Madam Speaker, I am pleased to have the opportunity to contribute to the debate in support of Motion No. 367 brought forward by the hon. member for Longueuil. I commend her for raising public awareness of those individuals with disabilities, particularly people with disabilities related to hearing.
I had the opportunity last week to participate in a forum during disability week in my own province of New Brunswick. I was escorted around in a wheelchair throughout the upper Saint John region. We are aware of the necessity to ensure that we have the appropriate accesses to rooms and elevators for those individuals who are physically challenged. We think we have made great inroads in our society, and the truth is we have.
However there is an awful lot that we must do. Any motion that we have before the House helps raise the awareness that there are initiatives the Government of Canada must take and that we as a society must take to ensure that those persons with disabilities have the right to participate in our society to their fullest capacity because they want to as well.
The motion we are debating states:
That, in the opinion of this House, the government should: (a) take all measures necessary to encourage, facilitate and actively support the right to communications of the deaf and hearing impaired; (b) act without delay to set up a real program to fund the research and development of technologies relating to closed captioning; (c) draft a bill to amend the Broadcasting Act to oblige all broadcasters to carry visual programs with closed captioning.
According to Statistics Canada hearing loss and deafness affects millions of Canadians with 2.9 million Canadians experiencing some form of hearing loss. That is one in ten. The statistics are probably on the low side since most of the research and statistics gathering rely on self-identification and inconsistent use of terms and definitions. It is common for people to deny their hearing loss, as we might understand.
The Canadian Hearing Society along with other groups supports the motion and so does the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. The reality is that deaf, deafened and hard of hearing Canadians continue to experience violations of basic human rights without regard to public broadcasting. Let us be clear. The need for and right to communications and language is fundamental to the human condition. Without communication an individual cannot become an effective and productive adult or an informed citizen in our democratic process.
Studies have proven conclusively and repeatedly that captioning assists both children and adults in learning literacy skills and in developing second-language skills. In 1987 the Canadian Association of the Deaf estimated that one-third of the populace could benefit directly from captioning. Considering this, one might assume that captioning is presently being provided by all television broadcasting as a matter of course, a matter of self-interest by broadcasters or a matter of regulatory requirements by the CRTC. This is simply not the case.
In November 2000 the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruled that the CBC had indeed discriminated on the basis of disability or deafness and ordered the CBC to caption everything it broadcasts on the first reasonable occasion. The CBC has chosen to challenge the decision. It will likely argue that the Canadian Human Rights Commission has no jurisdiction in the matter because the CRTC is legally mandated to rule on broadcasting.
We cannot have our cake and eat it too. The industry cannot be exempt from the Canadian Human Rights Act and have the CRTC stripped of the power to regulate and require captioning. However it is important to note that the CBC and CTV are the best achievers among Canadian broadcasters as far as captioning is concerned.
The technology is not only capable of supplying the demand but it is already in the hands of the broadcasters. Even community cable channels have access to the equipment itself. It is important to point out that the Liberal government itself has agreed that closed captioning is of vital importance.
On May 30, 2001, parliamentarians gave their unanimous consent to a motion to adopt the report on the broadcasting and the availability of the debates and proceedings of parliament in both official languages. This report recommended, among other measures, the closed captioning in French of oral question period in the House, as is already being done in English. However, the government, as per usual, did not take any action.
Unfortunately, this is another chapter in the book called the Liberal government that does nothing and it is Canadians that pay. In this case there are individuals who have hearing losses or deafness and do not have the opportunity to participate to the degree that they should.
I would say to all members of the House that this is a mere motion. It is not a bill. It is not an actual piece of legislation. When the House approves a motion, Madam Speaker, and you are well aware of this particular aspect, it is expressing the will of the House to move in a direction to meet the intent of the motion. It may not be exactly as the member has worded it in the motion itself but the principles are followed through.
If Canadians are concerned, not just in principle but in reality, and if members of parliament are concerned beyond supporting the principle of the motion but not liking one comma that is in the sentence, then I ask all members of the House, regardless of what party stripe they yield from, to support Motion No. 367.
I wish to commend the member for Longueuil for her ongoing commitment to this most worthy cause. I ask all members to support the motion. The best way to do that is to put it to a vote. We can end the debate right here and now. Let us not filibuster this issue. There is no need to do that. I suspect that we have the support of the mover of Motion No. 367. If all members are concerned about this particular issue I would ask them to stay in their seats. Let us end the debate now and put it to a vote.