Thank you, Mr. Duguid.
One comment that is positive in relation to the white paper is that the government, for the first time, is clearly and openly recognizing the importance of institutions to the survival and development of minority language communities in Canada. That's a point that minorities have been litigating in the courts for 40 years, and it's a welcome development to see the federal government commit to supporting it.
In the future, if there is any hope of reversing the trends that you noted in your comments, it is going to have to go through a substantial investment in developing minority community institutions, which are the spaces within which a language lives. If it doesn't have those spaces, the language will simply die out.
With respect to keeping out of the courts, I would say that governments could start by implementing their obligations in the spirit of generosity, rather than adopting the restrictive interpretations that their departments of justice pose to them.
I would recommend that if Parliament wants to help communities avoid that kind of a problem, it could try to minimize ambiguity in the law and legislate clear obligations when it comes to developing minority community institutions, although I realize that's a challenge because you want the obligations imposed to be adaptable from one context to another.
You might also consider reversing the burden of proof when it comes to the judicial process in litigating language rights issues. Right now, if somebody thinks that their rights have been violated under the act, they file a complaint, and the commissioner prepares a report, but then if they feel they need to turn to the courts to solve the issue because the institution is refusing to comply, they then have to build the case in Federal Court.
One thing you might consider is creating a reversal where, if there is a report from the commissioner concluding that there has been a breach, it is up to the institution to challenge that finding in court rather than individual citizens, who often don't have a lot of means with which to do so.