Official Languages committee  Thank you for the invitation and the opportunity to contribute to the committee’s study. I’m going to begin with a few words about our research institute, for those who aren’t familiar with us. The Canadian Institute for Research on Linguistic Minorities was established in 20

Official Languages committee  Yes.

Official Languages committee  I think the bill proposed by the FCFA is rather well done and has some good ideas, but I would suggest a few minor changes.

Official Languages committee  I’ll start with the good part. Creating an official languages tribunal is a good idea, and I also think using research to better support the implementation of the act is very positive. On the whole, I think the bill is quite good. However, I would point to a few issues. With res

Official Languages committee  Yes.

Official Languages committee  No, on the contrary. I think there would be greater mobilization around the act. Adopting a five-year plan would allow societal changes to be taken into account. Does society change so quickly that the act would need to be reviewed every 10 years? I think it would be a good ide

Official Languages committee  Yes, but what really comes to mind is the work that’s done under the Canada-community agreements, as we used to call them. Nowadays, we talk about contribution agreements and direct involvement in the communities. The current model was developed in the 1990s.

Official Languages committee  I didn’t say compliance with the act was better. I think there was a misunderstanding. It’s important to examine the conditions that lead to greater compliance with the Official Languages Act. Earlier, I talked about the principles that would need to be incorporated in any meas

Official Languages committee  I think that is something the FCFA called for.

Official Languages committee  I think it’s an important change, as well. Without it, the act is less binding and gives people the choice as to whether or not to comply. That change would make it clear.

Official Languages committee  Allow me to clarify something. I’m not from New Brunswick. I was born in Ontario.

Official Languages committee  I did grow up in Quebec, though, and I’ve been here for about 20 years, so I may have picked up the accent in my neck of the woods.

Official Languages committee  As for the institutions, yes, they have an obligation. It’s possible to reinforce that obligation in the act. It is possible to set up an official languages tribunal and to give the commissioner more of an enforcement role. I’ve learned something though, throughout my work on the

Official Languages committee  At the first forum in Moncton on March 12, Michel Bastarache made another important point. He bemoaned the fact that official language minority communities are now perhaps the only ones who care about official languages. If that’s true, linguistic duality and official languages m

Official Languages committee  Doing so is essential, in fact. In one of its reports, this committee recommended that Statistics Canada establish an advisory committee to examine the enumeration of rights holders and thus provide a more accurate picture. If such a provision were included in the Official Langua