LANG Committee Meeting
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37th PARLIAMENT, 1st SESSION
Standing Joint Committee on Official Languages
EVIDENCE
CONTENTS
Monday, June 10, 2002
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The Joint Chair (Mr. Mauril Bélanger (Ottawa—Vanier, Lib.)) |
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Senator Jean-Robert Gauthier (Ontario, Lib.) |
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The Joint Chair (Mr. Mauril Bélanger) |
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The Joint Chair (Ms. Shirley Maheu (Rougemont, Lib.)) |
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Senator Jean-Robert Gauthier (Ottawa—Vanier, Lib.) |
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The Joint Chair (Mr. Mauril Bélanger) |
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Ms. Christiane Gagnon (Québec, BQ) |
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The Joint Chair (Mr. Mauril Bélanger) |
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Senator Gérald A. Beaudoin (Rigaud, PC) |
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The Joint Chair (Mr. Mauril Bélanger) |
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Senator Gérald A. Beaudoin |
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The Joint Chair (Mr. Mauril Bélanger) |
CANADA
Standing Joint Committee on Official Languages |
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EVIDENCE
Monday, June 10, 2002
[Recorded by Electronic Apparatus]
¹ 
(1540)
[Translation]
The Joint Chair (Mr. Mauril Bélanger (Ottawa—Vanier, Lib.)): I see that we have a quorum. Before we proceed with our study of the draft report, we will vote on Senator Gauthier's motion. I believe we all received a copy of the motion last week. To refresh your memory, the motion pertains to real-time television captioning. Does everyone have a copy of the motion? First up on our agenda is the adoption or rejection of this motion.
Senator Gauthier, would you like to present the motion to us again quickly?
Senator Jean-Robert Gauthier (Ontario, Lib.): Is this a public meeting or are we in camera?
The Joint Chairman (Mr. Mauril Bélanger): It is a public meeting. We will sit in camera later on.
Senator Jean-Robert Gauthier: Well, my comment is simple. The quality of closed captioning is poor actually to say the least and unsatisfactory, to be polite. On the French network of the CBC, closed captioning is uneven: sometimes you get it sometimes you don't. On the English network of the CBC, it isn't too bad but if you look at CTV it's a disaster. I am not the one who says so it's the Canadian Hard of Hearing Association.
I use closed captioning all the time. There are technical problems, problems in real time and closed captioning problems generally. There is a distinction to be made between the two. In real time it is some kind of interpretation such as Nathalie does here. She reproduces on a CRT display what I am saying and what you are saying and, since I am hard of hearing, I can read what is being said. Closed captioning provided by the English network of CTV, for example, is added after the programming is done. That's what they call dubbing in English . It depends not only on the time which is available to put all this together but the person in charge of the roll cannot read that; it is not possible they go so fast and they start late or not at all but when a person speaks we don't know what she is saying and all at once the words appear on the screen. They come in so fast that it is impossible to read them. This happens almost all the time on the national news.
The criteria are quite well established. Since 1995 I think the CRTC requires a broadcaster with revenues of at least $10 million a year to provide closed captioning. The words “in real time” are added there because it is really crucial. If a significant event, an historical event or something momentous happens and there is no closed captioning you cannot follow what is happening, what is being said. I have the feeling that the major television networks do not care about the quality of closed captioning.
I'm sorry if I dwell a little on the subject but I always hear the same argument: there is a lack of human resources. Closed captioning is done by technicians of course. At the present time, there is no longer any training in French in Canada. There was a school in Montreal but it closed down last fall.
The training in English faces the same problem except that there are two schools: one in Vancouver and one in Edmonton. There is also another school in Toronto where they teach people to become stenotypists. The school in Vancouver which is called Langara College is going to close down in June unless we can find the necessary funds to carry on with the program.
For the past couple of years I've tried to convince the Cité collégiale which is a community college here in Ottawa to offer a training course for stenotypists. I have problems because I don't have any money and it is difficult to convince the private sector to finance this endeavour. Even the public sector doesn't want to take part in it. At the moment I am negotiating with the Cité collégiale. Ultimately I suggested to them to establish an advisory committee constituted of people who make use of these services—CBC, the courts, the television networks, film-video and many others. They accepted to set up an advisory committee here, in Ottawa, which will be established in a week or two and which will get in touch with the users, the people who are required to provide closed captioning.
¹ (1545)
Well, by in large, that's it. All I want is that the Commissioner of Official Languages who has the power, who has the money to do research, who has the human resources to help us, to be given the responsibility by the committee to inquire into the existing situation, to see what can be done to improve it and also to look into the quality and quantity of closed captioning. That's all. Thank you.
The Joint Chair (Mr. Mauril Bélanger): Are there any questions or comments?
Ms. Maheu.
The Joint Chair (Ms. Shirley Maheu (Rougemont, Lib.)): There is no mention of the funds required to conduct the study and the investigation. Would you like us to add a clause specifying this, or should we leave the matter in the Commissioner's hands?
Senator Jean-Robert Gauthier (Ottawa—Vanier, Lib.): No, we'll leave that to the Commissioner. We've already voted to give her money to do the research. I think she'll be pleased to receive the $4 million already approved.
The Joint Chair (Mr. Mauril Bélanger): Ms. Gagnon.
Ms. Christiane Gagnon (Québec, BQ): That's a most interesting request. My committee is in the process of examining the Broadcasting Act and this is one of the points raised by the witnesses. It would be interesting to have the Heritage Committee do a follow up since it is looking into the Broadcasting Act. This would also allow us to access information and the process authorized, since we can also exert some pressure.
The responses I have received are unsatisfactory. I asked Radio-Canada to explain to me why the French network received less support than the English network. I was told that it had to do with the fact that English software was more sophisticated than that available to the French network. It's also a matter of the financial resources available for the machine shorthand, as you yourself indicated. However, there are other ways of captioning television programs.
I think we need to be aware of the importance of imparting to members of the public the full information to which they are entitled. For the hearing impaired, this is especially important. Thank you.
I'm pleased to be here this afternoon because I will be able to report back to our committee which is currently reviewing the Broadcasting Act.
The Joint Chair (Mr. Mauril Bélanger): Are there any questions or comments.
Senator Beaudoin.
Senator Gérald A. Beaudoin (Rigaud, PC): To which document are we referring?
The Joint Chair (Mr. Mauril Bélanger): We're discussing Senator Gauthier's motion.
Senator Gérald A. Beaudoin: I simply wanted to comment on a matter that I have thoroughly reviewed. I have always maintained that the two languages have equal status. Unfortunately, I don't see any mention of that in these documents.
We talk a great deal about official languages and of their almost constitutional status. However, section 16 of the Charter of Rights clearly states that in federal areas and in federal institutions, the two languages are official and enjoy equality of status. This casts aside the whole question of the number of French speaking Canadians. The purpose of section 16, which goes to the very heart of the Constitution, is to recognize the equal status of the two languages.
The Joint Chair (Mr. Mauril Bélanger): Senator, unless I'm mistaken, you're under the impression that we're at the report study stage.
Senator A. Gérald Beaudoin: We're studying something.
The Joint Chair (Mr. Mauril Bélanger): We're supposed to be debating the notice of motion given by Senator Gauthier last Monday.
Senator Gérald A. Beaudoin: I've jumped the gun.
The Joint Chair (Mr. Mauril Bélanger): As usual.
Are there any further questions or comments on Senator Gauthier's motion? If not, I will call the vote.
(Motion agreed to)
The committee will write to the Commissioner advising her of its position with respect to this motion that has just been adopted.
[Editor 's Note: Proceedings continue in camera]