Evidence of meeting #8 for Official Languages in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was pandemic.
A recording is available from Parliament.
3:35 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Emmanuel Dubourg
Welcome to meeting No. 8 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Official Languages.
Madam Clerk, are there any replacements?
Who is in the room?
3:35 p.m.
The Clerk of the Committee Ms. Josée Ménard
Mr. Généreux is here in the room with us, and Mr. Mazier will be replacing Mr. Williamson today.
3:35 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Emmanuel Dubourg
Thank you very much.
The committee is meeting today as part of its study of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the government's ability to deliver information in both official languages.
The proceedings will be made available via the House of Commons website. So you are aware, the webcast will always show the person rather than the entirety of the committee. To ensure an orderly meeting, I would like to outline a few rules to follow.
For those participating virtually, 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. Before speaking, click on the microphone icon to activate your own mic. When you are done speaking, please put your mic on “mute” to minimize any interference.
A reminder that all comments by members and witnesses should be addressed through the chair. Should members need to request the floor outside of their designated time for questions, they should activate their mic and state that they have a point of order. If a member wishes to intervene on a point of order that has been raised by another member, they should use the “raised hand” function. This will signal to the chair your interest to speak and create a speaker’s list.
In order to do so, you should click on “Participants” at the bottom of the screen. When the list pops up, you will see next to your name that you can click “raise hand”.
When speaking, please speak slowly and clearly. When you are not speaking, your mic should be on mute. Unless there are exceptional circumstances, the use of headsets with a boom microphone is mandatory for everyone participating remotely.
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 all members are able to participate fully.
With regard to a speaking list, the committee clerk and I will do the best we can maintain consolidated order of speaking for all members, whether they are participating virtually or in person.
I would now like to welcome our witnesses.
Joining us today are Mrs. Linda Cardinal, Emeritus Professor, University of Ottawa, Ms. Stéphanie Chouinard, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Royal Military College of Canada and Department of Political Studies, Queen's University, Mr. François Larocque, Professor, Faculty of Law, Common Law Section, University of Ottawa, and Mr. Martin Normand, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Ottawa.
Your opening statements should not exceed seven and a half minutes.
I would also like to point out to the participants that I use a yellow card to indicate when you have approximately one minute left to speak. However, I also have a red card which, as in soccer, means your time has expired.
I would like to begin by giving the floor to Ms. Chouinard for her opening statement.
Ms. Chouinard, you have the floor.
3:40 p.m.
Stéphanie Chouinard Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Royal Military College of Canada and Department of Political Studies, Queen's University, As an Individual
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I would like to thank the members of the committee for having given me this opportunity to speak today.
The study you are commencing today is important and your work happens to come at a more exciting period for official languages than we have had for a long time. We therefore need to make the most of it.
My statement today is based on two key ideas.
First of all, during the pandemic, the government's modus operandi has been that because we were in an emergency situation and had to do things quickly, official languages were suddenly not as important as the central issue of protecting Canadians. We should have done it the other way around. It's precisely because the government's primary goal is to protect Canadians that official languages should have been central to its actions during the pandemic. Official languages are a tool, not an obstacle, to better protection for Canadians.
Secondly, it's precisely because, in times of crisis, when the government goes into autopilot, that best practices need to be in place already. In other words, COVID-19 has taught us that it is important to be prepared upstream and to have well-established procedures and “reflexes”. Otherwise official languages end up on the back burner whenever there is an emergency.
If the federal government came up short in its linguistic obligations beginning in March, it's because the government does not instinctively consider the linguistic impacts of implementing the measures, or treats them as optional. Official languages must become part of the federal government's autopilot mode.
Since the month of March, my colleagues and I have noticed a looser attitude towards federal linguistic obligations at daily press briefings, sometimes implicitly and sometimes explicitly, an example of which was the circumvention of bilingualism requirements for cleaning product labels.
In the spring, my colleague Martin Normand and I published an article entitled “Talk COVID to Me: Language Rights and Canadian Government Responses to the Pandemic”. We are also working with another colleague, Jean-François Savard, on a chapter about this topic for a forthcoming book.
Mr. Normand and I will both be speaking again about some of the major themes in our work. I will be addressing two areas: daily press briefings and other traditional radio and television communications, and social network communications.
Both official languages were certainly used in daily press briefings, but French was sometimes not as much in evidence. The Prime Minister also made some videos for children with Dr. Teresa Tam, but these were never made available in French.
Government communications on social media are not controlled to the same degree because some of the legislation, including the Official Languages Act, dates back to before these media existed. We hope that this will soon be dealt with. However, social media have become an important source of information for the public.
Our analysis of Twitter, for example, determined that French was not used as much as English by the federal government, with about 79.4% in English and 20.6% in French.
Why, beyond compliance with the act, are these observations important? We looked at it through two lenses, public safety and public health.
From the public safety standpoint, citizens need access to clear information about measures and regulations. Many stakeholders spoke to Canadians during the crisis via simultaneous interpretation or subtitling on digital platforms. But not everyone has the technological means to access these digital retransmissions.
Others might say that the rate of French-English bilingualism is higher among francophones and that they should be able to understand instructions in English. This excuse is not only unconstitutional, but false. There are many unilingual francophones, particularly among seniors, which is precisely the population most at risk from COVID-19 complications.
We have anecdotal evidence of francophones outside Quebec who tuned into to Quebec government press briefings to obtain information in French and who were complying with these measures rather than those applicable to their own province. Non-compliance with local restrictions could not only have an impact on public safety, but also legal consequences for citizens, such as fines.
From the public health standpoint, language barriers can have a negative impact on patient health, whether from diagnostic errors or inappropriate treatment.
Ontario's former French language services commissioner had previously pointed out that these risks are higher among vulnerable populations, including francophone seniors and immigrants who have a poor command of English.
In short, during a health crisis, all citizens should be able to contribute to the effort of limiting the spread of the disease, and that depends on having all essential information available in both official languages.
What should be done on the basis of these findings? A change in the federal government's mindset is required to address its linguistic obligations, and it must extend beyond the official languages commissioner's office. The pandemic has brought to light all of the various mechanisms required by the government to act in times of crisis, and shown that no government body can shirk its linguistic responsibilities.
Official languages must be seen as a way of reaching out to and communicating with Canadians, and not as a barrier to communication. The official languages need to be viewed as a way of protecting Canadians, and not as an impediment to their protection. If the State is to be nimble in responding quickly and effectively in times of crisis, then it needs the tools that would enable it to act rapidly and effectively in both official languages. It's important not only because it's an obligation, but also because lives are at stake.
Pragmatically then, how to begin the process of turning this around? We knew it before, but now it has become completely obvious: digital federal communications must be subject to the Official Languages Act. Digital communications alone will not do it, however, because far too many Canadians still rely on traditional media. We quickly realized that Canada’s chief public health officer, a role that was always just about invisible to most Canadians, had become a key player in communicating and coordinating during the pandemic. The position should have been designated bilingual, as is the case for other officers of Parliament.
My colleague Mr. Normand will talk about the situation in the provinces, but there is room for the federal government to play a leadership role for the federation, as large amounts of important information about managing the pandemic have been coming from the provincial governments. Although the Emergency Measures Act was not declared during the pandemic, it would be worth considering, before another crisis forces us to do so, how the government's action plan could be deployed, and how to make sure it complies with its linguistic obligations.
If the government is to become a true champion of official languages, just as it claims to be a champion of feminism, then it should develop an official languages policy analysis tool like the one that was developed to carry out a comparative gender-based analysis, usually referred to as GBA+.
Thank you for your time and your attention. I'll be more than happy to continue the discussion with you.
3:45 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Emmanuel Dubourg
Thank you, Ms. Chouinard.
We will now move to Mr. Normand for seven and a half minutes.
3:45 p.m.
Martin Normand Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Ottawa, As an Individual
Mr. Chair, committee members, it's my turn now to thank you for this opportunity to appear before your committee.
As the country copes with the second wave of COVID-19, it's a very good time to ensure that government linguistic obligations are maintained and met. I hope you will take away two points from my statement.
I'll begin with some data on provincial government communications from our recent research. The findings are clear…
3:45 p.m.
Conservative
Marc Dalton Conservative Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC
Mr. Chair, I have a point of order.
I'm having a lot of trouble hearing what the witness is saying. The microphone may be too close.
3:45 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Emmanuel Dubourg
Thank you, Mr. Dalton.
Could the clerk look into the technical side of things? Should I ask Mr. Normand to continue so that the sound can be checked?
Mr. Normand, please continue to speak for a few more seconds so that we can check whether everything's working.
3:50 p.m.
The Clerk
Could you speak a little louder, Mr. Normand?
3:50 p.m.
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Ottawa, As an Individual
I'll begin with some data on provincial government communications from our recent research. The findings are clear: communications in French were inadequate across Canada, even in those provinces and territories where linguistic obligations are more stringent. This lends support to the idea that respect for the status of French was considered less important than protecting Canadians.
I also feel that the parameters of your study are too narrow. Official languages pertain to much more than communication issues. They cut across many areas of government action. Communication problems do not reveal the whole story of the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on francophone minority communities. Their health and security also rest on the formulation of public policies and on delivering services to the public.
3:50 p.m.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
Mr. Chair, I have a point of order.
The witness should not be so close to the microphone. The sound is distorted and I'm sure the interpreters are having trouble understanding.
3:50 p.m.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
The witness should lower the sound a bit.
3:50 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Emmanuel Dubourg
Okay. Noted.
Mr. Normand, move away from your microphone a bit and don't touch the switch.
3:50 p.m.
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Ottawa, As an Individual
I'll give it another try.
The performance of the provincial and territorial governments in terms of communications in French has been erratic, even where the obligations are more stringent.
The linguistic obligations of the Government of New Brunswick are also often cited as an example. Yet in spite of these protections, government communications since the beginning of the crisis have been unsatisfactory. For example, even though it would have been possible to use simultaneous interpretation during his press briefings, Premier Higgs has not made use of interpreters for several weeks and has refused to answer any questions put to him in French. After some hemming and hawing, the province's official languages commissioner, Shirley MacLean, recommended that the premier be accompanied by a bilingual spokesperson when giving speeches. He has not yet done so.
Ontario's current Communications in French Directive was established following a series of problems with French-language communications during the H1N1 flu crisis. In spite of this directive, all press briefings up to the end of April were in English only, with no simultaneous interpretation and no government spokesperson to field questions in French. Documentation for journalists was only available in French several hours after the English version was released.
Some best practices were applied in other provinces. For example, in Prince Edward Island, the chief medical health officer answered questions in French during press briefings in the province. In Alberta, the premier has also spoken in French fairly regularly since the beginning of the pandemic. The important thing to note is that it was because there were bilingual people in key positions, and not because of any particular public policies, that it was possible for them to communicate in French. Also noteworthy were efforts in Nova Scotia, where data about the situation in the province were posted on websites in both languages, and approximately the same amount of English and French was used on its institutional Twitter accounts.
And even though public institutions in Quebec have no requirement to communicate in English under the Charter of the French Language, they did so rather effectively, demonstrating that a government can show good faith towards its linguistic minority, even in the absence of any rules requiring it to do so.
Quebec's Canadian intergovernmental affairs secretariat also published a special French-language edition of its COVID-19 self-care guide for Francophones outside Quebec, in provinces where no information in French had been made available.
Stringent linguistic obligations are not enough to ensure effective communications with official language minority communities. At the moment, we still have to rely on the will and political leadership of individuals. Any measures to correct communication problems will be inadequate unless they are protected from people who do not take government linguistic obligations seriously.
Government laxity towards linguistic obligations showed most clearly in communications with the public. You can work hard to redress this, as shown for example in the recent report of the Commissioner of Official Languages, but this approach is too narrow. Official languages cannot be reduced to communication issues. They need to be built into every field and every phase of public action.
For example, let's look at Health Canada's decisions in the spring with respect to labelling on cleaning products and disinfectants. That was not a communication problem, but a problem inherent to the decision-making process on a public policy issue within that institution. What Health Canada did was authorize the distribution and sale of products labelled only in English. After some heavy criticism, the policy was amended via an interim measure requiring additional information in French to be available in proximity to the products. The fact that they did not automatically think of an interim solution as part of the decision-making process shows that official languages had not been factored in prior to the decision.
But this solution is also inadequate. I have seen products that did not comply with the new policy. After considerable effort, I was able to file a complaint about this with Health Canada's health products compliance branch, because this type of complaint does not fall within the mandate of the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages, even though it is a language issue. Four months after the complaint, the product in question is still on the shelves. Apart from receiving an acknowledgement two months later, telling me that the complaint would be investigated, I have still not received any news from Health Canada. The evidence has shown that the solution was poorly adapted, inadequately thought out ,and difficult to implement.
That's only one example that illustrates why the protection and promotion of official languages needs to be built into every step in public action. If institutions want to take this imperative seriously, the pandemic could provide some useful opportunities.
The health crisis has forced service delivery to shift increasingly to digital solutions. As government institutions innovate to cope with an emergency, they could incorporate their linguistic obligations into the exercise rather than treat them as a nuisance. Francophones would definitely welcome being consulted about having access to new services in their language via innovative technological tools. Institutions could be mobilized to plan a transition in the delivery of government services. If this turns out to be one of the impacts of the pandemic, many people will be delighted.
Thank you.
3:55 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Emmanuel Dubourg
Thank you very much for your statement, Mr. Normand
I will now ask Mrs. Cardinal to switch on her mic for her statement.
3:55 p.m.
Linda Cardinal Emeritus Professor, University of Ottawa, As an Individual
Thank you Mr. Chair.
I hope everyone can hear me.
3:55 p.m.
Emeritus Professor, University of Ottawa, As an Individual
Thank you, honourable members, for having invited me to speak to you in your deliberations.
I will be speaking to you today in tandem with my colleague Mr. Larocque, about a study…
3:55 p.m.
Conservative
3:55 p.m.
Liberal
3:55 p.m.
Conservative
Dan Mazier Conservative Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa, MB
The volume of the translation is at the same level as her voice. Whether it's the translation or.... She has to speak French, I guess.
3:55 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Emmanuel Dubourg
Yes, she is speaking in French.
Madam Clerk, could you please check with the technicians about solving this problem?
3:55 p.m.
Emeritus Professor, University of Ottawa, As an Individual
Should I continue?
3:55 p.m.
The Clerk
Good afternoon, Mrs. Cardinal.
In the Zoom application under “interpretation,” could you check which language has been chosen?