Official Languages committee  I was in charge of the Société franco-manitobaine, and we stood up to the government. We confronted the majority of people, who were completely opposed to the French-speaking minority. As I said in my opening statement on Tuesday, it was a time of plebiscites, public hearings, an

Official Languages committee  Yes, there was also the fire at our office. I would say that that was when my ability to stand up to a government really came through.

Official Languages committee  All right. The Official Languages Act has to be modernized, and the official languages action plan has to be much better aligned with the needs of minority communities. It's important to make sure that everyone working in the federal public service can do so in the language of t

Official Languages committee  To answer your question, first, there are many people who are in acting positions currently in the office. One of the first things to do is to get a handle on who's actually working there and doing what.

Official Languages committee  Second, I'm sure there are people who will be leaving. As people leave, I think what we have to do—and Mr. Fraser was very eloquent on this. He said he worried more about HR than he worried about policy. He really worried a lot about HR. I think it's very important in the commis

Official Languages committee  I think there are two key roles of the seven that you mentioned. One is what I'll call the audit function, the compliance function. It's extremely important to make sure that if we get complaints, we act on them, we investigate. We have to ensure that the act is respected and imp

Official Languages committee  Very well. I do, indeed, recall what I said. There were two parts to my answer. The first was right, but the second was less so. In the first part of my answer, I said that the principle of Supreme Court bilingualism was essential, of course. Not only is it essential—which is i

Official Languages committee  In the years ahead, I think we will first have to focus on the modernization of the Official Languages Act, more specifically, part VII. Work is already under way on part IV, which deals with service delivery, among other things. Part VII holds tremendous possibilities. It addr

Official Languages committee  At one time, that interface was described as "interdepartmental”. When I was involved with community groups, we would be asked to communicate with a variety of departments, depending on the request. When the responsibility for official languages is spread out among different or

Official Languages committee  Yes.

Official Languages committee  I applied online. Then Boyden got in touch with me.

Official Languages committee  I understand.

Official Languages committee  Exactly.

Official Languages committee  We have read a lot of things, after what happened in several organizations, including the FCFA, the SANB, the SNA and other groups. We've talked about the process. Should I be speaking about the process? I don't know, but it's clear that this position is extremely important for t

Official Languages committee  Absolutely. During my career, I have worked for Conservative and Liberal governments, as well as for a New Democrat government, in Manitoba. My role will be to defend and promote linguistic duality in Canada. If the government needs to be criticized and pursued, that's what we a