Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise today in the House on such an important subject as the Official Languages Act. Discussions have been going on for some time among parliamentarians on whether or not it is relevant to amend Part VII of that act, which was promulgated in 1969 and revised in 1988.
Bill S-4, introduced in the Senate by Senator Jean-Robert Gauthier and sponsored in the House of Commons by the member for Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, basically proposes to make Part VII of the Official Languages Act enforceable. This part deals with the federal government's commitment to enhance the vitality of the English and French linguistic minority communities in Canada, to support their development, and foster the full recognition and use of both English and French in Canadian society. That is, in brief, section 41, to which amendments are proposed. Two subsections would be added to this commitment. The first is, and I quote:
(2) Within the scope of their functions,duties and powers, federal institutions shall ensure that positive measures are taken for the ongoing and effective advancement and implementation of the Government of Canada’s commitments under subsection (1).
The second new subsection is:
(3) The Governor in Council may make regulations in respect of federal institutions, other than the Senate, the House of Commons or the Library of Parliament, prescribing the manner in which any duties of those institutions under this Part are to be carried out.
Moreover, section 43 would also be amended by Bill S-4. It would read:
The Minister of Canadian Heritage shall take appropriate measures to advance the equality of status and use of English and French in Canadian society—
This wording would replace “such measures as that Minister considers appropriate to advance the equality of status and use of English and French in Canadian society—”
Finally, subsection 77(1) would read as follows:
Any person who has made a complaint to the Commissioner in respect of a right or duty under sections 4 to 7, sections 10 to 13 or Part IV, V or VII, or in respect of section 91, may apply to the Court for a remedy under this Part.
The problem that the bill is trying to solve relates to the current ineffective implementation of this bill. It is well known that, since 1969, federal institutions, among others, have not respected, to a large extent, the Official Languages Act. With time, the attitude of some departments and federal institutions has become simply arrogant. In fact, year after year numerous departments and agencies present annual reports that systematically violate the Official Languages Act. Worse still, they get away with tabling plans of action that announce future disregard for this legislation.
What is the government doing to respect the Official Languages Act? Clearly, too little. In reality, this legislation is constantly ignored by numerous departments and federal institutions. This obviously encourages them to continue in their “who cares” attitude when it comes to respecting the Official Languages Act.
If the government does nothing, it is because, apparently, the legislation has no teeth. Since it is just a statement of good intentions, part VII would not, in its current form, permit delinquent institutions to be forced to comply with the legislation, since it is not enforceable.
That is the main reason we are now debating the amendment to this part of the legislation: so that it has teeth; in short, so that it is binding instead of simply declaratory. The intention is no doubt laudable.
However, I am wondering about various points. First, the objective of Bill S-4 is to make part VII of the Official Languages Act enforceable. The problem is that part VII purports to broaden the scope of the legislation to include all Canadians, and that is precisely why this part has not been enforceable since its enactment in 1988. That is precisely why this part received special treatment when it was drafted. There was a huge outcry from the provinces, who refused to agree to such interference in provincial jurisdictions.
This historic refusal remains our response today.
Moreover, is it not too soon to table this bill? I know that the Standing Committee on Official Languages plans to work on Part VII of the act over the coming weeks. And the Minister of Justice will be the witness at the committee's hearing on Tuesday. The last report of the committee on this subject, an interim report to boot, was tabled, I believe, during the 35th Parliament.
We have discussed Part VII of the Official Languages Act in the House of Commons for a long time without ever arriving at any satisfactory conclusions. I do not think there have been satisfactory answers to all the questions in either House of Parliament.
It makes me wonder why the legislative process is being rushed for this bill when there are still so many questions.
Here are some of them. What is the effective scope of this proposed legislative amendment? Why, according to Senator Gauthier, has every justice minister, without exception, interpreted Part VII as declaratory? Why did the previous justice minister refuse to make it enforceable? Can a province go to the courts on the constitutionality of Part VII of the act? Is this justified? Is it legitimate? There are diverging opinions on this. Is there not already a range of possibilities for enhancing the vitality of linguistic minority communities? Does the government implement or use them? Do they work?
I believe the real problem is due to the fact that there is no real desire on the part of the federal government, nor has there been since the early days of the Official Languages Act. This led the Commissioner of Official Languages to say that the government had a significant leadership problem when it came to the official languages.
I am tempted to say that those are the facts. When the government cannot manage to enforce legislation that has existed for 35 years, legislation it says is at the heart of the country's identity—