Ms. Sherman, in your presentation, on page 2, last line, you said, “To support the Government's objectives around diversity, applicants are asked to provide information on their second language proficiency.”
If you ask me, the moment you ask for second language proficiency, you are cutting out large sections of Canadians, especially new Canadians and ethnic minorities. I can understand the bilingual requirements. I understand that we have to support bilingualism, but when there is no requirement, you also try to ask if applicants know the second language. When that question is asked, trust me, lots and lots of Canadians who are otherwise very highly qualified will not even apply.
There are millions and millions of unilingual Canadians who are qualified. They are not eligible many times because of that requirement. Though eligible, just because you ask whether applicants know the second language, they will not apply. Especially this is more true among the new Canadians and the ethnic minorities. So I think that you're wrong that, in the name of diversity, you are asking for second language requirements. In fact, you are dampening the likelihood of the people with limited language capacity to apply.