Evidence of meeting #11 for Official Languages in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was pandemic.
A recording is available from Parliament.
6 p.m.
Liberal
Patricia Lattanzio Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
I'll put my rollerskates on.
The testimony that we heard this past Tuesday from REISA and CHSSN indicated to us that the community health network and community groups have become a lifeline for the English-speaking populations in terms of finding and getting the information that they needed during the pandemic, playing the middleman between the governments and communities.
First, can both of you ladies speak to the [Inaudible—Editor] outreach and operation in the context of the pandemic?
6 p.m.
Liberal
Patricia Lattanzio Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
Second, how have you had to adapt to English [Inaudible—Editor] during these difficult times?
6 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Emmanuel Dubourg
Pardon me. We seem to be having more interpretation problems. The question is for the QCGN representatives.
Please start, and I'll see if the interpretation is working.
6:05 p.m.
President, Quebec Community Groups Network
Yes.
I'm going to ask Sylvia, our director general, to answer that question.
6:05 p.m.
Director General, Quebec Community Groups Network
Both federal and provincial coordination, as we said earlier, is important in situations of pandemics and health crises. The funding that is available to us from Health Canada is important in terms of promotion and is important for our networks.
Increasingly, we find ourselves having to supplement the work that the province should be doing for our English-speaking Quebeckers. For example, when the guide didn't come out, many of the groups used money to translate it and distribute it. That's a very good initiative, but it's not what we should expect from our government.
6:05 p.m.
Liberal
6:05 p.m.
Liberal
Patricia Lattanzio Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
I'll speak in French. I think both ladies will understand my question.
What gaps do you have to fill as a result of this communication problem?
Since we're short of time, perhaps you can supplement your answers with a written brief on this topic, or any other topic that we were unable to discuss with you today as a result of the technical problems that have prevented us from following up.
December 10th, 2020 / 6:05 p.m.
Director General, Quebec Community Groups Network
I'll respond in French out of respect for Mr. Beaulieu.
We received the guide about two months after it was released in French.
It was good, although there are no established standards, and, if other documents have to be distributed again to English-speaking Quebecers, we aren't sure that will get done.
However, that's the way it is despite the fact that Quebec's Act respecting health services and social services provides for situations in which translation must be done and documents must be available in several languages, including English. It's not just in English, but in many languages. This is a crisis. It's important. People are dying. There have to be standards.
We don't have that guarantee. We can't expect associations to do the work for the government. That's not acceptable. It's absolutely necessary that a reasonable and generous government provide these services to the English-speaking community in times of crisis.
6:05 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Emmanuel Dubourg
Thank you very much.
That is all the time we have for the period of questions.
Thanks to all the witnesses for participating and cooperating because we have gone beyond 5:30 p.m.
I would therefore like to thank Carol Jolin, president, and Peter Hominuk, executive director, of the Assemblée de la francophonie de l'Ontario; Padminee Chundunsing, chairperson of the board of the Fédération des francophones de la Colombie-Britannique; Marlene Jennings, president, and Sylvia Marint-Laforge, director general, of QCGN; and, lastly, Alexandre Cédric Doucet, president, and Ali Chaisson, executive director, of the Société de l'Acadie du Nouveau-Brunswick.
Once again, thank you very much. Please do not hesitate to send us any other information you think may be useful.
I also take this opportunity to thank the entire technical team, analysts, the clerk and everyone at this meeting.
I wish everyone a safe trip home and good evening to you all.
Thank you for attending our meeting. Goodbye.
