Evidence of meeting #50 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 quebec.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:45 p.m.
Executive Director, Official Languages Centre of Excellence, People and Culture, Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer, Treasury Board Secretariat
In bilingual regions, like Montreal and Sherbrooke, all supervisors have to be bilingual, even if their employees hold unilingual French positions, for example.
4:50 p.m.
Bloc
4:50 p.m.
Executive Director, Official Languages Centre of Excellence, People and Culture, Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer, Treasury Board Secretariat
I'm talking about the designated bilingual regions of Quebec, which essentially includes the Eastern Townships and Montreal.
4:50 p.m.
Bloc
Mario Beaulieu Bloc La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC
You are saying that in designated bilingual regions, there are places where there are only unilingual francophone employees. Is that it?
4:50 p.m.
Executive Director, Official Languages Centre of Excellence, People and Culture, Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer, Treasury Board Secretariat
That's right. A designated bilingual region does not mean that all employees are bilingual. It means that the ones who are bilingual have the right to choose the language they would like to use. That being said, there are unilingual positions in bilingual regions, so there are unilingual supervisors who supervise unilingual teams.
That is what amendment CPC-18 would change: a supervisor who supervises a unilingual team would be required to be bilingual.
4:50 p.m.
Liberal
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
Joël Godin Conservative Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
Mr. Chair, it bothers me when Mr. Quell says that the Eastern Townships and Montreal are designated bilingual in a province like Quebec, but I will accept his answer. Those are the facts; he is telling us the facts.
How are designated bilingual regions defined?
4:50 p.m.
Executive Director, Official Languages Centre of Excellence, People and Culture, Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer, Treasury Board Secretariat
The designated bilingual regions are listed in a Treasury Board circular dating from 1977, so these regions were determined quite a long time ago.
The term "designated bilingual regions" may be a bit startling. We have to understand that they are defined as such for the purposes of the language of work. So this is only about work within the institutions. It is not talking about the language for services offered to the public. It is talking about the employee's right to require that they work in their preferred language.
As I said, designated bilingual regions are found more or less all over Canada for the purposes of the language of work. The entire province of New Brunswick is one, but also certain regions of Quebec and in eastern and northern Ontario, and of course the national capital region.
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
Joël Godin Conservative Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
What I understand is that there are no designated bilingual regions anywhere other than in Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick.
That was my first question. I have a second one.
You said that the determination of the designated bilingual regions was put into effect in 1977. What is the mechanism for updating the list of regions? What are the criteria by which a region can change status?
4:50 p.m.
Executive Director, Official Languages Centre of Excellence, People and Culture, Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer, Treasury Board Secretariat
The list of designated bilingual regions set out in the 1977 circular is incorporated into the Official Languages Act. As a result, if you wanted to make changes to it, the act would have to be amended.
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
Joël Godin Conservative Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
Am I to understand that there is no mechanism at present to update the list of designated bilingual regions?
4:50 p.m.
Executive Director, Official Languages Centre of Excellence, People and Culture, Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer, Treasury Board Secretariat
The list of designated bilingual regions has not been updated since the Official Languages Act was enacted in 1988.
4:50 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal René Arseneault
Mr. Quell, I don't want to interfere in Mr. Godin's questions, but there seemed to be two questions, and I'm not sure you have answered the first one: whether there are designated bilingual regions only in Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick.
4:50 p.m.
Executive Director, Official Languages Centre of Excellence, People and Culture, Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer, Treasury Board Secretariat
That's right. The entire province of New Brunswick, some regions of Quebec, and some regions of Ontario are designated bilingual.
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
Joël Godin Conservative Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
I would like to verify one thing with you, Mr. Quell. You said that the entire province of New Brunswick is designated bilingual, along with regions in Quebec. However, Quebec is a francophone province; the common language is French.
So there are designated bilingual regions in Quebec, but not everywhere in the province. For New Brunswick, the entire province is designated as being bilingual.
Is that what you're saying?
4:50 p.m.
Executive Director, Official Languages Centre of Excellence, People and Culture, Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer, Treasury Board Secretariat
Once again, this is for the purposes of the language of work within the public service. It is not about the language for services offered to the public.
The regions where there was a high concentration of a minority language group at the time were designated bilingual. In the case of the national capital region, that is obvious. This means that in those regions, federal public servants who hold bilingual positions have the opportunity to choose the language they would like to work in.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Joël Godin Conservative Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
Thank you, Mr. Quell.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think that could be the subject of the committee's next report.
I have another question for Mr. Quell.
4:55 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal René Arseneault
I'm actually going to give an opportunity to other people who might have questions to ask.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
4:55 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal René Arseneault
I would remind everyone that we are now debating Mr. Drouin's subamendment.
Mr. Beaulieu, the floor is yours.
4:55 p.m.
Bloc
Mario Beaulieu Bloc La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC
Given what you have just told us, I am going to have to vote against Mr. Drouin's subamendment, because it is not structured in such a way as not to apply to Quebec and it would require that certain supervisors work in English or know English.
4:55 p.m.
Liberal
4:55 p.m.
Liberal
Patricia Lattanzio Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
I'm sorry, I didn't hear what my colleague Mr. Beaulieu said very well. Could he repeat his comments?
4:55 p.m.
Bloc
Mario Beaulieu Bloc La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC
This amendment means, for example, that some people working only with francophone employees are going to have to learn English or know English. I think that is an undesirable effect, in Quebec. We have to find a way to avoid that.