Official Languages committee  Good morning. It was a pleasure for me to be here this morning to hear Michel Doucet's testimony. We are both members of Statistics Canada's advisory committee on language statistics, which met yesterday. When considering the modernization of the act, our thinking was guided by

Official Languages committee  To take the edge off that a little bit, overall, yes, we are under-represented in Quebec. There are institutions that are doing quite well, but there are institutions that are doing quite poorly, obviously. Corrections Canada in Quebec employs about 3,700 folks, and about 150 ar

Official Languages committee  It's about connections. This is linked to the under-representation of English-speaking Quebeckers in provincial government service in Quebec. Young people in Quebec just don't see themselves working for government. It's a matter of education in the schools. It's about inspiring y

Official Languages committee  Statistics Canada has a number of advisory boards. One of them is on language statistics. You're appointed to the board by the chief statistician for a period of time. You're appointed as an individual. The board meets a couple of times a year. It's not specific to official lan

Official Languages committee  It would be hard for me to comment on that, as a member of the committee. There are two English-speaking Quebeckers on the committee of 12.

Official Languages committee  There is a representative of the Government of Nunavut on the committee.

Official Languages committee  Let me go back to the Correctional Service of Canada example. Because of the nature of the service they provide, they have an obligation to provide services to prisoners in both official languages. However, if they're not employing enough anglophones under part VI, then they're

Official Languages committee  There was a report done by Industry Canada, which I think I shared with your analyst, and if I haven't, I will. It was done a few years ago. You will remember that the NDP advanced a bill that would have extended the Charte de la langue française to federal undertakings in Quebec

Official Languages committee  I think Mr. Doucet really outlined our thinking on this. I think that Mr. Johnson with the FCFA was also clear on this last week. We've suggested an administrative tribunal in our brief. We aren't lawyers and we aren't experts on this. Our thinking is that this should be an admi

Official Languages committee  We would think that this committee certainly would have the aegis and that during this consultation and the minister's consultation, it would be really interesting to hear from a group of former clerks of the Privy Council—

Official Languages committee  —and ask them this question. They're experts on how government runs, and it might help us find the way.

Official Languages committee  I don't remember the section, but a section of the Official Languages Act outlines the powers of the commissioner to investigate. I'm trying to remember a conversation I had with our lawyers around that. They were from Power Law. They came to see you last week.

Official Languages committee  One thing you might consider is accountability under the tribunal. Would it be institutional or individual? If there were individual accountability under a tribunal, people might pay significantly more attention to it.

Official Languages committee  On the regulations, we were extremely well consulted by Treasury Board and by all the players in the regulatory review. The concerns we had were reflected in the proposals, so we're very happy with them.