Justice committee  Okay. It varies from province to province. Our experience is very different from that of Anglo-Quebecers, who live in a single province. Francophone communities are spread out across the country outside Quebec. As a result, the situation can vary dramatically by province and ter

Justice committee  I believe our vice-president would like to speak.

Justice committee  Are you referring to municipal and provincial employees? Is that what you mean?

Justice committee  We would argue for two completely separate programs. These are two sets of very specific rights that do not apply in the same way at all. We are talking about individual, collective, and linguistic rights, as well as equality rights. They are not at all the same thing. In lookin

Justice committee  There are two parts to your question. First, you asked what kinds of laws we would like to see covered by the program. As things stand, I would say the programs pertain to constitutional rights only. That means the charter. We would also like the Official Languages Act, which

Justice committee  This is a delicate matter. In my opinion, we are getting into the distinctions between provincial and federal jurisdictions. In my view, this makes it a political issue. We are here before the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights of the House of Commons, which examines

Justice committee  Mr. Chair, members of the committee, thank you for inviting us to appear before you today. My name is Sylviane Lanthier, president of the FCFA. With me today is our vice-president, Audrey LaBrie. First of all, a few words about our organization and who we represent. In 9 prov

Official Languages committee  It is certain that those needs are quite pressing in our communities. We are talking about building environments that really allow people who want to live in French to live a maximum number of aspects of their life in that language. That means having extracurricular activities, f

Official Languages committee  Yes. Anything that reduces the administrative burden and facilitates the work, that is to say an injection of funds into activities as such and multiplies their impact is important.

Official Languages committee  Two weeks ago, we met with Radio-Canada executives. The crown corporation produces an annual report on the initiatives it undertakes in support of official language minority communities. Not only did we want to discuss that, but we also wanted to talk about their goals for the fu

Official Languages committee  As I understood the situation, when Mr. Dion was the minister, he considered the idea of having an official languages action plan. He wanted to set a new objective for the government, in addition to what it was already doing. Specifically, that meant providing support to such sec

Official Languages committee  In her answer, Suzanne was referring specifically to the FCFA's funding. The only support she didn't mention was the funding we receive from the Department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship for the immigration initiatives we oversee. Otherwise, the FCFA does not receive an

Official Languages committee  The francophone significant benefit program was part of a broader immigration program that made it possible for employers to recruit temporary workers. When the government did away with the overall immigration program, it eliminated the francophone significant benefit program at

Official Languages committee  Yes, outside Quebec. The loss of the program has had a major impact on employers' ability to recruit and hire French-speaking foreign workers.

Official Languages committee  We encouraged you to pass the bill because it sets out a more modern definition of the term “francophone” and the vision or manner, rather, in which the government must provide services in both official languages. I think the bill would bring the government's approach in line wit