Official Languages Committee on April 13th, 2021

[René Arseneault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Once again, I would like to point out to my colleagues that this government has taken steps to support the Campus Saint-Jean. You are aware that we have announced an investment of $3.7 million for renovations to the Lacerte and McMahon buildings. The province of Alberta was supposed to make a contribution.

Can you tell us about the funds that the federal government wanted to allocate to Campus Saint-Jean?

[Sheila Risbud]

It's the same announcement. It's for the same infrastructure project.

[René Arseneault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Okay, thank you.

I don't have a lot of time, but perhaps I will come back to the situation of Campus Saint-Jean, since it is very important.

I would also like to speak to my fellow Acadian from New Brunswick, Mr. Doucet.

Earlier, you talked about what you remembered from a speech by the late Senator Simard, who was quite a strong and emblematic figure in our country. He was talking about the Privy Council Office and the fact that it was supposed to be responsible for implementing Part VII of the Official Languages Act. I would like to draw a parallel with the central agency.

If this central agency makes it possible to follow up on Senator Simard's thoughts, how will it help the Francophonie outside Quebec in concrete terms?

[Alexandre Cédric Doucet]

According to the white paper presented by Minister Joly, the recommendations have been followed. We are not the only organization that proposed this. In addition to the Société de l'Acadie du Nouveau-Brunswick (SANB), there was also the Association canadienne-française de l'Alberta (ACFA), and other advocacy organizations.

To my knowledge, the purpose of the recommendation was to improve the processes in the federal government to implement the provisions. If the act were modernized, we could implement new provisions, which would make our job easier, because the Privy Council Office coordinates the work of several departments.

[René Arseneault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

How much time do I have left, Mr. Chair?

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

You have one minute and 20 seconds.

[René Arseneault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Time is going by too quickly.

Mr. Doucet, New Brunswick has a special status in terms of official languages in the country; it is the only province that is constitutionally bilingual.

Is there any sort of overlap between the federal reform project and the current situation in New Brunswick with respect to the revision of its provincial legislation? Is there a positive parallel? How is it working on the ground?

[Alexandre Cédric Doucet]

There could be a totally positive effect if the act were modernized and if the review of the act in New Brunswick were fully implemented. We can perhaps think that we are heading towards [Inaudible—Editor] in New Brunswick.

There's modernization first, and implementation second. So I don't want to put the cart before the horse, but there is an urgent need to move forward to introduce a bill and then implement it.

[René Arseneault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Right now, how is the modernization of New Brunswick's Official Languages Act progressing?

[Alexandre Cédric Doucet]

We are in the process of reviewing it. We are currently in discussions with the government. Our discussions are going relatively well, but I must admit that they are much more productive with the federal government than with the provincial government. However, we are used to being patient.

[René Arseneault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Thank you very much. My time is up.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you, Mr. Doucet.

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

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

Thank you.

Mr. Doucet, in your presentation, you quoted Mr. Simard, who said that the leaders of the community associations network spend half their time justifying their existence and the value of their actions to the Department of Canadian Heritage.

What do you think is causing this situation and how could it be improved?

[Alexandre Cédric Doucet]

This situation is caused by the fact that we are funded directly by the federal government. There are actually advantages and disadvantages to being directly funded by the government.

What Mr. Simard recommended in the past, and which is perhaps even more relevant today, was to create a trust fund that would be managed by a Crown corporation, predominantly made up of members of community organizations from each province. The fund would then be managed by the organizations themselves. Of course, a trust fund earns interest. That model was advocated in the past.

Would the federal government want to adopt that model now? That would be very helpful.

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

That would indeed be very helpful.

You say that this is probably in keeping with the spirit of part VII, that the federal government can and must renegotiate trilateral agreements with the provincial governments and the communities themselves when it provides a lasting framework for the development of the French language.

Can you tell us more about this principle of asymmetry, which would respect the specificity of New Brunswick?

[Alexandre Cédric Doucet]

I think that the federal government really needs to show leadership on official languages.

In a relationship involving three parties, all three parties must be at the negotiating table. In the case of New Brunswick, you really have to implement section [Technical difficulty—Editor] and make sure it is implemented. The provincial government needs to be at the table as well.

That's the sort of message we are sending today.

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

Exactly.

During your last presentation, you said that you considered Acadians to be a people. Quebeckers make the same point, namely that we must respect the right of peoples to self-determination. Fundamentally, we have the right to ensure the future and the development of our language, of our particular culture.

I think your proposals are completely in line with that. What is unfortunate in Quebec is that we are asking to be consulted so that positive measures are not imposed unilaterally. This seems to be somewhat in line with your requests.

Do you think we will get there? Earlier, Ms. Joly did not seem receptive to the idea of giving the Government of Quebec a say in the positive measures to be taken in that province. Do you think we will get there in New Brunswick?

[Alexandre Cédric Doucet]

In the past few years, all in all, New Brunswick's provincial government, Progressive Conservative or otherwise, has lacked the political will to implement concrete measures on official languages.

We are now looking to the federal government to take the lead. The only thing we're asking is that they modernize the Official Languages Act so that we can remain Acadian and francophone within New Brunswick. We need urgent action on this, because our institutions are crumbling.

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

That's a tall order.

[Alexandre Cédric Doucet]

It is.

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

We fully support you on this.

In your news release entitled “L'Acadie du Nouveau-Brunswick: la grande oubliée de la réforme linguistique de la ministre Joly”, one request you listed was that services be provided in both languages everywhere in New Brunswick, and not only based on the criterion of significant demand, meaning where numbers warrant. Otherwise, I believe your development could be compromised.

Do you believe that could be considered in modernizing the Official Languages Act?

Is it very important to you?

[Alexandre Cédric Doucet]

It certainly is, because the requests only aim to align the Official Languages Act with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Ensuring that services and communications are in both official languages is simply implementing section 16.1 of the Charter. So I feel that the next version of the Official Languages Act, which will likely be modernized, must include those items. That has been a recommendation by the SANB since 2018.

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

You spoke briefly of the Université de Moncton. I feel that New Brunswick has the most advanced French-language post-secondary education system of all of the predominantly English-speaking provinces. You seemed to be saying that there are problems and it isn't as simple as that.

Can you tell us a little more about it?

[Alexandre Cédric Doucet]

Actually, New Brunswick has a huge demographics problem. Immigration will likely play a crucial role in saving Acadia in New Brunswick. That might be a little strong, but we're seeing post-secondary institutions crumble across the country right now, and New Brunswick is no exception.

To somewhat paraphrase the Montfort ruling from the 1990s, the role of post-secondary institutions in New Brunswick is not only to provide post-secondary education programs; it's also a way for our communities to grow and thrive. The Université de Moncton has three campuses in northern New Brunswick, which helps the linguistic minority to grow.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you very much, Mr. Doucet.

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