Gary Anandasangaree

[Canadian Heritage, May 9th, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, we have been working on this issue for the past month. Directors, producers and creators can count on us. As the minister said last week, we will have concrete solutions to announce this week. It is not about scoring political points; it is about ensuring that movies in French can be produced this year. Why is the member trying to politicize that? We are used to the Conservatives turning their back on our culture, but why is the NDP only talking about this important issue now?

[Indigenous Languages Act, May 9th, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my friend from Yukon for his in-depth knowledge on this issue.

There are 90 indigenous languages. According to UNESCO, 75% of them are on the verge of becoming extinct. I would like to get a sense from him whether the framework in Bill C-91 hopes to protect all indigenous languages or are we excluding any to his knowledge?

[Indigenous Languages Act, May 9th, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, I know the member for Edmonton Strathcona is a lawyer. Therefore, I would like to ask her about the legality, with respect to the charter as well as our Human Rights Act, of putting a provision in a bill where we prescribe particular background of an individual. We all agree that the indigenous languages commissioner ought to be an indigenous person, but I wonder whether putting such a clause into the legislation would violate the charter. How would the member hope to frame that so it can sustain a challenge on the charter front?

[Indigenous Languages Act, May 9th, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to set the record straight.

During the deliberations at committee, a number of amendments were accepted from different parties. At every stage, the member for Nunavut was invited to take part. As a government, we made every accommodation for that participation to take place. However, he was not at all of the proceedings. Therefore, the member may not have been privy to some of the amendments that did pass, but they are on the record. The bill we passed at second reading, and which is before us today, is different. It is amended. We are debating the bill as amended.

I would ask the member this. How was Inuktitut excluded from the legislation? I am a little perplexed with the claim that the language was currently excluded. With respect to the framework, it is there. Every indigenous language is included in the legislation, which directly addresses the issues of every indigenous language currently spoken.

Also, how do clauses 8 and 9 allow the government to work with the provinces and territories?

I would like the member's comments on those two questions.

[Canadian Heritage, May 3rd, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, our government has shown that it supports our artists and creators.

If my colleagues really cared about investments in culture, they would stop asking me the same questions over and over only to get the same answers.

We have made historic investments of $3.2 billion in the cultural sector, including to the CBC, the Canada Council for the Arts, Telefilm Canada and the National Film Board of Canada.

Due to the previous Conservative government's inaction, our laws on culture predate the Internet, which is why we are—

[Canadian Heritage, May 3rd, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Madawaska—Restigouche for his question. I want to salute the courage of journalists who take risks to keep us informed.

Too many of them continue to be threatened, jailed, harassed and murdered around the world. In Canada, freedom of the press is a fundamental Canadian value protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

We took action to support journalism. We will continue to defend press freedom, both at home and abroad, because it is a pillar of our democracy.

[Indigenous Languages Act, May 2nd, 2019]

Madam Speaker, that is not correct. In fact, many amendments that were put forward were adopted and are reflected in the report that came from the committee. The legislation before us, as amended, has come a long way from the initial legislation we put forward.

[Indigenous Languages Act, May 2nd, 2019]

Madam Speaker, we can never imagine what we lost with respect to languages over several generations and spanning over 152 years as a country. The loss of language is also attached to the loss of many people. I think the best way to describe it is with what the former chief justice of the Supreme Court said, which is that what happened in Canada was cultural genocide, and it occurred as a result of federal government policies.

We can never recover from it, and I do not think that many people who have faced this type of struggle and violation could ever recover from it, but it is important that we start the process. That is why, overall, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's calls to action are important, and that is why language revival is so essential.

[Indigenous Languages Act, May 2nd, 2019]

Madam Speaker, obviously the context in which heritage, multicultural language and education are taken in Canada is quite different from that of the need to protect indigenous languages. It is fair to say that many of the multicultural languages that are here have enormous international strength and receive support from other countries and institutions, whereas indigenous languages simply have not had that, do not benefit from it and, in fact, in terms of the speakers, are quite limited. In that sense, the responsibility to revive a language does not rest with a community of 1,500 or 2,000 for multicultural languages; it rests with 30 million to 50 million people. Therefore, contextually it is different.

However, the struggle, in terms of the emotion of not being able to understand the language and the real fear of losing it, lies with most people who are living in areas dominated by another language and other language groups.

[Indigenous Languages Act, May 2nd, 2019]

Madam Speaker, across the country there are some very important programs like the one my friend mentioned. There are some very unique experiences, and work is being done by communities to preserve language.

With respect to the budget question, $335 million has been allocated in budget 2019 over a five-year period. This is a significant improvement from the $89 million over three years that our government put in place, and a vast improvement from the $5 million a year provided by the previous government to support indigenous languages.

This is a step in the right direction, and as the framework develops and unfolds, the government will provide significant support to advance languages.