Evidence of meeting #25 for Official Languages in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was objectives.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Bloc
Mario Beaulieu Bloc La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC
Thank you.
I will now turn to the representatives from Canadian Parents for French.
Do you receive any grants under the Official Languages Act? If so, is that enough?
Network Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Parents for French
Yes, we do receive grants.
At the national level, four organizations work in the field of French as a second language, including ours. We have to do all the work. For example, we're here today. Tomorrow, we'll have to oversee a virtual tutoring project directly with youth.
Our challenge is that we not only have to do this part of the work, but also provide direct services. The money we receive isn't enough to help us manage all these files.
Liberal
Conservative
Dalwinder Gill Conservative Calgary McKnight, AB
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I have a question for Madame Chouinard. The regulations require federal institutions to promote the inclusion of language provisions in agreements with the provinces and territories, but they do not set minimum standards for those provisions. Do you think clear requirements would improve accountability and collaboration between the provinces and the federal government?
Associate Professor, As an Individual
As it stands right now, no.
The regulations will not improve the accountability of agencies and departments. This is one of the major concerns that many other stakeholders have talked about.
Conservative
Dalwinder Gill Conservative Calgary McKnight, AB
Mr. Côté, I have a question for you. Under the proposed regulations, institutions must consult relevant stakeholders but are not required to explain how the consultation's findings were taken into account. How do you think this affects transparency and accountability?
François Côté
It affects them quite negatively. Stakeholders must be clearly identified and allowed to speak out on their linguistic truths and how the financing and measures for the protection of official languages, especially French, affect them. They need to be listened to. They need to be taken into consideration, because ineffective consultation—allowing someone to speak but not listening to what the person has to say, not hearing the concerns they're trying to voice—is simply, in the best case, a waste of time.
Conservative
Dalwinder Gill Conservative Calgary McKnight, AB
Mr. Côté, based on your experience, do you believe the proposed regulations are likely to produce meaningful change, or are stronger accountability and transparency mechanisms needed?
François Côté
I believe, following your question, that in their current state, the proposed regulations will not effect measurable change because they lack clear objectives and clear directives on the scientific method to be employed and on measurement tools of such progress to be made. They are far too vague. I say this as a lawyer, as a research director and as an academic. They are simply too vague to be effective. There need to be much more precise measurement points, methodologies and objectives to be attained if the regulations are to accomplish anything.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Yvan Baker
Thank you, Mr. Gill.
I now give the floor to Mr. Deschênes‑Thériault for three minutes.
Liberal
Guillaume Deschênes-Thériault Liberal Madawaska—Restigouche, NB
Thank you.
Ms. Chouinard, you said that the regulations should be much more explicit in defining what the act means by “strong institutions”. You're the first witness to make this recommendation to us.
I'd like you to talk more about that. How do you see that?
How could we operationalize that in the regulations?
What might a recommendation from this committee look like in that regard?
Associate Professor, As an Individual
Thank you for your question.
As I said at the end of my opening remarks, part I of the part IV regulations gives us some guidance on how to provide a definition without it actually being in the definitions section of the regulations.
When it comes to the term “strong institutions”, we would have to go back to the legislator's intent. What was understood, at least in my opinion, is that this kind of institution is managed by, for and with the communities.
In fact, the Official Languages Act goes on to refer to institutions that are supported by the communities and that promote them. As things stand, that makes it quite difficult to see how this could be made operational. I think that deserves a lot of thought, but the regulations that are currently proposed say absolutely nothing about what these strong institutions are and how the federal government should continue to support and promote them.
There's also a question that remains unanswered. In communities where such institutions don't exist in the key areas mentioned in the same part of the act, should the federal government help create such institutions? The Université de l'Ontario français, or UOF, is an example that comes to mind. That's a fairly recent example.
One question that occurred to me when I was reviewing the draft regulations was whether the regulations should also specify which institutions those are.
Liberal
Guillaume Deschênes-Thériault Liberal Madawaska—Restigouche, NB
Thank you.
I will yield the last minute of my time to Ms. Chenette.
Liberal
Madeleine Chenette Liberal Thérèse-De Blainville, QC
Thank you.
Ms. Chouinard, listening to you, I see that, since there are many departments in our government, you understand the challenge of the need to be very specific in the definitions and criteria. What I understand, then, is that it's important to further clarify the processes to ensure that everyone can fulfill their commitments, rather than forcing them to meet criteria that wouldn't be applicable everywhere.
Have I interpreted your analysis correctly?
Liberal
Associate Professor, As an Individual
Okay.
It's necessary to not only have a clear process, but also fulfill commitments. That means it's important to specify what the positive measures are, how those measures were decided on, and how to assess whether the objectives of those measures have ultimately been achieved.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Yvan Baker
Thank you, Ms. Chenette and Mr. Deschênes‑Thériault.
On behalf of the committee, I would like to thank all the witnesses for their work, for attending this meeting and for their testimony.
Colleagues, I will now suspend the meeting for a few minutes so that we can go in camera and continue our work.
The meeting is suspended.
[Proceedings continue in camera]