Official Languages Committee on Sept. 27th, 2022

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

What should be done now to ensure that our constitutional rights are maintained and that Canadians, parliamentarians and public servants have real‑time access to bilingual documents?

[Donald Barabé]

The indications I have are that the blockage is in the federal government, specifically Treasury Board. So that’s where you should intervene.

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

We've also seen in the news recently that there's a problem with accreditation. My understanding is that interpreters are available, but not all of them are necessarily accredited. The federal government claims that it has to turn to the private sector or other groups in order to have access to interpretation services that are less—dare I say—regulated and controlled. This would be detrimental to parliamentarians in particular.

Can you confirm that?

[Donald Barabé]

I can confirm that there is currently a shortage of interpreters on Parliament Hill.

Accreditation is done by the Translation Bureau, and there's a problem with this right now. That's why my fourth recommendation is to strengthen translation and interpretation training programs in Canada. There are only two such programs in Canada, and at least one more is needed. What's more, these programs are severely underfunded.

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

Is it accurate to say that accredited interpreters haven't been hired to provide their services in the House of Commons?

[Donald Barabé]

Yes, there are accredited interpreters. Interpretation is provided both by people from the private sector and by public servants from the Translation Bureau, a combination that doesn't pose a problem.

We need to work with Parliament, the House and the Senate to create the best possible conditions to attract interpreters.

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

Do we have a problem with quantity and accessibility at this time?

[Donald Barabé]

In Canada, there is a looming and growing shortage.

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

Thank you.

Ms. Herrick, you said earlier that you didn't know what Bill 96 would change, but that it would certainly have an impact on anglophone artists in Quebec.

Help us help you.

I understand that this is probably a minority in Quebec, but we also have to take into account what francophone artists outside Quebec are experiencing on their end. So I don’t think English‑speaking artists in Quebec are treated any differently from francophone linguistic minorities outside Quebec.

What do you mean by—

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Mr. Godin, I'm sorry for interrupting you, but your six minutes are up.

Ms. Lattanzio now has the floor for six minutes. Go ahead.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

This morning I'm going to begin my questions with the representative of ELAN, the English Language Arts Network of Quebec. Perhaps we could start with giving you the opportunity to answer my colleague's question. I too am interested in knowing what challenges you face for your artists in Quebec in terms of financing, perhaps, or whatever it may be. Could you elaborate, please?

[Vanessa Herrick]

I think English-speaking artists in Quebec face a lot of the same issues that any other English-speaking community would. Again, many people in the Canadian artist community do choose to come to Quebec because it is a province that celebrates its culture and arts. However, once you are within the community, there is a very strong majority of francophone artists. If you are in a discipline where language is not key to your practice—such as a dancer, for example—the restrictions are less there, but there have always been challenges in building bridges between the community.

It manifests itself in different ways. Trying to find performance space is an enormous problem outside of Montreal. Trying to find partnerships with more established companies can be an issue. The challenges are often very specific to the discipline, and often it comes down to how English-speaking artists are welcome to participate as long as they participate in a way that works within the work that is already being produced within the majority's vision. I think that's probably a shared challenge in other areas as well. That's one of the big ones.

Also, then, the pandemic exacerbated a lot of those issues.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

If I could interject, Ms. Lattanzio, the interpreters are telling me that you seem to be using your computer microphone, rather than the one on your headset.

I stopped the timer, so you'll have your full six minutes.

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

Is this better? Is the sound better?

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

That's better. Thank you.

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

Okay. I'm sorry about that.

How does Bill 96 impact your group in a negative way, and what can this committee do at the federal level to be able to help you? That would be my first question.

The second question would be, what do you think about the court challenges program in the proposed reform law being optional? Do you believe that it should be mandatory once we finalize the drafting of this law? How could that be a positive element for the minority English-speaking community in Quebec?

[Vanessa Herrick]

I think there is a straightforward and simple answer to your question about how this committee can help. Well, we can ensure that the English-speaking minority community of Quebec is not left out of consideration when there is, of course, a needed focus put on the French-speaking minority communities. I think there needs to be a balance there that will help send the signal across the country that despite the fact that our language is not under threat, our community is under threat.

Specifically, under Bill 96, if anything you're doing requires more than 25 people—any kind of production or discipline or work that you're doing—you are potentially under Bill 96, so we're looking at theatre, we're looking at film and we're looking at large dance productions. All your communication will have to be in French. What we have heard is that if you are coming from outside of Quebec, you may be exempted, but English speakers within Quebec will not be allowed that exemption, so we are specifically being targeted.

I'm sorry, but could you repeat the last part of the question?

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Ms. Lattanzio, we can't hear you. Please unmute your microphone.

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

I'm sorry, Mr. Chair.

The last part of my question deals with the court challenges program. That's a program that's been put in place over the years to be able to help minority English linguistic communities go before the courts and challenge decisions that are being taken against them.

It is an optional prerogative or an option by virtue of the reformed law. In your opinion, should it be mandatory? If so, why?

[Vanessa Herrick]

I think so. Absolutely. I think we, as a community, are facing a great deal of uncertainty, so any efforts being made at the federal level to show support or give a voice to the English-speaking community of Quebec would be necessary.

Bill 96 has not been laid out. We don't know exactly how it's going to be implemented, but we know it's going to impact our community. That much has been made very clear.

We know that we don't have a lot of recourse at this point, so any efforts that could be made mandatory at any level to assist us would be absolutely necessary and greatly appreciated.

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

With regard to financing, can you enlighten this committee and let us know if you have received any funding from the federal government? If so, I imagine it's come from the heritage department.

In the last year, have you received any sums of money?

[Vanessa Herrick]

We had two major new projects funded by Canadian Heritage in the last year that we're very excited about. One is on the state of the arts with equity, diversity and inclusion. It's a study being done around Quebec to see the situation of diversity, inclusion and equity within the arts, because it's an issue we know that the arts struggle with.

The other is for a community digital hub. We're going to be bringing underprivileged artists into an area where they can access higher-level digital tools to help them begin to put their practice online, because the pandemic obviously impacted artists enormously.

Those are funded by the federal government, and they will have a great impact on our community.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you very much, Ms. Lattanzio. You have less than 10 seconds left—

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

I have one more question to ask, if I can, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

You have five seconds.