Official Languages committee  I have a number of conversations with ministers on specific issues, but the Court Challenges Program includes complaint mechanisms and processes dealing with inquiries and preliminary reports, whereby departments respond, publish reports or other such things. In a process as form

Official Languages committee  Mr. Chairman, the answer is yes.

Official Languages committee  Mr. Chairman, if I said something that might give one the impression that learning a second language is a step towards becoming assimilated, then I apologize. I will read the transcript to see if I erroneously gave that impression. That is exactly the opposite of what I meant. I

Official Languages committee  Yes.

Official Languages committee  Yes.

Official Languages committee  That is a very good question. I should have reread the report before coming here today. One thing that I did read, though, Mr. Chairman, was the government's response to the recommendations. What I found surprising was that the 38 recommendations dealt with things that the gover

Official Languages committee  Obviously...

Official Languages committee  One of my current themes is leadership. So, if I am right in saying that mastering both official languages is an essential component of leadership, it follows that deputy ministers who, by definition, are public sector leaders, should by all means learn to speak both official lan

Official Languages committee  I take note of it and I would like to thank the honourable member for having reminded me of the 39th recommendation, which is consistent with the position that we put forward in your report and with what we hope to be able to bring before the courts when they deal with the scope

Official Languages committee  As Ms. Tremblay pointed out, there is a difference between legal aid and the Court Challenges Program, and that has to do with the importance of the rights Canadians have under the charter. I think that by definition, a right defined in the charter is not just an individual righ

Official Languages committee  Mr. Chairman, it was a fascinating day that we spent in Toronto, and we had representatives from a wide variety of ethnocultural groups, English-speaking and French-speaking. It enabled us to have a better sense of their concerns. We were also struck, and it confirms the comment

Official Languages committee  It is a phenomenon that we're aware of and that I find a particular challenge for minority communities, to welcome French-speaking immigrants to the school system and the other elements of the community.

Official Languages committee  I was not aware of the specific cases you described. The systemic problem, which I described in response to other questions, occurs again and again. I heard similar testimonies regarding Quebec institutions, as well as institutions in other parts of the country. I've taken good n

Official Languages committee  That is the Canadian Heritage Report.

Official Languages committee  One of the recommendations that I made regarding Canadian Heritage was that the accountability system should be reviewed. I made that recommendation partly because of the changes to the governance system. Responsibility for coordination and oversight used to fall under the purvie