Official Languages Committee on Dec. 8th, 2022

[Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

The English community in Quebec is the official language minority community. French is the minority language at the national level.

[Mario Beaulieu, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

The Official Languages Act funds English in Quebec based on that definition.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu.

Your time is up.

[Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

Mr. Chair, please allow me to complete my answer.

If we pass Bill C-13, we'll have a lot of work to do to promote French both in and outside Quebec. That's a positive measure.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

The time is up. That's 2 minutes and 36 seconds.

I've stretched out everyone's speaking time. All members have had a little more time today.

Ms. Ashton will ask the next questions.

Ms. Ashton, you have the floor for two and a half minutes.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

The committee has discussed at length the fact that language clauses are essential to the survival of francophone communities. Your government has negotiated an agreement on child care with all the provinces, but only one agreement contains a language clause, the agreement with British Columbia. The committee has learned that negotiations were dragging on in that province. What will you do to ensure the language clause is complied with?

Francophone and francophile families in Canada are waiting for this. The education of young children suffers the consequences of this with every passing year.

[Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

Thank you very much, Ms. Ashton.

Our government will have to take appropriate measures if we want to achieve substantive equality. To do that, we also need to define positive measures more clearly. Language clauses are absolutely a positive measure. In the bill—

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

With all due respect, Minister, I would point out that my question specifically concerned British Columbia and what's going on there. The federal government negotiated an agreement including a language clause, and nothing is happening to ensure it's complied with. What are you doing to make sure the language clause is complied with and French-language child care services are funded in British Columbia?

[Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

The Department of Employment and Social Development is monitoring that situation to ensure the language clause is complied with.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

You have one minute left, Ms. Ashton.

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

Unfortunately, from what we've heard from the witnesses, the language clause isn't being complied with and we aren't seeing any results. I have to say that's making the entire federal government look bad right now.

My next question will concern funding. Now that you acknowledge that French is in decline, will you show more leadership and use the federal government's spending power to stop that decline by investing in institutions?

[Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

When you look at the last action plan that we released and that will soon expire, you can see that we've made historic investments to support institutions. We must absolutely make investments in institutions in order to support the vitality of the official language minority communities. That's exactly what we've done.

I'm eager to table the next action plan.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Minister and Ms. Ashton.

We may have time for two three-minute turns.

Mr. Généreux is the first speaker.

Go ahead, Mr. Généreux.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Minister, with respect to the federal institutions' obligations regarding positive measures, a whole slate of measures is provided for in the new act. I imagine most of them are carbon copies of what's in the former act. At least I hope so.

On page 12, clause 21 of the bill would create the new subparagraph 41(6)c)(iii), which concerns measures to "induce and assist organizations and institutions to project and promote the bilingual character of Canada in their activities in Canada or elsewhere".

I cited the example of what happened in Qatar. I hope that's already the case, but do you think that your role under the bill would be to ensure the promotion of French outside Canada as well as in my riding of Sainte-Apolline-de-Patton?

[Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

Absolutely. That's why it's important to pass Bill C-13, since then we'll have an act that truly enables us to take measures. I hope we'll be able to work closely together to pass Bill C-13 as soon as possible.

When you started speaking, you mentioned the positive measures issue. Bill C-13 isn't a carbon copy of Bill C-32. We've gone even further in the definition of positive measures.

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

The obligation of federal institutions and all Canadian federal departments to promote French as well as English internationally isn't a new one and doesn't just appear in the new act. It existed previously. The wording may be slightly different, but the federal government necessarily had a duty to promote both languages across the country and around the world. This isn't the first time this kind of incident has occurred, and it probably won't be the last.

What consequences are provided for under the new act regarding each department's obligation to ensure that it promotes both official languages?

[Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

Once again, and I want to emphasize this with regard to positive measures, Bill C-13 goes further than Bill C-32. In addition, non-governmental organizations, as you cited as an example, are mentioned in the new version of the act. That's new. We want to ensure that this bill is passed because we want to continue doing the necessary work.

We still have a lot of work ahead of us to develop the regulations and so on. We are all eager to continue that very important work.

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

You mentioned an evaluation and the fact that the Treasury Board would be conducting audits. Will the Department of Canadian Heritage or the Treasury Board be responsible for that?

[Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

It will be the Treasury Board.

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

Minister, I'm afraid that some elements are falling through the cracks—that's been the case for the past 50 years—and that no one is being held accountable for it. Furthermore, it has already begun. The Minister of Canadian Heritage assigned responsibility to you earlier. Two days ago, it was the Minister—

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Mr. Généreux.

I'm looking at the clock, and I really want everyone to have the same opportunity to speak.

I give the floor to Mr. Serré to complete the final round.

Mr. Serré, you have the floor for three minutes.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Minister, thank you for your hard work across the country.

During the consultations, we clearly heard the concerns of francophones across Canada regarding protection of the French language in most provinces. They told us they wanted language clauses. They view us as saviours of the francophonie across Canada because the provinces don't always play their role.

I'm going to give you a chance to tell us about your discussions with the provinces so we can see how we can fuel the discussion, support the provinces and work together to ensure that Bill C-13 is implemented across the country and that we can work with the provinces.

[Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

Thank you very much, Mr. Serré. Thank you for being an extraordinary parliamentary secretary.

With your permission, I'd like to make a brief comment to complete my answer to Mr. Généreux' question. When we receive complaints about something that happens outside Canada, we often ask the Commissioner of Official Languages to investigate. He then determines whether we or he should handle that complaint. That's part of his role. Once again, with the tools and power we're giving him, he can do even more to protect our two beautiful languages. I wanted to make that clear.

Mr. Serré, it's important that the federal government continue working closely with the provinces and territories. This year, I was satisfied with our first meeting with the provinces and territories. We all have a role to play if we want to protect and promote the French language. That includes the federal government, the provinces and the territories.

As for your question about language clauses and positive measures, once again, if we want to achieve substantive equality, we must ensure that all decisions made by the federal government are viewed through the official language lens to gauge the impact they will have on official language minority communities. That's exactly what we want to do. We must also continue working with the provinces and territories to assess that impact.

As the federal government, we must play a leadership role. That's precisely what we will do in order ultimately to assess needs. We must also take steps to mitigate any negative repercussions. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

You are out of time, Mr. Serré.

Thank you very much, Minister. Thanks as well to the people in your entourage who have accompanied you.

Earlier I forgot to officially thank Mr. Rodriguez and his team.

The clerk gave you the contact information of the new legislative advisor, Isabelle D'Souza, so she can analyze our proposals from a legal standpoint. You received her contact information via email two days ago.

So may I remind you that you have until 11:00 a.m. tomorrow, at the latest, to submit the amendments you want to move to our clerk.

That being said, we will see one another again on December 13.

[Brad Vis, Conservative, Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, BC]

I would like to speak, Mr. Chair.