Official Languages committee  That's a very good question, Mr. Boulerice. What explains that from a hiring standpoint? All departments propose revisions to their staff every year. They try to determine why their employees, and even possibly citizens, have to wait for services in French. I can't explain that

Official Languages committee  No, not at all. We're a minority, even though there are millions of francophones. That's why I referred to discrimination earlier. In the context of a pandemic, it's even more important to provide all the information in both official languages to public servants, and thus indire

Official Languages committee  That's definitely what it takes. It always depends on the example that's set. I can't disagree with what you're telling me. Currently, however, we often use the statistics included in the Official Languages Act. For example, it provides that such and such a department in a parti

Official Languages committee  I believe you mean francophone employees. Yes, they're definitely uncomfortable, not necessarily because they lack the opportunity, since they often have occasion to speak it, but as a result of a lack of training. In many cases, the technical aspect of a subject may become a ha

Official Languages committee  I think they're definitely more comfortable speaking English. They very often want to speak English. They very much appreciate simultaneous translation at meetings attended by both anglophones and francophones.

Official Languages committee  Well, that's a little more…

Official Languages committee  There's a philosophical aspect to your question. I think the situation calls for cooperation, healthy communication and respect. I see the Chair is waving the red card; I'm saved by the red card.

Official Languages committee  I entirely agree with you regarding obligations of result. While you were speaking, I was thinking of a time when language skills in staffing processes could be imperative or non-imperative. That was often much less discriminatory because a unilingual francophone could apply for

Official Languages committee  Ms. Martinez Ferrada, first, I want to tell you that I definitely did not want to bump heads with anyone, including you, when I used words that had quite a serious connotation. That's especially true of the word “systemic,” which is widely used these days. However, I wanted to dr

Official Languages committee  Thank you, Mr. Dalton. First of all, I'd like to thank you for the effort you're making to speak in French. You could simply have spoken English and relied on the interpretation. I admire people who make the effort. Yes, some communities and towns near Vancouver are experiencin

Official Languages committee  Do you mean just the west or across Canada?

Official Languages committee  I made a few checks. I'll answer you by discussing a message that was forwarded to me. It's a message that a public servant sent to individuals from eastern Canada. So you can imagine what the situation might be in the west. The message, which really surprised me, is dated Decemb

Official Languages committee  I think that to ask the question is to answer it. It gives us the impression that it's a somewhat secondary issue. As I told you, our PSAC members devote themselves heart and soul to achieving good results. However, the $800 figure is clearly inadequate. Mr. Boulerice, I would a

Official Languages committee  That's a very good question, Mr. Beaulieu. The $800 figure was introduced in the 1990s. As I said earlier, we've often requested an increase, but it's always been denied. There was even a push in 2019 to do away the bonus completely in exchange perhaps for a little more training

Official Languages committee  While preparing, I contacted a number of representatives of several departments and asked them always to check the facts. To answer your first question, our employees never receive the French versions of documents within a reasonable timeframe. That's a point we've often raised a