Official Languages Committee on June 2nd, 2026

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu.

Colleagues, we will now move to the second round of questions.

I will now give the floor to Mr. Dalton for five minutes.

[Marc Dalton, Conservative, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC]

Ms. Burke, congratulations on your appointment as commissioner. It's nice to see you.

Almost every witness we've heard from, except maybe WestJet, is a little disappointed with what's happening with the proposed regulations. It's not what they imagined. Even you, you started by saying these proposed regulations don't meet the needs.

Do we need to start over on these proposed regulations? Do you think what we've done so far is useless or useful?

[Kelly Burke]

I'll go back to my original comment.

I want a regulatory framework that helps make the UFPBA work as well as it can. The proposed regulations need to be amended so they can achieve that objective and support the act's objective, which is to strengthen French and promote it across the country.

I think the current proposed regulations will be fragmented in their application because they're not clear enough. In the proposed regulations, the terms “communication” and “service” are not well defined, while the notion of “consumer” isn't defined at all. These are just a few examples where, in my opinion, the proposed regulations don't meet the obligations and expectations we have with respect to a regulatory framework intended to make the application of the act clearer.

[Marc Dalton, Conservative, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC]

I'm a member from British Columbia, and I just received an email from the Fédération des francophones de la Colombie-Britannique. It says our province would be completely abandoned by the method suggested in the proposed regulations for the federal government to determine if a region has a strong francophone presence, affecting, among other things, the offer of banking services, despite the growth of our community, and going against the modernization of the act, which was to emphasize the protection of French.

The federation isn't happy, because it doesn't affect the francophone community. We also received comments from Toronto, where francophones are under-represented. It's the same thing in Vancouver.

Could you comment further on that?

[Kelly Burke]

Indeed, that's what I said before. I think the formula used to calculate it doesn't have the impact we would have liked.

At the end of the day, what we want is to expand the UFPBA to ensure at least one company can provide those services in every Canadian province and territory. Let's not forget the act's role: to strengthen, promote and protect French. If we only do it in certain regions, I don't think that's enough.

[Marc Dalton, Conservative, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC]

There's always some tension: We have to encourage and support the francophone community without over-regulating. It's a question of balance.

Different size companies have different abilities to accommodate francophone clients and employees. How will your office treat companies of different sizes? Will you be stronger or tougher on the large ones or on the small ones? Will you recognize the different capacities?

[Kelly Burke]

My mandate is prescribed by legislation, so the approach I take will be consistent across the board.

I always come back to what is practical and what is happening on the ground. What I am reading into many of the presentations that I have heard so far, particularly from WestJet and others, is that the question of whether and how they are going to be able to conform to the legislation is going to be critical. That means staffing and people who are able to actually work in both languages, and in French in particular. That's where I turn to Canadian Heritage, where I say there's going to have to be a very strong movement to ensure that we have manpower—woman power, people power—to ensure the services can be provided.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

Ms. Burke, I have to cut you off. I'm sorry.

I had some extra time, but we are well over.

[Marc Dalton, Conservative, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC]

You can take time away from the Liberals, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

Yes, we'll see.

Mr. Deschênes‑Thériault has the floor for five minutes.

[Guillaume Deschênes-Thériault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Thank you.

Ms. Burke, thank you for your comments and for the documents provided.

You're suggesting an expansion of the regulations' scope. We've heard other witnesses suggest the same thing.

We want to expand it, and we want a strong and enforceable act. I wonder what to say to those who wonder how to strike a balance between the rights of francophone workers and consumers and the francophone public, and the operational realities of businesses in regions where the number of francophones is lower.

I'm not talking about regions that are already defined in the act—that assessment has been done—but regions in a context of expanding the scope of the regulations.

How can we find that balance?

[Kelly Burke]

I think we should go back to part IV of the Official Languages Act to establish what criteria should be used to identify regions beyond those already identified in the act.

Canadian Heritage also has a duty to do an impact analysis of this legislation on communities. This analysis must take into account the capacity in areas and regions already identified. Canadian Heritage must also take into account the impact the act will have on official language communities, for example in Quebec, as we said earlier.

I think the right balance lies in the impact analysis to determine where the legislator's leeway is.

[Guillaume Deschênes-Thériault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

In your position paper, you talk about the obligations to communicate with the public. You're referring to the concept of active offer. Can you give us more details on how you see that?

[Kelly Burke]

Again, we're talking about complexity, given the notion of active offer is not found in the Use of French in Federally Regulated Private Businesses Act, or UFPBA, whereas it's found in the Official Languages Act.

Active offer means a visible and accessible offer to the general public so they can know where to find services in English and French.

What I'm asking in that regard is to align with already established and defined concepts, to some extent, in legislation that we're already monitoring, and that the UFPBA reflect the active offer provided for in the Official Languages Act.

[Guillaume Deschênes-Thériault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Thank you.

You're not the first person to mention the issue of a public registry. Can you give us more details on how you see this tool?

[Kelly Burke]

Canadian Heritage would be in charge of the public registry and would have to decide which private companies would be subject to it. There would be a transition period, because some private companies are already subject to the charter, where the department would have to determine which ones would also be subject to UFPBA. The public registry would therefore have to take these businesses into consideration.

We also require this registry be reliable and updated on a monthly basis so the general public can know where the services are.

[Guillaume Deschênes-Thériault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Thank you.

[Kelly Burke]

Otherwise, it would be very complicated.

[Guillaume Deschênes-Thériault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

I'm going to give the last minute of my time to my colleague, Mr. d'Entremont.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

You have two minutes left.

[Chris d'Entremont, Liberal, Acadie—Annapolis, NS]

Yes, two minutes for the Acadians from southwest Nova Scotia.

In Nova Scotia, francophones are scattered across the province, as we heard from the Fédération acadienne de la Nouvelle-Écosse last week. The Chéticamp region doesn't have a strong francophone presence, so it doesn't apply. The biggest region right now is Halifax.

Ms. Burke, what do you think about adding at least the provincial capitals across Canada to the registry?

[Kelly Burke]

I agree. That's provided for in the Official Languages Act. We can look at the Official Languages Act to see what the best model is.

In Nova Scotia, Yarmouth, Digby and Richmond are there. I couldn't agree with you more. Perhaps the great city of Halifax should be among them.

[Chris d'Entremont, Liberal, Acadie—Annapolis, NS]

When we look at the greater Halifax-Dartmouth region, Dartmouth has a lot more francophones than southwest Nova Scotia.

Do you think this measure would apply to the entire city, or could we apply it to certain neighbourhoods or areas only?

[Kelly Burke]

I think we'll have to do an analysis to really determine where we could offer the highest quality of service and reach as many citizens as possible who want to be served in French.

[Chris d'Entremont, Liberal, Acadie—Annapolis, NS]

Thank you.