Human Resources committee  Yes, we do have similar fears. I would say that the language clauses are not all the same for each province. The situation can be different within these negotiations. In terms of LMAs, we stated that the government made sure that it had firm language clauses which, I agree, was

Human Resources committee  Well, we already said this. Francophone communities must be included in the other consultations. They could then contribute to the development of these plans, which would mean they would not be crafted in a vacuum. I can give you a concrete example of the kinds of difficulties o

Human Resources committee  Mr. Chair, members of the committee, thank you for inviting the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne, the FCFA, to appear before you today. My name is Marie-France Kenny and I am the President of the FCFA. I am accompanied by our Executive Director, Ms. Suzanne B

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Actually, no. In our opinion, this provision will make things even more difficult. We recommend doing away with the proposed amendment. Furthermore, we recommend that the Canada Elections Act, if it is to be amended, should provide that from now on, this method of filling positio

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Absolutely. When I go to vote, I don't want to feel uncomfortable about wanting to vote in French. I want to have the same rights as any other citizen. The last time I went to vote, people standing in line with me were uncomfortable. Ultimately, I didn't get any assistance in Fr

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I think it is a great idea to make sure francophone Canadians know they have the right to vote in French all across Canada, or at least in regions that are designated bilingual. In addition, Elections Canada has developed some tools that, I know for a fact, our communities are u

Procedure and House Affairs committee  And here I was expecting to see a French sign from you, Mr. Lukiwski.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  First of all, the tool I referred to, for people with low literacy skills, has been widely used in our communities, particularly by organizations that assist newcomers or that do literacy work. It is an educational tool. It helps people understand the election process. Tools like

Procedure and House Affairs committee  The legislation stipulates that in regions that are designated bilingual, for example regions where at least 5% of the population is made up of francophones, Elections Canada must provide services in French. I will tell you about my personal situation. I am an elector in Tom Luk

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I am going to be absolutely frank with you: I have not read the most recent report of the Chief Electoral Officer.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes. I can, however, tell you about our reality. I described my own situation. We do, however, have access to French-language services in most offices. Sometimes the effort is made, but not always. It depends on the region you live in. If institutions bound by the act already h

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Thank you very much. I would like to take a few minutes to clarify one point and I hope that this time will not be taken off my five minutes. I am the sole proprietor of two businesses, one of which is a consulting business that has had Elections Canada contracts. When I became

Official Languages committee  In fact, Ms. St-Denis, I was speaking on behalf of all francophone and Acadian communities. If I'm not mistaken, the same is true of CMC. We represent all these communities. I would like to clarify something. The government will invest $100 million over the next five years into

Official Languages committee  That's an excellent question. What is a francophone entrepreneur? We haven't even decided what that is. What makes me a francophone entrepreneur? Is it my mother tongue? Is it my first spoken official language? Is it the way I operate my business bilingually, or not bilingual

Official Languages committee  As I said earlier, I myself am an entrepreneur. With respect to red tape, since I was already a manager before I started my company, I had a fairly good idea of the market and the field in question. Still I got in touch with the community economic development organization in our