Public Accounts Committee on June 1st, 2026

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent—Akiawenhrahk, QC]

How many hundreds, if not thousands, of indigenous people could have had access to the knowledge of their mother tongue, which they haven't had the chance to learn and which they want to learn?

Take the people of Wendake, in my constituency, for example. The Wendat language is a dead language, and it's coming back to life.

How many first nations people would have been able to learn their language with this $10 million if it hadn't been used for a four‑day conference?

[Francis Bilodeau]

Again, as part of the process, our organization is responsible for providing funding to the organization.

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent—Akiawenhrahk, QC]

We're talking about $10 million.

[Francis Bilodeau]

The funds are allocated to the general funding for the organization, which is accountable for its management. This organization was co‑created with the indigenous peoples.

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent—Akiawenhrahk, QC]

So you don't follow up. You give $10 million to an organization, then say thank you, good night and good luck, my friend.

Is that right?

[Andrew Brown]

Each year, an annual report, signed by the commissioner, is submitted to the minister and tabled in Parliament. This report describes how the organization has spent the funding received.

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent—Akiawenhrahk, QC]

That's fine. However, in this case, you authorized the payment of $10 million to an organization. You looked the other way and then you found out that a four‑day conference cost $10 million. You can't even tell me how many first nations people could learn their language with $10 million.

[Andrew Brown]

First of all, we don't just give money to this office to support the revitalization of indigenous languages. This accounts for a portion of our investments.

The Office of the Commissioner of Indigenous Languages was then created by Parliament specifically to establish an organization at arm's length from the federal government. For us—

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent—Akiawenhrahk, QC]

It may be at arm's length. However, the issue is that the money doesn't come from arm's‑length organizations. The $10 million comes from Canadian taxpayers, and you're accountable to them. So don't go down whatever road and say that it's none of your business. It's your responsibility. We're talking about $10 million. This money comes from taxes paid by taxpayers.

Do you think that this money is well managed?

[Andrew Brown]

Again, that's why we launched this special review.

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent—Akiawenhrahk, QC]

It was at the request of the federal government, after the fact.

[Andrew Brown]

I'm sorry, I didn't quite understand.

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent—Akiawenhrahk, QC]

You called the shots after the federal government highlighted you. You didn't take initiative on that. Did you take initiative?

[Andrew Brown]

As soon as we became aware of the anonymous allegations, we launched a process to find more information.

[Francis Bilodeau]

I'd like to add one last point.

Basically, the process that was put in place aimed to create an organization to be co-managed with indigenous peoples, based on a reconciliation approach.

This organization's priorities, including the decision to hold a conference, had to be co-defined, while maintaining independence from the government. We didn't contribute to defining the priorities of indigenous peoples. It's a co-creation approach that is generally aligned with the government's approach.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Thank you very much.

Up next is Mr. McKinnon.

You have the floor for six minutes, please.

[Ron McKinnon, Liberal, Coquitlam—Port Coquitlam, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you all for being here today. I appreciate your contributions and your input.

I want to talk about different ethnic communities. My riding has probably the second-largest Persian community in at least British Columbia but maybe even in Canada. I was wondering what funding might be available to support the Persian community in our area. Also, considering there's a great deal of anxiety regarding what's going on in Iran today, do you have a role to play in helping them get through that?

[Francis Bilodeau]

I will ask Mr. Brown to chime in afterward.

Since 2024, the government has had an anti-racism strategy, which is supported by programs and funding, as well as the recently announced advisory council on rights, equality and inclusion. Through the anti-racism strategy, the government is taking a series of actions, including direct supports for community organizations.

Mr. Brown oversees a number of those programs, so I'll ask him to add to that.

[Andrew Brown]

Thank you, Francis.

It will depend on the nature of the support they're looking for, but speaking to some of the programming we have with Canadian Heritage, I think about our programs under, essentially, the multiculturalism and anti-racism banner that the deputy minister just mentioned. Under that, we have a couple of different streams, one of which we refer to as the events stream. This allows community organizations across the country to apply for funding to support the hosting of events that advance specifically the multicultural character of the country. It is both about celebrating and about bringing people together and celebrating Canada's multiculturalism.

As was mentioned already, we have programs that are about tackling discrimination and racism across the country. These are also programs that many community organizations have embraced to support themselves, support their communities and drive belonging across the country.

Those would be just a couple that I would mention with respect to the multiculturalism program.

[Ron McKinnon, Liberal, Coquitlam—Port Coquitlam, BC]

Frankly, I hadn't thought about the racism aspect of it. I appreciate that that's important. I was thinking more in terms of positive things to support Persian culture and the recognition of their history and their contributions to world history and so forth.

I think you spoke to that to some degree in terms of multiculturalism. Is there any more that you can add to that? How can we support them in a positive way to embrace their Persian culture in our society?

[Francis Bilodeau]

We have programs that intend to build capacity in minority communities, as well as those that will, for example, support festivals and events that encourage the celebration of the diversity within Canada.

[Andrew Brown]

As you said, we would encourage communities to look for opportunities to apply for some of our funding. We have seen in recent years a greater recognition of specific celebrations that are important to communities around the world. I think about celebrations of Nowruz when thinking about Persian communities.

I think there are opportunities. It is particularly the multiculturalism program and its various components that seem like they might be appropriate when it relates to the celebration of Persian culture in particular. Those are for events, as mentioned already, and capacity building. This is a program that helps community organizations in terms of their own capacity with projects they may wish to lead.

[Ron McKinnon, Liberal, Coquitlam—Port Coquitlam, BC]

I'll segue to Mr. Deltell's line of questions regarding indigenous languages, but not his precise question.

We have the Kwikwetlem First Nation in my riding. It has the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language, and as with all indigenous languages, we have a concern about it dying out.

Can you give us more information about what we can do to support our indigenous community in advancing and enhancing their native language skills?

[Francis Bilodeau]

Since 2019, the government has made significant investments—and this goes beyond the commissioner of indigenous languages—in supporting indigenous languages. Approximately $1.4 billion will be invested between 2019 and 2029. Those investments include supports for community-driven projects. Through that funding, projects and initiatives are driven by the community. There have been about 3,000 of them across the country. Part of our programming directly supports those community-led programs through our investments.

[Andrew Brown]

That's absolutely correct, Deputy.

Almost all of the funding that goes out to support the revitalization of indigenous languages goes out to indigenous partners, who themselves are the ones who make the decisions in terms of how it should be invested to support the revitalization and protection of their own indigenous languages. That is ongoing work that we participate in each year with a joint implementation steering committee that recognizes the distinction basis to the revitalization of indigenous languages. We've been working hard with them.

A number of different strategies have been developed, and that's specific to each community. In many cases, they're leveraging the abilities of indigenous elders. Unfortunately, many of them are now getting to the end of their lives, so there's a real urgency in trying to gather that information right now and to use them to teach younger people the languages. We're often looking at people we'll perhaps say are at teaching age so that they themselves may be able to teach youngsters and, in that way, bring back their languages.

There are a number of different strategies. We put that in the hands of indigenous people themselves.

We have been following the path that was laid through the Indigenous Languages Act, which was approved by Parliament in 2019. One of the pieces there is an independent review of the Indigenous Languages Act, and that's something the minister has been proceeding with since this past fall. We are just about at the point of contracting the specific individuals who will lead that independent review.

Once that is under way, we can expect that within a period of perhaps 18 months, the lead reviewer will be reporting back with suggested and potential changes to the legislation—essentially the changes the federal government should be making to better support the revitalization of indigenous languages.