Official Languages committee  If we go back to what the reality is for the average citizen, we see that the advantages of linguistic duality, the ability to speak more than one language, are real and concrete, with important economic, political and social advantages. The problem is that we so often focus on t

Official Languages committee  I am talking about duality in education in the sense of the ability to achieve a high level of bilingualism. If I am anglophone, I must have access to all the tools I need to improve my French, and the same goes for francophones who want to improve their English.

Official Languages committee  In my view, that's the Gordian knot of the matter. In terms of transfers to the provinces, the objectives and expectations must be clearly defined in the act. This will then enable us to hold you accountable. It is not enough to encourage initiatives, we need clearly defined and

Official Languages committee  I am not a lawyer, so I do not have that expertise. It is certainly important, because it helps us find out what has been done and where we are heading. If we are not aware of those details, we can't make adjustments.

Official Languages committee  I agree. The definition must be generous so that all those who want to be part of the Canadian francophone community can have access to this type of education.

Official Languages committee  I had just circled the word “vitality”. Yes, education will support and nurture the vitality. So will demographics. Young people—for example, those who study in immersion—who study both languages or who are multilingual are part of the generation of the present act. However, they

Official Languages committee  Much like my colleagues, we have given a lot of thought to what we could say that you have not heard before. In my field of applied linguistics, I remember how interesting it was to see the evolution of what it means to “learn a language”. For a long time, we have thought in ter

Official Languages committee  Good morning. Mr. Chair, ladies and gentlemen, I am very pleased to be with you today and to address your committee on the topic of the modernization of the Official Languages Act. With me today is Roger Farley, a former director at Health Canada, and now the executive in resid