Official Languages committee  If I may clarify, our position at the Public Service Alliance of Canada is that hiring francophones is important.

Official Languages committee  Yes, absolutely. One of our requests is that there be more opportunities for advancement for unilingual francophones or for those whose mother tongue is French. In senior management, it is okay to be a unilingual anglophone or bilingual. However, a unilingual francophone has few

Official Languages committee  Thank you for the question. Indeed, our members who work for the Canadian Coast Guard in Quebec tell us that the people at the highest level of management are unilingual English speakers. Our workers in Quebec are sometimes unilingual francophones, or their mother tongue is Fren

Official Languages committee  Absolutely. We often hear our members say that there are two official languages in the federal public service: English and interpretation. However, particularly with regard to emergency services, information must be provided in both official languages as quickly as possible. Info

Official Languages committee  Absolutely. No one knows the needs of the federal public service better than the federal public service employees. As I said earlier, in the short term, outsourcing appears to save money. However, in the long term, it actually costs Canadian taxpayers more. Providing these servic

Official Languages committee  Yes, absolutely. Outsourcing saves money in the short term, but studies show that costs are higher in the long term. The Canada School of Public Service employees do important work. I think that the language training services that the school used to provide to federal public se

Official Languages committee  We all agree that $800 in 2024 isn't the same as $800 in 1977. I think that there's a lack of will. There's a lack of desire to tangibly recognize the contribution of both official languages in the federal public service, or to acknowledge that bilingualism in the public service

Official Languages committee  Absolutely. There are major retention issues in the federal public service. We're talking about investing in the vitality of both official languages, and also in the recognition of indigenous languages in the federal public service. Yes, it's an investment, but a significant one.

Official Languages committee  Absolutely. There was a joint study between the employer and the union that showed that there are hundreds of workers in the federal public service who use an indigenous language in writing or orally every day to serve the communities that they're in. This is something they have

Official Languages committee  Absolutely. We have members on strike right now in non-public funds, CFMWS. They've been on strike for 67 days as of today. They're being replaced by scab labour from DND. Active military personnel are doing their work. Active military are being forced or being ordered to do sca

Official Languages committee  I agree with Ms. Tellier that it should be an essential requirement, not a secondary one. I would add however that people can learn French or English. That is why we are calling for more training opportunities. Public servants, whether anglophones or francophones, want more oppo

Official Languages committee  It isn't just in Quebec. I think that this situation occurs everywhere in Canada where there are francophones. There are francophones all over the country. Clearly, the advancement opportunities aren't equitable. Most of the advertised senior management positions are unilingual

Official Languages committee  Absolutely. If there are 20 people at a meeting, and just one person is speaking English, everyone will switch to English.

Official Languages committee  Good morning. Mr. Chair, members of the Standing Committee on Official Languages, I'd like to thank you for inviting us to testify as part of the study on language obligations related to the process of staffing or making appointments to key positions in the federal public servic

Official Languages committee  I would say so. It's best to deal with things head on and to set a good example, and one of the best ways of doing that would be for senior management to be trained to be able to communicate effectively with workers in both official languages.