Official Languages Committee on May 27th, 2024

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Commissioner, in a Radio-Canada story about your report, you said: “federal institutions’ respect for language rights does not meet the expectations laid out in my previous annual reports”.

What needs to be done to make the government actually listen to your recommendations and comply with language rights? How often does the government actually follow your recommendations?

[Raymond Théberge]

That's a very interesting question.

Very often, even if recommendations are implemented…. Under the previous language regime, it didn't change the behaviour of federal institutions. Every year the complaints and recommendations were the same. The recommendations were implemented, but then the same thing happened over and over. The new powers will perhaps provide you with the tools needed for better compliance. I'm optimistic that these new powers will enable you to obtain enhanced compliance from the federal institutions. All of which is to say that we have a new regime and that the people involved should be given a chance. We'll see what happens.

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

Thank you very much.

I have a more general question now.

We are about to begin a study on the education continuum in French, and we also hope to carry out a study on French immersion. The shortage of workers in French as a first language and French immersion education is also of concern to many of us. The federal government's role is another major question mark. As we know, education is a provincial jurisdiction. Nevertheless, the worker shortage, the lack of teachers and the absence of support staff for these teachers are having an impact on the number of young people who can be educated in French.

Given these labour shortages, does the federal government have a role to play?

[Raymond Théberge]

The federal government has always had a role to play in supporting francophone education in minority communities and in teaching French as a second language.

In 2019, we published a study on the shortage of immersion teachers. The study made a number of recommendations that were implemented.

The problem is that these efforts were inadequate. It's not by adding an additional education cohort here and there that the current gap will be closed. Other ways of closing the gap have to be found. Much more innovative approaches are needed to find new teachers or people who can work in education in support of teachers.

It's a societal issue. Teachers are in demand just about everywhere, whether in official language minority or majority communities.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Commissioner. You'll be able to add further details as we continue.

Thank you, Ms. Ashton.

Mr. Généreux, you have the floor now for five minutes.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Welcome, Mr. Théberge. I always enjoy seeing you here.

In your report, table 3 is about the changing pattern in the number of admissible complaints received over the past 10 years. It shows that there has been a substantial improvement, if I can describe it that way, with respect to the processing of complaints, at least if the 2023–2024 and 2021–2022 years are compared. It's much better now. Compared to the previous year, the number of complaints decreased by almost half. From 2021–2022 and 2023–2024, the number of admissible complaints dropped to about only one fifth as many as before. Of course in 2021–2022, there was the pandemic.

You included the number of admissible complaints in various sectors, including public services and language of work. In the previous reports, I believe it was more about things like the number of complaints about Air Canada. I've been here for nine and a half years, and you've been the commissioner for seven years. There have been many discussions since then. Air Canada representatives frequently came before the committee to testify, including Mr. Rovinescu, a former Air Canada president.

Do you think there has been an improvement in services in French at Air Canada? Are you still trying to identify or sort out the number of Air Canada complaints?

[Raymond Théberge]

There were fewer complaints about Air Canada. There were only 136 compared to the previous 300, if memory serves me correctly. There was a decrease in the number of complaints in the whole travelling public sector, but the proportions are similar. It remains a significant number.

You're asking whether there has been an improvement. To answer you, I have to ask myself whether this particular year was an anomaly or the beginning of a new trend.

As I said earlier, I don't have a crystal ball to tell me what the future holds. So before saying that there's been an improvement, I'm going to wait another year or two to see if it's a new trend. I don't know whether you remember Bernard Derome. He always used to say, “if the current trend continues”.

I'm not convinced that the trend will continue. We shall see.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

For a company like Air Canada, it might require several years to determine whether there has really been an improvement, or a new trend, in the number of complaints. Air Canada was the main culprit for many years. We made recommendations to deal with this, as you did. The company has not come here to testify for a while now, and we haven't studied this particular issue for a while. However, I think it had promised to introduce mechanisms, particularly in terms of training.

You will also no doubt recall, Mr. Chair, that we were invited to visit its training centre here in Ottawa.

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

I have a point of order, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Go ahead, Mr. Godin.

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

I'd like to point out that we can't see the people on the screen.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Which people?

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

We can't see you or any of the others. I just noticed. The cameras are not showing—

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

I hadn't noticed.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

You can look at me if you want.

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

I just noticed it.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

You may be looking for stardom, but I'm not.

I'll get back to my question, Commissioner. I hope that—

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

I've stopped the clock, Mr. Généreux. Do I need to do anything about this point of order, Madam Clerk?

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

I'm going to take advantage of the fact that the clock has stopped to continue to speak.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Keep your comments to yourself for now. You've got three minutes and 23 seconds. We can certainly see you on ParlVU. Your makeup was fortunately done very well, because we can see you clearly.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

I am very happy to learn that people find me attractive.

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

That's not what the chair said.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Yes, that's what he said. Ha, ha!

Commissioner, in the same vein, I'd like to ask you whether you send letters of congratulations to companies that are making genuine efforts to improve and that have been criticized on several occasions in the past. If the trend continues, as you say, and as Bernard Derome has said for many years on election nights, can we acknowledge the efforts made over the years by companies such as Air Canada?

[Raymond Théberge]

I think we could examine that issue at a later date.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

I encourage you to think about it, because it would incentivize companies, as well as government departments and agencies.

If the trend continues and the number of complaints continues to fall, it means that people are making an effort, so it should be acknowledged. Part of your role should be encouraging people to continue to make the necessary efforts to reduce the number of complaints. Everyone wants to see a reduction in the number of complaints, which would indicate an improvement in French-language services, particularly at the federal level.

Do I have any time left, Mr. Chair?