I'd like to call the meeting to order.
Welcome to meeting number 20 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Official Languages.
The committee is meeting today to discuss its study entitled “Government Measures to Protect and Promote French in Quebec and in Canada”.
To ensure an orderly meeting, I would like to outline a few rules to follow.
For those attending the meeting remotely, I would like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that screen captures or photographs of your screen are not authorized, as pointed out by the Speaker of the House, Mr. Rota, on September 29, 2020.
Members and witnesses may speak in the official language of their choice. Interpretation services are available for this meeting. You have the choice, at the bottom of your screen, of either floor, English or French audio.
Before speaking, click on the microphone icon to activate your mic. When you are done, mute your mic to minimize any interference.
As a reminder, all comments by members and witnesses should be addressed through the chair.
When speaking, please speak slowly and clearly.
Unless there are exceptional circumstances, the use of a headset with a boom microphone is mandatory for everyone participating remotely.
We're making an exception this afternoon for our witness.
Should any technical challenges arise, please advise the chair. Please note that we may need to suspend for a few minutes, as we need to ensure that all members are able to participate fully.
There's no one in the room.
I would now like to welcome our witness.
I would like to say to Mr. Jean-Pierre Corbeil that he will have seven and a half minutes for his statement, to be followed by a round of questions from members of the committee.
As usual, I have a yellow card to signal to witnesses that they have a minute left. I use a red card to let them know that their time is up.
We the committee members now welcome Mr. Jean-Pierre Corbeil, Assistant Director, Diversity and Sociocultural Statistics, at Statistics Canada.
Mr. Corbeil, you have the floor for seven and a half minutes.