Official Languages Committee on Feb. 23rd, 2021

[Manon Bombardier]

That would have been possible. Our approach was not to be prescriptive. We offered a great deal of flexibility to the producers and distributors and they could have done what you just suggested.

For foreign imports, there had to be at least a website containing the information so that consumers could have access to it at the point of sale.

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

Many citizens contacted us to say that they had received unilingual English alert messages in francophone regions. I don't know whether you are aware of that.

A specific case was brought to my attention, and I submitted a complaint to the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages. Crisis Services Canada doesn't offer SMS support in French. That was about two weeks ago. On its Facebook page, all visual information is in English, even though there is a little bit of French text. I don't think this organization is directly under your jurisdiction, but it receives funding from the Mental Health Commission of Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada. I don't know whether any action can be taken to have this information translated.

[Pam Aung Thin]

Thank you for your question.

As I said at the beginning, we always put out our information in both official languages at the same time. It's a little more difficult to force our partners to do the same. If one of our partners has not provided information in both official languages, we can discuss it with them, but we can't necessarily force them to follow the same rules.

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

On their website, they mention two funding agencies. I believe that these are your department and the Mental Health Commission of Canada. It seems to me that it would be reasonable to ask this commission to provide services in French.

You keep saying that everything is done in French and English at the same time. However, the Commissioner of Official Languages and others besides me have found gaps. Earlier, for example, the Public Service Alliance of Canada said that it was very difficult to operate in French in Quebec.

Unless you are the exception that proves the rule, you must find that there are challenges in providing services in French. I'd like to hear what you have to say about that.

[Pam Aung Thin]

Thank you for your question.

In the branch, we handle everything related to the working environment and communications within the department. We organize information sessions and meetings with deputy ministers and managers in our department. We also oversee information for employees.

When we hold meetings, we all always ask participants to speak in English or French. We prepare their notes in both official languages, with part of each document written in English and the other in French. We always provide simultaneous interpretation services for francophones and anglophones. All of the documents we prepare for employees—

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

This means that all your videoconferences are in English and French. Is that correct?

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Mr. Beaulieu, I'm sorry to interrupt, but your speaking time is over.

Mr. Boulerice, you have the floor for six minutes.

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Ms. Aung Thin and Ms. Bombardier, for being here with us this evening, at such a late hour.

Mr. Barrière, of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, said earlier that there were problems with bilingualism and respect for French, but that it varied from one branch or department to another. He wanted to separate the wheat from the chaff.

I trust, ladies, that your department will be among the top students and not the dunces in the class. We will carefully read the Commissioner of Official Languages' report for the outcome of his evaluation of the various departments.

I'd like to come back to the labelling issue. You must have expected a lot of questions about it today, since it's been in the news.

As one of the witnesses said, we're all in favour of complying with the Official Languages Act, unless there is a technical glitch, a crisis or an emergency. During the pandemic crisis, you had to deal with astronomical needs for certain products. You mentioned disinfectants and personal protective equipment, I believe.

What are you planning to do to avoid putting French aside every time there's an emergency?

[Manon Bombardier]

Thank you very much for the question.

I can assure you that we're not putting French aside.

As I explained, several considerations come into play when a new policy is being established, particularly in an emergency. There are of course health products available to prevent infection and flatten the curve. We know that the curve climbed, particularly in the first few months of the pandemic, and even continued to do so afterwards.

With respect to our regulatory role, it was important to make sure that protective products were available to Canadians, and particularly to front-line healthcare staff treating infected patients and higher-risk patients in vulnerable populations. We took supply and demand into consideration, and it was very important to do so. We also monitored everything very closely. As soon we saw that the situation had stabilized, we adjusted our policies.

We never allowed information to be given out in only one language. As of June 8, all information had to be made available in both official languages, whether for disinfectants, hand sanitizers, soap or any of the other products we've talked about.

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

In passing, however, I'd like instead to know what the plan is for the future, and what measures are being envisaged to prevent this from happening again.

You mentioned, Ms. Bombardier, that you had allowed products to be distributed, and placed on grocery store shelves, based on the official language of the region. That got me thinking. If I may, I'd like to ask another question.

What's the official language of New Brunswick?

[Manon Bombardier]

The Treasury Board, several years ago now, developed a policy on the bilingual regions of Canada. Some regions are recognized as being primarily francophone, others as primarily anglophone, and others as bilingual. We used the Treasury Board system to allow products being distributed to have a French label in unilingual francophone regions, and an English label in unilingual anglophone regions.

I can assure you that in most instances, these were small businesses like breweries and distilleries that had altered their activities quickly in response to the crisis. Distribution was thus on a local basis. In bilingual regions, labels were still required to have both languages.

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

We are in fact very grateful to all these distilleries for having shifted their focus to help our health workers and the population.

Ms. Aung Thin, you said earlier that when working with partners—and I understood this to mean private companies, or perhaps subcontractors—they could not necessarily be required to follow the same rules.

Why, when awarding contracts, can a clause not be included requiring compliance with official languages policy?

As soon as the private sector gets into the act, it's as if we no longer had to worry about it. However, when a contract is awarded to someone, by agreement, there's no reason why any conditions we want can't be included.

[Pam Aung Thin]

Thank you for the question.

I was speaking more about partners that are not corporations, but rather not-for-profit organizations. It really depends on the contract, the type of partnership and the kind of work. Specific conditions can be included, but these depend on each situation.

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

I would strongly recommend doing so in a way that complies with official languages.

I would like to ask a final, and very brief, question.

The Public Health Agency of Canada apparently sent out alerts in English only. The person who spoke before me asked pretty much the same question.

Can you explain how something like that, which strikes me as truly problematic, can have occurred?

[Pam Aung Thin]

This had to do with the COVID Alert app. One of our suppliers made a mistake, and sent out English-only messages to francophone clients. We found out about the mistake quickly and spoke to the supplier, who then sent out an apology, explaining what had happened, with reassurance that it would not be repeated.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you very much.

We are now going to move on to the final round of questions.

Mr. Williamson and Mr. Mazier are going to share five minutes of speaking time.

Mr. Williamson, you have the floor.

[Marc Dalton, Conservative, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC]

Mr. Williamson is absent. Mr. Godin and Mr. Dalton will speak instead.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Sorry.

You have the floor, Mr. Dalton.

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

I' ll be the one to speak first. I'll share my speaking time with Mr. Dalton.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

It will be a pleasure. Over to you, Mr. Godin.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ladies, my first question will be very short.

I'm curious. Ms. Aung Thin, you are the Acting Assistant Deputy Minister, Communications and Public Affairs, at Health Canada. Ms. Bombardier, you are the Acting Assistant Deputy Minister, Health Products and Food Branch.

How long have you been in these acting positions?

[Pam Aung Thin]

Thank you for your question.

I've been in this position at the Communications and Public Affairs Branch in an acting capacity since September.

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

Okay.

What about you, Ms. Bombardier?

[Manon Bombardier]

That's also when I took this position on an acting basis.

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

When are you going to be officially appointed to these positions?