Thank you very much for your remarks.
There's a whole body of international research on the impact of failure to consider minority languages in emergency situations. You may think that switching to a single language is more efficient, but the consequences show it's not necessarily the best course of action.
The same is true of the idea that you can switch to English since all francophones are bilingual. Then people will say that some unilingual francophones don't understand English. In fact, as my colleague Mr. Larocque said, we're dealing with a legal issue. Canada is a country with two official languages.
Consequently, when officials, the people in charge and the Prime Minister give their approval to adopt an emergency measure or to put forward policies, they must respect bilingualism in doing so. Bilingualism is a skill and an additional competency. It nullifies neither our right to service in French nor the duty to take official languages into consideration.
Since we are in a partnership with the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada, we think this is an appropriate time to consider these issues in the amendment and reinforcement of the Official Languages Act. Since a white paper is forthcoming, it's time to discuss this issue as part of the current official languages debate.
As we noted earlier, this is the ideal opportunity to ensure that the Official Languages Act meshes with other legislative and regulatory frameworks. The goal is precisely to guarantee that Canadians' right to a public service in the official language of their choice isn't abandoned in a crisis or amid public health and safety issues.