Official Languages Committee on March 12th, 2026

[Stéphanie Chouinard]

We have some statistics, primarily from Statistics Canada. They're certainly helpful, but evidence-based data will be lacking. Statistics will depend on the objectives each agency and department sets for itself.

All positive measures should be evidence-based. As things stand, Statistics Canada doesn't have the means to provide all that data.

There would have to be a significant investment in research, both within the federal government and in academia—pardon the self-promotion—to get all the necessary data.

[Jim Belanger, Conservative, Sudbury East—Manitoulin—Nickel Belt, ON]

Thank you.

To the organization Canadian Parents for French, you mentioned that we need to complete the work. How do we realize that practically?

[Ahdithya Rajan P. Visweswaran]

Canada's language policy has always been built on two objectives. Number one is the protection of minority language communities, and number two is promoting linguistic duality across Canada.

This goes back all the way to the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism. It has been about minority language education, for example, as well as second language learning.

This vision was then reflected in the Official Languages Act, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and a number of existing measures and instruments.

All of these instruments affirm the same principle: English and French have equal status, and they have to be promoted throughout the country, both for minorities and for the majority.

[Jim Belanger, Conservative, Sudbury East—Manitoulin—Nickel Belt, ON]

I see problems arising with respect to substantive equality. I just read a report on health. The situation must be similar in some industries and various departments. There are a lot more people retiring than there are graduates with French skills.

What are your thoughts on that?

[Ahdithya Rajan P. Visweswaran]

Indeed—

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

I'm sorry to interrupt, but time is up. Please be brief and give us a one-sentence answer.

[Ahdithya Rajan P. Visweswaran]

French immersion and everything that has to do with education in French and the Canadian anglophone and allophone majority must be seen as a pathway to the vitality of francophone minority communities, not as a side issue.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bélanger.

I will now turn the floor over to Mr. Villeneuve for three minutes.

[Louis Villeneuve, Liberal, Brome—Missisquoi, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I want to start by reassuring my colleague, Mr. Godin. Everyone on this side wants the regulations to achieve their objectives. Actually, I'm firmly convinced that everyone around the table is working to make that happen.

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

I'm very happy to hear that.

[Louis Villeneuve, Liberal, Brome—Missisquoi, QC]

You don't know how pleased I am about it, Mr. Godin.

Ms. Chouinard, in your opinion, what are the limits of what a regulation can accomplish?

How can other policy tools, such as directives or guidelines, strengthen the application of part VII?

Do you have ideas about what those policy tools should include?

[Stéphanie Chouinard]

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve.

A regulation is certainly not the end of the road. There are also directives. However, directives are below regulations in the hierarchy of legal standards, and they're much easier to amend.

The part VII regulations need to include clear obligations that make it possible, at the end of a process, to know whether the departments and agencies have done their job and whether they have really taken the priorities of stakeholders and communities into account.

It should also be possible to say whether the positive measures selected and implemented by the agencies and departments have an impact on the development and vitality of communities. There has to be the necessary data to demonstrate whether there has indeed been progress toward the established goal. That's what we're supposed to see.

There seems to be a desire here to restrict the regulations' content as much as possible so that, at the end of the day, departments and agencies keep the status quo compared to how things were before.

[Louis Villeneuve, Liberal, Brome—Missisquoi, QC]

I'm sorry to cut you off. I don't have much time left, and I'd like to ask another witness a question.

[Stéphanie Chouinard]

Okay.

[Louis Villeneuve, Liberal, Brome—Missisquoi, QC]

Mr. Bentley, the regulations emphasize the importance of consulting communities.

How could organizations like yours be better integrated into the process?

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

There are 30 seconds left.

[Derrek Bentley]

Thank you.

We're basically proposing to clarify who the other stakeholders are. If that's left to interpretation, there's a risk of being completely forgotten. The request has to be very clear, namely, to include organizations like Canadian Parents for French.

To avoid quoting us directly, we propose terms in our brief. That way, groups that promote linguistic duality aren't forgotten.

[Ahdithya Rajan P. Visweswaran]

I would like to add a comment, Mr. Chair, if there's time.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

There are five seconds left.

[Ahdithya Rajan P. Visweswaran]

Okay.

I just want to say that we're also calling for a differentiated approach to consultation for linguistic duality organizations. We don't want to be drowned out by all the francophone or anglophone minority organizations.

[Louis Villeneuve, Liberal, Brome—Missisquoi, QC]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve.

I'm going to pass it over to Mr. Beaulieu for a minute and a half.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I would like to come back to the discussion we were having earlier.

Neither the action plan for official languages 2023‑2028, nor the consultations for the draft regulations, nor the draft regulations themselves contain any measures to promote French in Quebec.

What does that tell us, particularly about all the statements from Liberal ministers saying that they're promoting French in Quebec?

[François Côté]

I would simply say that it's unfounded. Those statements that French is being promoted in Quebec aren't reflected in reality.

We have looked at the act, the action plan and the budget measures, and we can see that the actions don't match the words, that the measures being taken can't fulfill the promises being made. This is particularly problematic when it comes to promises about commitments and obligations that are now enshrined in legislation.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

There are 20 seconds left.