LANG Committee Report

            Pursuant to the resolution adopted on 12 February 2002, the Standing Joint Committee on Official Languages (hereinafter "the Committee") consulted representatives of the official language minority communities in the context of the action plan being prepared by the President of the Privy Council and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and Minister responsible for coordinating issues related to official languages, the Honourable Stéphane Dion (hereinafter "the Minister"). On 18 and 19 March 2002, the Committee heard the evidence presented by spokespeople for eleven provincial and territorial organizations and six national organizations. (A list of the witnesses is appended.)

            This report summarizes the main points to emerge from the evidence heard. It is in no sense intended to be a substitute for the original evidence, in which the community representatives describe with impressive conviction their concerns and expectations, and propose solutions. The first part of the report sets out the main themes addressed by the spokespersons for provincial and territorial organizations. The second deals with presentations by spokespersons for the national organizations.

            Despite the Official Languages Act and the Official Languages (Communications with and Services to the Public) Regulations, francophone communities experience innumerable difficulties when they request service in French in federal offices designated to provide services in both official languages. The mentality of the bureaucracy needs to be changed so that federal public servants no longer think that services in French are strictly a matter for Canadian Heritage. Equally, delivery of federal services in English leaves something to be desired in the more remote regions of Quebec.

            B.      Education

            The funding provided under the Official Languages in Education (OLE) Program does not meet the particular needs of francophone minority communities. The importance of the services that should be available to young children cannot be over-emphasized, since these are recognized as an effective way of fighting assimilation. Literacy and adult education programs in French also suffer from underfunding.

            The federal government must ensure that the provincial and territorial governments account for the transfers made by the Department of Canadian Heritage under the bilateral agreements on education. Canadian Heritage requires that minority communities demonstrate due diligence in using the funds granted to them. The federal government must insist on the same due diligence from the provincial and territorial governments to which it makes transfer payments.

            C.     Health-care services

            Access to health-care services in the official language of one’s choice is a priority for minority communities. Since the provincial and territorial governments claim they do not have the budgets needed to provide such services, it was suggested that the federal government could make sufficient funding available for the creation of a health-care program modelled on the Official Languages in Education (OLE) Program. It was also proposed that a sixth principle be added to the Canada Health Act: that of linguistic duality.

            D.      Devolution of federal powers to other levels of government

            The devolution of federal powers and obligations to the provincial and territorial governments over the past decade has not ensured the protection of the language rights of official language minority communities. On the contrary, it has led to the loss of certain rights that had been assumed to be secure. In the future, any agreement on a transfer of powers from the federal government to a provincial or territorial government must include provisions that protect the language rights of the minority community unequivocally.

            Treasury Board’s new policy on the different models for delivery of services in the minority language has been given a favourable response, but its application by departments still gives cause for concern. In addition, it was suggested that situations that had harmed official language minority communities ought to be redressed.

            E.      Towards a genuine partnership

            To reverse the trend toward assimilation that threatens the francophone minority communities, energetic measures will have to be taken. Currently the financing for the Canada-community agreements is insufficient to allow the minority communities to carry out their development plans. It was suggested that a genuine partnership should be established between the federal government and the communities, including a joint development plan and an adequate budget.

            F.      The application of Part VII of the Official Languages Act

            The comprehensive application of Part VII of the Official Languages Act is essential if the minority communities are to develop to the fullest. The Act must be amended to spell out the legal scope of section 41, which must be binding and not merely declaratory. Bill S-32, An Act to amend the Official Languages Act (fostering of English and French), enjoys broad support in the minority communities. Some witnesses even suggested that Part VII should be given more teeth with the inclusion of provisions for court remedy.

            G.      The expectations of the linguistic minority communities

            The Minister’s plan of action must contain a comprehensive development plan for the minority communities based on the development plans adopted by provincial and territorial communities. It must make broad provision for consultation and co-operation. It must include the following: specific objectives, a definite time frame, performance indicators and sufficient funding. There is broad support for a strong expression of political will to ensure that the comprehensive minority community development policy being formulated is fully implemented.

            H.      The unique situation of the anglophone community in Quebec

            According to popular wisdom, the anglophone community in Quebec needs no special protection, because it is part of the national majority. Alliance Quebec refutes this claim, citing its community’s considerable loss of numbers since the 1970s. At the moment, English and not French is at risk in Quebec.

            The Official Languages Act should be applied a little more symmetrically. First, the anglophone community in Quebec should be recognized as an official language minority community. Obviously, the two minority communities are not in the same situation, and therefore it would not be advisable to demand rules that would apply totally symetrically, in the matter of funding, for example. However, rights must be applied with equal symmetry, a demand Anglo-Quebeckers have all too often been told they were not entitled to make.

            A.      A comprehensive development policy

            The Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne (FCFA) du Canada encourages the Minister to formulate a comprehensive development policy for the francophone community in Canada. This policy would identify and clarify the federal government’s commitment to the communities and the scope of the obligations set out in Part VII of the Official Languages Act. The federal approach must no longer be based on scattered projects, but should consider the needs of the francophone communities as policies and programs are developed.

            The FCFA referred to the resolution passed unanimously by its national council, which called "[trans] for the President of the Privy Council to be designated the minister responsible for the official languages program and for the implementation of a comprehensive development policy by the federal government, which it supports". It pointed out that the minister developing the action plan must also be responsible for the Official Languages Support Program in order to give consideration to the development plans of the communities in each of the provinces and territories. In addition, consultation mechanisms should be in place for all community development sectors.

            The framework for action should resolve the difficulties of implementing Part VII of the Act, by making the scope of their obligations clear to public officials and by encouraging their compliance with the establishment of measures of accountability. It has also been suggested that consideration be given to setting up a "withdrawal fund", which would require departments failing to adapt their initiatives to the needs of the communities to provide the communities, directly or indirectly, with the funds they need to benefit from the initiative in question.

            B.      Education: a priority

            According to the Fédération nationale des conseillères et conseillers scolaires francophones, education in minority communities should be at the heart of the Minister’s development policy. At the moment, French schools are funded at about the same level as English schools, whereas their needs, not to mention additional requirements for daycare and pre-school facilities, are significantly greater. In addition, there is no guarantee that the parties negotiating the Official Languages in Education Program (OLE) are taking the priorities of the francophone school boards into account. Finally, given the federal government’s limited accounting requirements, it contends that certain departments of education use federal funds earmarked for French as a first language for activities they should be paying for in any case.

            The Fédération points out that, with few exceptions, the approach to funding, negotiating and consulting has not changed since the inception of school governance. It notes that the creation of school boards — the only form of francophone "government" with a basis in the Constitution — has made them inseparable partners of the federal government and of the Council of Ministers of Education of Canada, and therefore wants agreements on official languages in education to include three parties. It recommends a new concept of education in a minority context that would reflect section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It wants a system of education that is unique to the francophone community and properly funded to enable it to serve the special mission of French schools in a minority setting.

            The Commission nationale des parents francophones is highly critical of the federal government’s continued funding of provincial governments that ignore the rights of francophones and use the funds intended for French education for some other purpose. It contends that funding for French education should be given directly to the school boards to prevent the majority from deciding on educational content for the minority and dictating how the funding should be spent. It advocates an national early childhood support plan, which would include families in a social and educational network leading to registration in a French school and the creation of a new federal program in order to put this plan into effect.

            The Association canadienne d’éducation de langue française (ACELF) is calling on the federal government to become more actively and effectively committed to implementing section 41 of the Official Languages Act. It recommends that measures be put in place to prevent the provincial/territorial governments from using funding for education in French for other purposes. It wants governments to commit enough funding to permit the organization of exchanges among young people, promote teacher development, support basic research in French-language education and its dissemination and facilitate the creation of teaching tools that are relevant to francophones in a minority situation.

            C.      Sectoral demands

            The Fédération nationale des femmes canadiennes-françaises recommends that the Minister use the gender-based analysis in formulating his comprehensive development policy for minority language communities. It refers, in this regard, to the Action Program adopted in Beijing in 1995 and the commitments Canada made in the Setting the Stage for the Next Century: The Federal Plan for Gender Equality (1995).

            As the young people represent the future of their community, the Fédération de la jeunesse canadienne-française wants a youth component to the action plan the Minister is developing. It points out that a number of programs targeting young people give priority to young people at risk and argues that young people living in a minority situation are at risk of losing their language, their culture, even their identity. It favours a new partnership with the federal government that would enable the Canadian francophone community to develop fully.