Official Languages Committee on Dec. 15th, 2021

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Perfect.

Actually, I prefer to play it safe, given the delay. I prefer that we suspend the meeting now to go vote. After voting in the House, we can return to committee if you wish.

I will take down the names of those who asked to speak, in order. Ms. Lattanzio will be first, and then it will be Mr. Beaulieu's turn.

Do you agree with that?

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

You can add my name after Mr. Beaulieu.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

All right. Is that okay with you?

Ms. Ashton, would you like to add your name?

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

Yes, thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

So it will be Ms. Lattanzio, Mr. Beaulieu, Mr. Godin and Ms. Ashton.

We will now suspend the meeting and resume after the vote.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

We will now resume the meeting.

Following the order in which committee members raised their hands to speak, Ms. Lattanzio now has the floor.

[Patricia Lattanzio, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

Good afternoon, Mr. Chair. First of all, I'd like to congratulate you on being elected as Chair of the committee.

I'd also like to thank you all for electing the committee's vice-chairs.

I'm happy to see some of our colleagues from the previous session and to meet the new committee members.

Right off the bat, I'd like to introduce four motions related to topics that the committee may wish to study. If I may, I will read out only the titles to give you an idea of what the motions are about or their substance. Then, as is the custom, I will see to sending them to Madam Clerk.

The first motion relates to Air Canada, and it aims to have the committee review Air Canada's obligation to provide service in both official languages.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

One moment, Ms. Lattanzio. Would it be possible for you to send them all to the clerk at the same time?

[Patricia Lattanzio, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

Yes, I will do that.

Actually, do you want me to just say the titles of the motions or do an advance reading of them until she receives them?

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

You can read out the first one. It's the Air Canada one, right?

[Patricia Lattanzio, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

Yes. The first motion is as follows:

That, pursuant to Standing Order 108(3)(f), the committee undertake a study on Air Canada and its obligations under the Official Languages Act (OLA); that, in the context of this study, the Committee: a) examine Air Canada's obligation to provide service in both official languages; b) study measures Air Canada could take to ensure their full compliance with the Official Languages Act; c) invite Air Canada to discuss the measures Air Canada is taking to ensure bilingual customer service and work environments; d) invite the Commissioner of Official Languages to discuss the historical compliance issues with the OLA at Air Canada. That the committee devote a minimum of two meetings to this study. That the Committee report its findings to the House; and that pursuant to Standing Order 109, the Committee request a government response to its report.

The second motion is about Francophone immigration:

That, pursuant to Standing Order 108(3)(f), the committee undertake a study on Francophone immigration to Canada to ensure the Government of Canada lives up to its duty to attract and facilitate Francophone immigration outside of Quebec; that, as part of this study, the Committee: a) examine why the target of 4.4% of total immigration set in 2003 in the Strategic Framework to Foster Immigration to Francophone Minority Communities was not met—

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Ms. Lattanzio, pardon me for interrupting you, I feel rude for doing it, but I am starting my job as chair and I'm told we should only put forward one motion at a time and debate it.

[Patricia Lattanzio, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

All right, then I submit the first motion to the committee.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Actually, do you want to put forward the motions or just give notice of them?

[Patricia Lattanzio, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

Mr. Chair, I wanted to put forward all four, but if you tell me we must deal with them one at a time, I submit to the will of the committee and the rules and regulations.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Okay, just a moment.

[Patricia Lattanzio, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

Mr. Chair, I want to be clear: what I am doing now is giving notice of these motions.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

That's fine, Ms. Lattanzio. It's just that things got confused earlier: I thought you wanted to put them forward. Now I understand that you are giving notice of these motions. I apologize for interrupting you.

Please continue reading the second motion, which deals with Francophone immigration.

[Patricia Lattanzio, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

I will pick up where I left off:

a) examine why the target of 4.4% of total immigration set in 2003 in the Strategic Framework to Foster Immigration to Francophone Minority communities was not met; b) review the November 2021 report from the Commissioner of Official Languages on French immigration; c) explore how the Government can work to maintain or increase the demographic weight of Francophone minority communities; d) provide recommendations for addressing the shortage of French-language teachers in Canada, particularly outside of Quebec, as well as how the Government can increase opportunities for newcomers to learn French, while respecting the powers of other jurisdictions and existing agreements; that the committee allocate a minimum of six meetings to this study; that the committee report its findings and recommendations to the House and; that, pursuant to Standing Order 109, the Government table a comprehensive response.

The third motion is about the decline of French:

That, pursuant to Standing Order 108(3)(f), the committee undertake a study on the measures that the Government of Canada can take to fulfill its responsibility, as set out in the Speech from the Throne, to protect and promote French not only outside Quebec but also within Quebec; that as part of this study, the Committee: a) provide an objective and detailed portrait of the situation of English and French Quebec, as well as of francophone and Acadian communities; based on key linguistic indicators, such as French as the mother tongue, main language spoken at home, language shifts, main language of work, and so on; b) evaluate the effectiveness of the government's language policies with respect to the objective of protecting and promoting French as well as the impact of these policies on provincial legislative measures to protect and promote French; c) Examine all the tools available to the government, as well as consider possible amendments to the Official Languages Act, to harmonize the government's commitment to protect and promote both official languages of Canada; that the committee include testimony given to the Standing Committee on Official Languages during the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session in its study of the same topic; that the committee allocate a minimum of six meetings to this study; that the committee report its findings and recommendations to the House, and; that, pursuant to Standing Order 109, the Government table a comprehensive response.

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

Mr. Chair, I have a point of order.

Shouldn't we have these motions in both official languages, so we can read them? Is there a way to handle that?

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Mr. Dalton, I'm going to have to take a break due to a technical issue with my device, unfortunately. We're going to suspend the meeting, and when we get that resolved, we will come back to your point of order.

[Patricia Lattanzio, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

Mr. Chair, I just wanted to confirm that the motions have been sent to Madam Clerk in both official languages. I know my colleague would like to hear the interpretation of what I said as I read out the motions, but I assure you that the motions were submitted in both official languages.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you.

We're going to suspend the meeting for a few moments.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

We are back in session.

For those watching at home, I remind you that before the break, Mr. Dalton raised a point of order regarding the presentation of notices of motion in both official languages. The clerk has just informed us that she received the documents from Ms. Lattanzio.

It's already in your P9s, for everyone who is listening.

Ms. Lattanzio, you may resume the presentation of your notices of motion.

[Patricia Lattanzio, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

I am on my fourth notice of motion, which is about linguistic security:

That, pursuant to Standing Order 108(3)(f), the committee undertake a study on linguistic security; that, as part of this study, the Committee: a) consider the impact of declining linguistic security on official language minority groups, particularly among youth; b) study how the COVID‑19 pandemic has exacerbated issues of linguistic security for Canadians; c) invite the Commissioner of Official Languages to share his findings on linguistic security in the federal public service; d) examine methods to alleviating linguistic security; that the committee allocate a minimum of five meetings to this study; that the committee report its findings and recommendations to the House, and; that, pursuant to Standing Order 109, the Government table a comprehensive response.

Thank you.