Yes, I'm referring to the evidence he gave during his appearance before the committee.
It surprised me because I thought Statistics Canada was relatively independent, given the important work it does to provide an objective picture of French in Canada and Quebec. However, he told us he needed the minister's authorization to publish anything.
Mr. Corbeil, a former Statistics Canada employee, was there for all the presentations. He still suggests that the mother tongue and language used in the home aren't important. He claims you have to look at a series of indicators. However, mother tongue, the language used in the home and the language of work are indicators that point in the same direction. They're all aspects of linguistic behaviour.
We're seeing what I would characterize as gross abuses. For example, we cited a statistic concerning mother tongue, and, according to this morning's article, that's called linguistic racism. Remember that number comes from Statistics Canada. The Constitution Act, 1982, is based on mother tongue. I think that's tantamount to accusing the whole spectrum of stakeholders, including Statistics Canada, of linguistic racism.
That kind of comment is frequently made by organizations funded under the Official Languages Act. They spend their time repeating that we're close-minded and don't honour the rights of minorities.
When Ms. Jennings appeared before the committee, she alluded to racism in the United States in saying that we didn't want to wind up at the back of the bus. That's frankly revolting for the people who our fighting.
Quebeckers are in the minority in Canada, and I hope everyone agrees on that. Our demographic weight is constantly declining. We're increasing immigration, but we're being prevented from francizing immigration. We don't want to admit as many people of French origin as possible. I've always made a point of emphasizing that. What we want is to include all citizens in Quebec society, including newcomers, but they have to understand French for that to happen. However, the departments are interfering with it.
The denial of the French language's decline that we've observed for 50 years has prevented measures from being taken to neutralize the measures that have anglicized Quebec. Statistics Canada, which is controlled by the minister, since everything that's done there has to be approved by her, reported that the number of francophones outside Quebec had increased. However, it also indicated that there had been a smaller decline in the percentage of francophones.
It has recently insisted that linguistic diversity is on the rise, that more and more people are bilingual and speak several languages in the home. That's the assimilation process at work. Francophones start by using English more frequently in the home. That's not linguistic diversity; it's linguistic assimilation. Statistics Canada has suggested that.
I think Statistics Canada should enjoy a certain amount of independence, and we'd like to question the minister on that subject.