Official Languages committee  The standing committee submitted the report on its hearings on the 150th anniversary where there were presentations from various groups. As you know, the government is considering the report, but there is an enormous number of suggestions. If I may, I would like to add something

Official Languages committee  Mr. Chair, committee members, first please allow me to thank you for the invitation to discuss the important focus that will be placed on linguistic duality during the planning for the celebrations of the 150th anniversary of Confederation in 2017. As a Franco-Ontarian, who was b

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you very much. Absolutely, it's weaving in new traditions. And I'm not sure, for example, that 50 years ago you would have seen multi-faith services at funerals. We saw with Mr. Layton it was multi-faith. They had representatives from various communities. We've seen aborigi

Canadian Heritage committee  Denis will answer, and it's not.... Your question is a valid one. As I mentioned, we do work closely with the provinces. Every province has a chief of protocol, and they're usually very experienced people, because they're there to advise the government—the provincial government—

Canadian Heritage committee  On your question, I would say that members of this committee are best placed to judge the level of involvement the government wants to have in matters of protocol and how aggressive...or how much promotion occurs. We do take our mandate seriously, and with the tools we have, as

Canadian Heritage committee  In the specific case you're referring to, I'm somewhat surprised, because my understanding of police forces is that they have traditions within their own forces of how they conduct such ceremonies. In terms of flag folding and how the ceremony is conducted using the flag, I'm s

Canadian Heritage committee  No.

Canadian Heritage committee  No. That would be up to the family. It varies where people are buried. Some have family plots. For others it depends upon the site they choose and that falls to the family afterwards. We are not responsible for the upkeep post-funeral.

Canadian Heritage committee  When you say manual, would that include all departments and apply to what's happening at the provincial and local levels?

Canadian Heritage committee  I'm trying to establish some parameters.

Canadian Heritage committee  It is. How would we proceed? As I say, we have the framework. We have the templates. It would be labour-intensive to put all this information together and try to distill what is useful for public consumption. We would need to give some thought to presentation and packaging, in t

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes, if it's on a single pole. It's quite clearly detailed in the flag rules and it tells you how to fly it, and if there's more than one flag, and where the emplacement is.

Canadian Heritage committee  No. Our sole role is that we make sure that the Privy Council is informed, and that's it. What happens on a private visit is that an organization will request the presence of a royal member, and they organize it. All the costs, everything associated with those, are really dealt

Canadian Heritage committee  It would be their own; it would not be ours. As mentioned in my speech and my remarks, when the Governor General invites the royal family on behalf of the Government of Canada, of the Prime Minister, then we are involved because it's an official invitation from the government.

Canadian Heritage committee  No, I was not.