LANG Committee Report
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The Standing Joint Committee on Official Languages deems it useful to submit an interim report summarizing testimony it has heard since the start of the 36th Parliament, most of which concerns the implementation of Part VII of the Official Languages Act. It should be recalled that the Committee tabled a report on the same subject in June 1996. In presenting an interim report, the Committee wishes to make clear the importance it attaches to the implementation of the federal government's commitment "to enhancing the vitality of the English and French linguistic minority communities in Canada and supporting and assisting their development; and fostering the full recognition and use of both English and French in Canadian society," as stated in section 41, Part VII of the Official Languages Act. The Committee believes it is important to share with parliamentarians and all those interested in enhancing the vitality of minority Anglophone and Francophone communities the essential aspects of the testimony heard since November 1997 as part of its study on the implementation of Part VII of the Official Languages Act.
The Committee notes at the outset that a great deal of work remains to be done before it is in a position to make recommendations in a final report. Among other things, it will have to invite testimony from other designated institutions which have a specific responsibility in the implementation of section 41 of the Official Languages Act. In particular, however, the Committee reiterates its intention to hold hearings in the regions in order to gather a broad range of opinions from representatives of the Francophone and Anglophone minority communities. Testimony gathered during those hearings will enable the Committee to assess to what degree the initiatives taken by the designated institutions, but also by federal institutions as a whole, meet the specific needs of those communities and assist their development.
One common point was made in most of the testimony heard by the Committee: that it is vitally important for the Anglophone and Francophone minority communities to implement section 41 of the Official Languages Act. The representatives of those communities informed the Committee of their concerns about the impact of the devolution of certain federal government responsibilities to provincial governments and of the budget cuts they have suffered as a result of efforts to fight the deficit. In their view, a concerted approach by federal institutions to implementing Part VII of the Official Languages Act is the only way to give them the means to ensure the development of their communities. The commissioners of official languages, Victor Goldbloom and Dyane Adam, also urged the Government of Canada to contribute to the development of the official language minority communities through full implementation of Part VII of the Official Languages Act based on a renewed consideration of the needs of those communities.
The testimony given by representatives of the designated institutions who came to report on their implementation of section 41 of the Official Languages Act revealed on the whole that those institutions have taken the objectives of section 41 into account in their strategic planning. The Committee wishes to emphasize the exemplary success of Western Economic Diversification (WD), which has introduced a strategic orientation within the department that has helped provide the Francophone communities of Western Canada with the tools and mechanisms they need to take charge of their economic development. WD's results demonstrate the importance of leadership at the highest level in changing an organization's culture. The Committee hopes that similar leadership will emerge in the federal institutions as a whole.
Many witnesses expressed the hope that the Government of Canada will get more involved in promoting linguistic duality. On the whole, Committee members share this view and invite the federal government to fully assume its linguistic responsibilities under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Official Languages Act.