Official Languages Committee on April 29th, 2021

[Denis Bolduc]

It would definitely help. The vast majority of businesses in Quebec have 100 or fewer employees. These are small and medium-sized businesses. A requirement for small businesses to establish francization committees would obviously be welcome and would help promote and protect the French language in Quebec.

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, MB]

Lastly, what are your expectations regarding the modernization of the Official Languages Act?

[Denis Bolduc]

We were happy to see in the white paper that the federal government had finally acknowledged the decline of French across Canada, including in Quebec.

Only two or three months ago, I was contradicted when I said that French was in decline in Quebec. Now I think it's obvious. The simple act of writing it down in a government document constitutes a welcome recognition that can help protect French.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you, Mr. Bolduc and Ms. Ashton.

Mr. Dalton, go ahead for five minutes.

[Marc Dalton, Conservative, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks to the witnesses for their comments.

My father was posted to the military base in Chibougamau in the 1970s. I spent all three of my high school years in an English-language school there. At the time, in addition to the public school, there were two anglophone schools there, one Catholic and the other Protestant.

Most of the workers in Chibougamau spoke French at the time, but the commanders, leaders and engineers spoke English. Most of the students at the anglophone schools were the children of the military personnel on the base. There's a French school now, and most of the students, 60%, are indigenous, from the Cree nation. The change is quite interesting.

Mr. Bolduc, I know you've wanted French to be the language of work everywhere since the 1960s.

Has that now become a reality?

Have you seen a big difference in the past 10 years? What changes have occurred?

[Denis Bolduc]

Thank you for your question, Mr. Dalton.

I was born in 1962. When I was a young boy, my father worked in the mines in Chibougamau.

[Marc Dalton, Conservative, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC]

Oh, really?

[Denis Bolduc]

I think it was the Campbell mines.

[Marc Dalton, Conservative, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC]

Yes.

[Denis Bolduc]

It's been confirmed to me, as you say, that the foremen and members of management were anglophones. Spectacular accidents occurred in the mines in the 1960s. I think it was because of the language used, but lives could have been saved if everyone had understood each other.

That's quite is a digression. You took me back to my childhood.

[Marc Dalton, Conservative, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC]

What school did you attend?

[Denis Bolduc]

I was too young to go to school.

I think the decline of French has continued over the past 10 years.

I live in Quebec City and work in Montreal. The situation of French is undeniably deteriorating in Montreal. Businesses increasingly demand that their employees be bilingual or that they at least speak English. As a result of immigration, people frequently speak three or even four languages. It's a gift to be able to speak several languages, but I think French has to be protected. People should be encouraged to use French in the workplace.

We often see that everyone starts speaking English the moment an anglophone enters the room, even in Montreal. The majority adapts to the minority. It's a reality we see in Quebec.

When I was a member of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, a national union, I never attended a meeting where francophones were in the minority and all the participants started speaking French.

[Marc Dalton, Conservative, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC]

It's the reverse in this committee.

Ms. Meggs, what measures would we need to defend French?

[Anne Meggs]

Quebec has established the language planning it decided on. It did so long time ago. I think the Charter of the French Language was the second bill the Parti québécois government passed, in 1976 or 1977. It did so precisely to reinforce the French fact in many sectors, education in particular. Everyone in Quebec was supposed to go to French-language schools. Some exceptions were made for people who had attended primary school in English and who could thus send their children to anglophone schools. Otherwise, however, everyone, including newcomers, had to go to a French-language school. That was the measure that did the most to preserve French.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you, Ms. Meggs. I unfortunately have to stop you there.

Mr. Arseneault, go ahead for five minutes.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks to all our guests. I may not have time to talk to everyone, but we're definitely hearing what the witnesses are telling us today. It's not falling on deaf ears. This is important.

I'll turn first to Mr. Leckey because I'd very much like to hear his answer to Ms. Lattanzio's question.

As previously stated, in this big, beautiful country, in this Confederation consisting of provinces and a federal government, language regimes sometimes differ from province to province. I come from New Brunswick, an officially and constitutionally bilingual province. Quebec has Bill 101. Some provinces are more inclined to help francophones. I'm thinking of Ontario in particular.

Going back to the context of this study, how do you think the Official Languages Act has promoted the advancement and vitality of language minorities despite the disparity among language regimes across the country?

[Prof. Robert Leckey]

The fact that language regimes differ from province to province reflects the history of each province and the legislative policy decisions they've made within the limits of their areas of jurisdiction. This diversity is actually one of the foreseeable consequences of our federal system. It's normal for there to be differences from province to province.

I would point out that the Parliament of Canada, acting in a federative capacity, can establish a degree of harmony or uniformity among visions of that constitutional bilingualism. Even though provincial legislative choices vary, I think the fact that the federal government and provinces make different choices has more upside than downside.

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

Do you think the white paper on reform of the Official Languages Act includes the necessary tools to do what you're suggesting, which is to promote language rights by harmonizing whatever isn't already harmonized in the language policies of the various administrations?

[Prof. Robert Leckey]

Could you repeat your question?

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

Do you think that the white paper, which promises a reform of the Official Languages Act, includes the essential tools to promote language rights as far as possible despite the fact that the various administrations in this great federation don't afford linguistic minorities the same protections?

[Prof. Robert Leckey]

The white paper contains all kinds of other good suggestions in addition to strengthening accountability for discharging federal obligations, which is a positive measure. There's one federal responsibility that mustn't be overlooked. Within the present constitutional framework, the federal government has a responsibility that is separate from that of each province. As I understand it, the federal government is responsible for protecting and promoting both official languages and their equality of status.

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

I'm a lawyer by profession, Mr. Leckey. I studied at the law faculty of the Université de Moncton, the first law school to teach common law in French, if I'm not mistaken. Over the course of my 23-year career, I'm proud to have practised the profession of common law lawyer 99% of the time in French.

Isn't that the kind of success that the Official Languages Act and the federal government's promotion of language rights make possible?

[Prof. Robert Leckey]

The Université de Moncton's law faculty is a tremendous success.

One of the tragedies, in my view, is that the judgments rendered by Quebec judges who work in French are never translated. As a result, judges in other provinces, particularly federal government appointees, are deprived of the wealth of Quebec legal thinking, even that set forth in judgments in which federal statutes are interpreted because those judgments remain in French, for lack of funding for translation. There is much to be proud of in Quebec jurisprudence, but we don't share that wealth.

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

You're absolutely right.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you very much, Mr. Leckey and Mr. Arseneault

Mr. Beaulieu, go ahead for two and a half minutes.