Official Languages committee  I think the question was intended for me, so I'll answer it. I think that it's like anything else and that the act will be modernized in two phases, the modernization itself, by the tabling of a bill, but that the crucial part after that will be its implementation, the political

Official Languages committee  Can you hear me, Mr. Chair?

Official Languages committee  Mr. Dubourg, committee members, ladies and gentlemen, good evening. My name is Alexandre Cédric Doucet. I am the president of the Société de l'Acadie du Nouveau-Brunswick, the organization that represents Acadians and francophones in the province of New Brunswick. Here with me t

Official Languages committee  No, but we submitted a brief to the Senate—

Official Languages committee  If it were up to me, of course I would like to see the specificity of New Brunswick recognized in the Official Languages Act. We made several requests to that effect in 2018 when we submitted our brief to the Senate. Without going into detail, there is also the urgent request r

Official Languages committee  I would say in response that subsection 16(1) of the Charter and Part VII of the federal Official Languages Act are national in scope. I would even go as far as saying that these are constitutional and legislative provisions that are of national interest, and they must be given

Official Languages committee  Thank you for your question, Mr. Beaulieu. If you don't mind, I'll let our executive director answer that question.

Official Languages committee  That's an excellent question, and I'm going to give it a politician's answer. I think we'll obviously have no choice but to consider other options if the New Brunswick government can't guarantee New Brunswick's Acadians a defence of the French language, and if the federal govern

Official Languages committee  Looking at the historical timeline, you can see that, in 1988, for example, Brian Mulroney and Lucien Bouchard did an excellent job of publicly promoting its modernization. Mr. Mulroney and his provincial counterparts worked hard to provide a clear explanation of the changes that

Official Languages committee  In 1988, a popularization and discussion exercise was conducted with the provinces, something the present government hasn't done. Preparing a white paper may be precisely what the government wants to do. If that's the case, we aren't opposed to the white paper if it leads to the

Official Languages committee  Dr. Russell, the chief medical officer of health, is bilingual. She communicated in both official languages. However, the premier of New Brunswick didn't; he only had simultaneous interpretation. I'm interested in this question because I'm a law student. Beaulac, one of the lea

Official Languages committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, dear committee members, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for inviting me to appear before this committee to discuss government measures to protect and promote French throughout Canada, particularly in Quebec, as well as in Acadia and the Atlantic provinces.

Official Languages committee  According to the white paper presented by Minister Joly, the recommendations have been followed. We are not the only organization that proposed this. In addition to the Société de l'Acadie du Nouveau-Brunswick (SANB), there was also the Association canadienne-française de l'Alber

Official Languages committee  There could be a totally positive effect if the act were modernized and if the review of the act in New Brunswick were fully implemented. We can perhaps think that we are heading towards [Inaudible—Editor] in New Brunswick. There's modernization first, and implementation second

Official Languages committee  We are in the process of reviewing it. We are currently in discussions with the government. Our discussions are going relatively well, but I must admit that they are much more productive with the federal government than with the provincial government. However, we are used to bein