Official Languages Committee on Oct. 30th, 2023

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

Did Treasury Board communicate with you after the article was published?

[Commr Michael Duheme]

No, but I had a conversation with the Minister, Mr. LeBlanc.

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

What about Treasury Board?

The Minister is not responsible for enforcing the law. Did Mr. Leblanc tell you that he had received instructions and had had his knuckles rapped by Treasury Board?

[Commr Michael Duheme]

The Minister did not tell me that. I have not had a call from Treasury Board, myself.

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

According to the article, [Translation] "The RCMP explained that it could not provide the exact number of people who do not meet the language requirements of their position, because of confidentiality policies."

Can you explain the reasoning behind all that?

[Commr Michael Duheme]

I have to admit that I read that part of the article recently. I do not understand why the organization would have said that it is a matter of confidentiality. It is just numbers, and I am making sure I follow up. I was surprised when I read that while I was preparing for this committee meeting.

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

I think the same thing as you. Is it possible to provide us with those figures?

[Commr Michael Duheme]

I undertake to make sure the figures are provided to you.

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

Ms. Huggins, thank you for being with us. The article you quote says: [Translation] "... only francophones currently receive second language courses during their training in Saskatchewan. Anglophone recruits do not take French courses at this time, but that is coming."

Commissioner, how do you explain that francophones want to learn English, but anglophones do not want to learn French? Do you not think there is a gap in your organization when it comes to encouraging anglophones to learn French? After all, on our bilingual country, you understand that it is French that is in a vulnerable position.

Can you tell us a bit more on this subject?

[Commr Michael Duheme]

If I may, I am going to let Ms. Huggins say a bit more about how training works and the reason why we have put the francophone component in place before the anglophone component.

[Nadine Huggins, Chief Human Resources Officer, Royal Canadian Mounted Police]

Thank you for the question.

We put the francophone component in place to make sure we can offer service in French everywhere in Canada. There are official language minority communities everywhere in Canada and we would like to have people able to speak French in those communities.

With respect to training anglophones, we have started to plan the French learning project. However, we have policies everywhere in the organization to ensure that training is in both languages, because bilingualism also includes English. We are trying to train people in English and French. That means that everyone is entitled to training.

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

However, there is really no incentive for anglophones to learn French.

[Nadine Huggins]

Certainly it is essential for anglophones...

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

No. Is there a motivation program to incentivize anglophones to learn French?

[Nadine Huggins]

Yes. We offer a bilingualism bonus, to both francophones and anglophones.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Ms. Huggins.

Mr. Iacono, you have the floor for six minutes.

[Angelo Iacono, Liberal, Alfred-Pellan, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Welcome, Commissioner, Ms. Huggins.

Commissioner, what is your plan for correcting the fact that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police has bilingual positions that are held by unilingual anglophone officers, as one of the witnesses stated on Wednesday?

[Commr Michael Duheme]

Bilingualism has presented challenges for several years because of a number of factors.

There are two different types of training that we can give members of the organization. For the police officers, taking training to achieve a certain level of second language proficiency is a challenge in itself, given the operational requirements. Sometimes, that means we have to give a bilingual position to someone who is unilingual in order to fulfil the organization's mandate, which is to ensure the safety of Canadians.

There is also the entire question of the distribution of personnel from one end of Canada to the other, as well as other factors such as the fact that people are moving less and less frequently to fill these positions.

[Angelo Iacono, Liberal, Alfred-Pellan, QC]

When people do not have the necessary language skills, are they hired for a certain period only, or full-time?

[Commr Michael Duheme]

They are hired full-time, on the condition that they work on achieving a certain level of proficiency in the second language.

[Angelo Iacono, Liberal, Alfred-Pellan, QC]

Are there new people who will be filling these bilingual positions?

[Commr Michael Duheme]

That becomes a staffing issue. It depends on the people who join the organization and the ones who want to be transferred elsewhere in the country, for example.

[Angelo Iacono, Liberal, Alfred-Pellan, QC]

For unilingual officers, do you require that they take French courses?

[Commr Michael Duheme]

There is no obligation for unilingual officers. Some want to upgrade their second language knowledge. People who aspire to certain positions take those courses of their own volition, but do it when they can, given that there are always operational requirements.

[Angelo Iacono, Liberal, Alfred-Pellan, QC]

Did you say just now that new employees were hired part-time or full-time?