Evidence of meeting #31 for Official Languages in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was bureau.
A recording is available from Parliament.
11:30 a.m.
Liberal
Patricia Lattanzio Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
I know you haven't produced a brief. Would you be able to produce something in writing for the committee's consideration?
11:30 a.m.
Executive Director, English Language Arts Network Quebec
Absolutely. It's our intention to have something done, certainly within the next week.
11:30 a.m.
Bloc
Mario Beaulieu Bloc La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC
A point of order, Mr. Chair.
You cut Mr. Godin off very abruptly, while you just gave Ms. Lattanzio more time. The same criteria need to apply—
11:30 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal René Arseneault
Mr. Vice‑chair, I have the clock in front of me. In fact, I did give Mr. Godin more time, namely, 6 minutes and 10 seconds, while Ms. Lattanzio has only had 5 minutes and 58 seconds so far. Even with her last question, she still wasn't at six minutes.
11:30 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal René Arseneault
You can ask your assistants to watch the clock.
Mr. Godin, do you have a point of order?
11:30 a.m.
Conservative
Joël Godin Conservative Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
I do, Mr. Chair.
I just want to reiterate what my colleague the second vice‑chair said, because I think it's important. That said, I defer to your diligence, and thank you.
11:30 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal René Arseneault
Thank you for your confidence, and I assure you that I'm being very strict about the six minutes for everyone.
The next questions will be from the committee's second vice‑chair, Mr. Beaulieu, who will have six minutes.
11:30 a.m.
Bloc
Mario Beaulieu Bloc La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I'd also like to thank our witnesses for their presentations.
Ms. Herrick, my first question is for you. You talked a bit about your funding. Does it come primarily from the federal government's development of official‑language communities program?
11:30 a.m.
Executive Director, English Language Arts Network Quebec
I don't know the exact percentage, but I would say that it provides about 70% of our funding. We don't just work with the federal government, though, and we also have a program funded by the Government of Quebec to help English‑speaking artists access Quebec funding.
11:30 a.m.
Bloc
Mario Beaulieu Bloc La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC
Okay.
Do anglophone artists and cultural workers have access to the same programs as all Quebec artists?
11:30 a.m.
Executive Director, English Language Arts Network Quebec
Yes. There are no regulations or laws that prevent this. However, like other minorities—
I'm sorry. I'll say it in English, to make sure I'm clear.
Is there inequity? They are allowed to apply, the same way anyone else is allowed to apply. Absolutely.
Is the funding distributed equally? I have heard from artists that they don't feel that's the case. It's a very difficult thing to answer, because a lot of it is subjective.
Yes, there are English-speaking artists in Quebec funded by the Quebec government, but I would say many feel they have greater success with the federal government.
11:30 a.m.
Bloc
Mario Beaulieu Bloc La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC
That's great.
You said earlier that the median income of anglophone artists was lower than that of francophone artists. However, this measure somewhat obscures the relationship between the richest and the poorest. Or do you have figures on average income?
11:30 a.m.
Executive Director, English Language Arts Network Quebec
Are you talking about the average income across Canada?
11:30 a.m.
Bloc
Mario Beaulieu Bloc La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC
No. You said that in Quebec, the median income of anglophone artists was lower. Do you know their average income?
11:30 a.m.
Executive Director, English Language Arts Network Quebec
No. The figure I have is 85% compared to francophones.
11:30 a.m.
Executive Director, English Language Arts Network Quebec
I can find the information and send it to you.
11:30 a.m.
Bloc
Mario Beaulieu Bloc La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC
Okay.
Are you basing this on the first official language spoken?
11:30 a.m.
Bloc
Mario Beaulieu Bloc La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC
That still includes 33% of immigrants, which is a lot of people.
What's a bit surprising to someone who's not used to it is that Quebec is steeped in anglophone culture and music. It's hard to even hear a French song on any radio station there.
What do you think about that?
11:30 a.m.
Executive Director, English Language Arts Network Quebec
You're right. English‑speaking Quebec artists have the same problem as French‑speaking Quebec artists.
They have to compete with American artists and English-speaking Canadian artists.
It's a problem for all artists in Quebec, whether they're anglophone or francophone.
11:30 a.m.
Bloc
Mario Beaulieu Bloc La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC
Thank you.
Mr. Barabé, I'll now turn to you. You said that, since 1995, the Translation Bureau, which you represent, has been required to recover all of its direct and indirect costs. However, departments do not have the funding.
I quite agree with you that translation is critical to the linguistic currency of the federal government. However, these cuts certainly diminish the quality of translation. We see that every day here.
11:35 a.m.
President, Ordre des traducteurs, terminologues et interprètes agréés du Québec
Absolutely, and that makes the role of the Translation Bureau very difficult. Take interpretation, for example the bureau no longer provides interpretation for conferences given by departments, but now devotes all its resources to Parliament Hill.
I want to clarify something. I don't represent the Translation Bureau, even though I was the vice president and spent my entire career there. I retired in 2012.
11:35 a.m.
Bloc
Mario Beaulieu Bloc La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC
I have one question left.
Translators in Quebec have launched legal proceedings. They say that the new model of proposing similarities between texts in order to translate them complicates matters. A lot of translators have told me that their working conditions have deteriorated considerably. Some can’t even do it.
Can you tell us a bit more about that?