada.