Official Languages Committee on Feb. 23rd, 2021

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

That's perfect.

We talked about surveys earlier. There's also an insecurity on the anglophone side. You said that some anglophones lacked self-confidence when speaking in French.

Do you think any anglophone employees are uncomfortable speaking English?

[Yvon Barrière]

I believe you mean francophone employees.

Yes, they're definitely uncomfortable, not necessarily because they lack the opportunity, since they often have occasion to speak it, but as a result of a lack of training. In many cases, the technical aspect of a subject may become a handicap from a performance standpoint. In meetings, people don't want to look bad in front of senior management, for many reasons, whether it be for the purposes of their performance evaluation or obtaining an acting or higher-level position.

There's definitely an insecurity in that regard among both anglophones and francophones, and insecurity is omnipresent across Canada when it comes to bilingualism.

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

What I'm trying to understand, in fact, is whether a large percentage of anglophones are uncomfortable speaking English.

[Yvon Barrière]

I think they're definitely more comfortable speaking English. They very often want to speak English. They very much appreciate simultaneous translation at meetings attended by both anglophones and francophones.

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

My next question may be a tough one. Is it efficient to work in the language of one's choice?

Wouldn't it be better to have a common language in the workplace?

What happens when one person wants to speak French but the other wants to speak English?

[Yvon Barrière]

Well, that's a little more…

[Yvon Barrière]

There's a philosophical aspect to your question.

I think the situation calls for cooperation, healthy communication and respect.

I see the Chair is waving the red card; I'm saved by the red card.

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

That's a question that's hard to answer.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

But it's not like in soccer; we don't eject you. Stay with us because you'll be participating with Mr. Boulerice in the final two-and-a-half-minute round.

We are listening, Mr. Boulerice.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Barrière, a little earlier, you made a remark that struck me. You said there might ultimately be a shortage of francophone employees in the federal public service.

Based on your experience in recent years, what might explain the lack of a critical mass of francophones or bilingual people in certain regions?

[Yvon Barrière]

That's a very good question, Mr. Boulerice.

What explains that from a hiring standpoint?

All departments propose revisions to their staff every year. They try to determine why their employees, and even possibly citizens, have to wait for services in French. I can't explain that to you.

I think that, in this type of forum, and in the context of communications that one might have with the Treasury Board and Ms. Joly, we could review the current statistics. It might even be quite easy to determine what percentage of the population the francophone community of Canada represents and to modify the offer of French-language and bilingual services based on that.

That being said, we absolutely feel that the francophone community is underrepresented in the public service.

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

It's important to note that an emergency, crisis or technical problem is often used as an excuse to disregard the rights of francophones.

Do you think the fact that there's a pandemic or emergency justifies systematically setting aside French within the public service?

[Yvon Barrière]

No, not at all.

We're a minority, even though there are millions of francophones. That's why I referred to discrimination earlier. In the context of a pandemic, it's even more important to provide all the information in both official languages to public servants, and thus indirectly to Canadians, in a satisfactory manner and as promptly as possible.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you very much, Mr. Boulerice.

Mr. Barrière, you are the executive vice-president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada for the Quebec Region. On behalf of all the members of the committee, I want to thank you for participating in and contributing to our study. We look forward to seeing you again.

We will suspend for only two minutes so we can welcome the next witnesses.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

We will resume.

The committee is meeting today to discuss Challenges of the Parliamentary Interpretation Service in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

I would like to make a few comments for the benefit of the witnesses.

Before speaking, please wait until I recognize you by name, and when you are ready to speak, you can click on the microphone icon to activate your mike.

A reminder that all comments should be addressed through the chair.

Interpretation in this video conference will work very much as it does in a regular committee meeting. You have the choice, at the bottom of your screen, of either floor, English or French.

When speaking, please speak slowly and clearly.

When you are not speaking, your mike should be on mute.

I would now like to welcome our witnesses for this second part of our meeting.

You will have seven and a half minutes to make your opening remarks, followed by a round of questions from members of the committee.

Mr. Beaulieu has a point of order.

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

We seem to have interpretation problems. I heard only a small portion of what you said in English.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

I will repeat that part. We can do a test.

Interpretation in this video conference is similar to a regular committee meeting. You have the choice, at the bottom of your screen, of either floor, English or French.

Did the interpretation work, Mr. Beaulieu?

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

Yes, it works.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

All right.

I would like to welcome our witnesses.

We have Pam Aung Thin, Acting Assistant Deputy Minister for Communications and Public Affairs, from the Department of Health.

We also have Manon Bombardier, Acting Assistant Deputy Minister for the Health Products and Food Branch.

The members may share their speaking time. The last five-minute round will be eliminated so that we can adopt the budget for our next study.

Ms. Aung Thin and Ms. Bombardier, I will indicate to you when you have one minute left. The red card means that your speaking time is over.

Ms. Aung Thin, you have the floor for seven and a half minutes.

[Pam Aung Thin, Acting Assistant Deputy Minister, Communications and Public Affairs, Department of Health]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you for inviting me to appear before the Committee today.

I appreciate this opportunity to describe how Health Canada has been meeting the requirements of the Official Languages Act as we keep Canadians informed as we fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

My name is Pamela Aung Thin and, as you mentioned, I am the acting assistant deputy minister of the communications and public affairs branch, which provides services to both Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada.

Accompanying me today is Manon Bombardier, acting associate assistant deputy minister of Health Canada's health products and food branch.

Our branches play an important part in the government's overall response to the COVID-19 outbreak in Canada.

I want to begin by saying that communicating with Canadians in the official language of their choice is more than just a legal or policy requirement for us—it is a core communications practice.

During a crisis, clear, effective communication takes on even greater importance because being misunderstood can put the health and safety of Canadians at risk. We take this responsibility seriously and it shapes how we do business every day.

The expectations regarding the use of official languages in government communications are quite clear. Under the Official Languages Act, federal institutions are required to communicate and offer services to the public in both official languages.

The Government of Canada's policy on communications and federal identity provides further guidance. It requires that government departments provide information in both official languages in accordance with the act, and that they consider the needs of official language minority communities in Canada in their communications.

We, in the health portfolio, strive to meet these requirements in all our communications. For example, every news release, statement or written product we issue is released in both English and French at the same time. Information published on our website is also posted simultaneously in both English and French.

During the pandemic, we are also making key information about COVID-19 and the government's efforts to reduce the spread of the disease available in many other languages, including several indigenous languages.

When we host media availabilities and technical briefings, there are always experts available from Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada to speak in both official languages.

Finally, within the department and the agency, communication with employees takes place in both official languages and employees are encouraged to work in the language of their choice.

Employees and managers are assessed at mid-year and year-end on performance objectives related to language requirements in their performance agreement.

These are standard communication practices in the Government of Canada—practices that we endeavour to follow at all times. The COVID-19 pandemic has not changed this. While this unprecedented crisis has presented some additional challenges, we always respect official languages.

Our top priority is protecting the health and safety of Canadians. Since the beginning of the pandemic that has meant doing everything possible to control the spread of COVID-19. This includes facilitating access to products needed to slow the spread of the disease.

With the onset of the pandemic in March 2020, there was unprecedented demand for products to limit the spread of COVID-19, including hand sanitizers and disinfectants, household and workplace cleaners, and hand and body soaps. For these products, labels are a key source of information for Canadians about how to use these products. Normally, every product sold in Canada requires a bilingual label.

At the beginning of the pandemic, demand had increased exponentially, to the point where it was often very difficult to find many of these products on store shelves or through online retailers.

Foreign suppliers of hand sanitizers and hard surface disinfectants indicated that they were producing these products with a global English-only label, and that they would ship only to countries accepting English-only labelling.

Due to the unprecedented demand, and to ensure that Canadians would continue to have access to these products to prevent the spread of COVID-19, Health Canada implemented interim policies in March and April 2020 to facilitate access, on a temporary and emergency basis, to certain products labelled in only one official language. To note, hand sanitizers manufactured in Canada with unilingual labels could only be sold in unilingual regions, based on the language of that region.

Health Canada closely monitored the supply of hand sanitizers and disinfectants. As supply began to stabilize, a return to bilingual labelling was proactively initiated on May 9, 2020, with a transition period permitted until June 8, 2020 for existing products. Health Canada required importers to provide information at the point of sale directing consumers to bilingual label information online.

Our interim measures helped address the high demand for health products necessary to help slow the spread of COVID-19.

In addition, the interim measures for products manufactured in Canada supported the tremendous mobilization of the Canadian business community to support the fight against COVID-19. All across the country, we witnessed remarkable collaboration from companies and industries that stepped up and offered their support, expertise, and resources to address critical supply needs.

To conclude, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed so much for Canadians over the past year. However, it has not changed the health portfolio's commitment to communicating and serving Canadians in the official language of their choice.

Despite the exceptional circumstances, I am confident that the health portfolio has continued to meet its obligations under the Official Languages Act throughout this prolonged crisis.

We are now happy to answer any questions you may have.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you very much for your remarks.

We'll now move on to a six-minute question period.

Mr. Blaney will ask the first question.

[Steven Blaney, Conservative, Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'd like to welcome the deputy minister of health to our committee.

I'd like to begin by congratulating you for your management of so many aspects of the pandemic. You have shown a great deal of flexibility.

Two companies in my riding also helped out during the pandemic. These were Plastiques Moore, which provided equipment to help distribute the vaccines, and Distillerie des Appalaches, which switched from making gin to producing disinfectant. It was easy for them to obtain an authorization number. There was a great deal of flexibility.

Where I feel that you failed was in official languages. I was disappointed in your testimony, Ms. Aung Thin. I had expected more transparency.

The Commissioner of Official Languages was highly critical. He said that: “In times of crisis, it is all the more critical for the federal government to ensure that all Canadians have access at all times to essential information in the official language of their choice, regardless of where in the country they live.”

Given that the initial health information was released only in English, and that in your presentation you acknowledged that language is a safety issue, you're more or less confirming that the Commissioner of Official Languages was right when he said that in times of crisis official languages go out the window. I would have expected more transparency.

Why not acknowledge that you might have done better, for example, by communicating to a greater extent in French during this critical period? You might then be able to respond more efficiently in any future emergencies.

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

Mr. Chair, I have a point of order before the deputy minister speaks.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Go ahead, Ms. Lalonde.

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

There seems to be a technical problem for the people listening to our conversations via telephone. Unfortunately, they have not had access since we returned from the pause, before our two witnesses spoke in the second hour.

I'm sorry, Mr. Blaney and Ms. Aung Thin.