Official Languages Committee on April 13th, 2021

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you very much, Ms. Risbud.

Mr. Beaulieu now has the floor for two and a half minutes.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Risbud, in a news release you issued in July 2020, you said that the Government of Alberta had recently announced a commitment to invest $98 million to improve the province's postsecondary infrastructures, but that no funding had been announced for the Campus Saint-Jean. Subsequently, the Government of Alberta turned down an amount offered by the federal government for an infrastructure project at the Campus Saint-Jean because it did not want to provide a contribution itself. That is really astonishing. How do you explain that?

It reminds us of what happened at the Montfort Hospital. It is almost as if they want to assimilate francophones or weaken French-language postsecondary education institutions.

[Sheila Risbud]

Yes, of course. It is difficult to understand the logic of that decision. The amount we were requesting for the Campus Saint-Jean was very modest. The government decided to spend money on other postsecondary institutions, but ignored the only French-language postsecondary institution in the province. It really is difficult to swallow. I cannot explain it.

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

Let me appeal to my colleagues, because I think we have a role to play. A number of provincial governments are deciding to do nothing and not to fund French-language educational institutions. In British Columbia, francophones have to go to court to defend their interests. Even when they win, their language rights are not always upheld and they have to go back to court.

We have to acknowledge that Canada is far from being a model in its treatment of linguistic minorities. We have to insist on that strongly, because, if the situation does not change, francophones will be assimilated.

What do you think?

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Ms. Risbud, you have 15 seconds left.

[Sheila Risbud]

I completely agree that the situation is dire. As I said, we are part of the resistance.

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

Thank you.

Let me encourage you to continue your work. We will support you as much as we can.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu.

Now last, but not least, we have Mr. Boulerice.

The floor is yours for two and a half minutes.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My thanks to our guests, Ms. Risbud and Mr. Doucet.

I want to take the time I have been given to remind committee members that, last week or the week before, I gave notice of a motion asking for the Minister of Official Languages to appear for a second hour. She set aside an hour for us today, which is very good. But I have to admit that I was not able to ask her half the questions I wanted to. I am sure that the working document, the white paper or the draft bill on the modernization of the Official Languages Act is, just like the situation with French-language postsecondary education institutions, an important enough subject to call for the minister to appear before the committee for a second time. So I respectfully ask that we vote on that motion. Since notice of motion was given at least a week ago, I feel that the motion is in order and can be dealt with today.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Your motion is certainly in order, Mr. Boulerice.

Does anyone wish to use the time remaining in this meeting to discuss the motion that Mr. Boulerice has introduced?

Mr. Arseneault, you have the floor.

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

May I also take this opportunity to recognize the witnesses. Their presentations were excellent.

Now, does Mr. Boulerice's motion deal with the white paper?

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

Yes, it does.

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

A point of order, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Go ahead, Mr. Godin.

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

Mr. Chair, before we debate Mr. Boulerice's motion or discuss any other committee business, we should finish the meeting with our guests. We should not leave the witnesses hanging, so to speak.

I too would like to take this opportunity to thank them for their wonderful testimony, which will help us to do our job well.

So I suggest that we release the witnesses before we discuss our internal business.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you, Mr. Godin.

We will finish the meeting properly, but the fact remains that Mr. Boulerice's time is not yet up. I have to respect that. He has 20 or so seconds left.

Are there any further comments on the motion?

That being the case, I am going to call the question on Mr. Boulerice's motion.

(Motion agreed to)

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

That does end Mr. Boulerice's time.

Now the time has come to acknowledge the witnesses and to thank them for their significant contribution to this study.

So my thanks go to Sheila Risbud, President of l'Association canadienne-française de l'Alberta. She was accompanied by Isabelle Laurin, the organization's executive director. Thank you also to Alexandre Cédric Doucet, President of the Société de l'Acadie du Nouveau-Brunswick, and Ali Chaisson, its executive director.

Let me also take this opportunity to thank the entire technical team.

The meeting is adjourned.