Official Languages committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will be brief, since I do not really have a presentation. Thank you very much for inviting us to appear before the committee. The government has responded very favourably to your report on the enumeration of rights holders. In our opinion, and this i

Official Languages committee  Thank you, Mr. Samson. As you know, federal-provincial agreements we sign in the area of education come with envelopes that can be used to recruit students. A lot of school boards use those funds that are given to them by the provinces to carry out promotion campaigns and all ty

Official Languages committee  I do not think I can answer on behalf of Mr. Bains and his department, but as my Statistics Canada colleagues may confirm—and they have already done so—the process to prepare census questions was established a long time ago. There are consultations and tests. Afterwards, Statisti

Official Languages committee  The description of a rights-holder provided in section 23 of the charter is fairly specific.

Official Languages committee  The definition was not established for the purposes of enumeration, but rather so that a citizen could come before their ministry of education or their school board to say that they are entitled to education in the language of the minority and claim that right. When someone comes

Official Languages committee  When it comes to enumeration and general population estimates, things get complicated. What we have always thought of as the majority of rights-holders is established based on the mother tongue criterion. You talked about this, and it is in your report. It is relatively simple to

Official Languages committee  In addition, a distinction must be made between someone having attended a French immersion school outside Quebec—so an English school where courses are taught in French—and having attended a French school. Obtaining that information through a simple question is already complex.

Official Languages committee  It's relatively simple for someone who comes before their school board, especially since, in most provinces, the majority of school boards will tell a citizen whose mother tongue may be English or an immigrant who is still not a Canadian citizen that the admissions committee has

Official Languages committee  As I was saying earlier, section 23 of the charter was drafted to give individuals rights, and not to make the work of Statistics Canada easier.

Official Languages committee  We discussed research before the committee resumed its meeting. The need for research is very real, and different organizations are funded to do the research. However, the programs of the Department of Canadian Heritage were not designed to fund research in the communities. But t

Official Languages committee  Let me give you some additional information. The court challenges program (CCP) is not managed by our branch. So we are not the best people to give you an answer. However, I can tell you that the envelope for the old LRSP was $1.5 million, which included program administration, p

Official Languages committee  The Treasury Board has estimated the cost of bilingual services in the new offices. I believe you will be meeting with Mr. Brison later this month. You will have to ask his team those questions to find out the details.

Official Languages committee  That is really the responsibility of the Treasury Board team.

Official Languages committee  We are working with Statistics Canada, but it is a complex issue. It is easy to determine someone's mother tongue, but it is very difficult to figure out the schools that the parents attended, whether they went to French-language school, immersion school, and all that.

Official Languages committee  Yes?