Official Languages Committee on Feb. 16th, 2022

Evidence of meeting #7 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 tamilio.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

Government Measures to Protect and Promote French in Quebec and in Canada

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Clerk of the Committee Ms. Ariane Gagné-Frégeau

Julie Boyer Assistant Deputy Minister, Official Languages, Heritage and Regions, Department of Canadian Heritage

Glen Linder Director General, International and Intergovernmental Relations, Department of Citizenship and Immigration

Sarah Boily Director General, Official Languages, Department of Canadian Heritage

Corinne Prince Acting Assistant Deputy Minister, Settlement and Integration, Department of Citizenship and Immigration

Tanya Tamilio President, Centre communautaire francophone de Sarnia-Lambton

Maxime Laporte President, Mouvement Québec français

Marie-Anne Alepin General President, Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Montréal

5:55 p.m.

NDP

Heather McPherson NDP Edmonton Strathcona, AB

That's very fast, and I want to follow up on the questions around immigration outside of Québec.

You pointed out how critical francophone immigration is in Québec, but can you imagine—and clearly you can—how important it is for communities outside of Québec, how important it is for minority communities to welcome francophone immigrants in large numbers, enough to maintain the communities' vitality?

We had officials from Immigration Canada earlier, who failed to admit their failure to meet those immigration targets.

Madame Alepin, what do we need to do to change our current course on this?

5:55 p.m.

General President, Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Montréal

Marie-Anne Alepin

I believe you've just answered your own question.

You are altogether correct: the French language absolutely has to be the priority. This means setting a priority on welcoming francophones. If that's not possible, other integration measures will have to be introduced.

6 p.m.

NDP

Heather McPherson NDP Edmonton Strathcona, AB

I just wanted to say merci, and I'm sorry I'm not asking in French. It's unfortunate, but in Alberta it was very difficult in the 1970s to get French immersion language availability for people who were in school. My parents were unable to do that. I'm glad my children are able to take French immersion.

6 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal René Arseneault

Thank you, Ms. McPherson.

Ms. Alepin and Ms. Tamilio, on behalf of the committee, I'd like to thank you for your energy and for the information you've given us. If there is information that you did not have the time to tell us about, you can send it to the clerk of the committee. who will then distribute it to all the committee members.

Ms. Tamilio, as the chair, I'd like to ask you for a small favour on a whim: if you see any Arseneaults, Bernards or Grondins at your community centre, say hello to them from me. They are probably members of my family, which lives in the village of Balmoral in New Brunswick.

Once again, thank you for your energy. It was truly refreshing to hear your testimony. I'm much obliged.

The meeting is adjourned.