Audit Results
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3. CONSULTATION OF OFFICIAL LANGUAGE MINORITY COMMUNITIES
The CRTC is one of the institutions that have a significant impact on the vitality of official language minority communities because of its role in implementing the Broadcasting Act and the Telecommunications Act.
We checked whether the CRTC had consulted representatives of Anglophone and Francophone minority communities in a structured and coordinated fashion to identify their broadcasting and telecommunications needs.
In 2000, the CRTC held public consultations across Canada to examine all French-language broadcasting services available to minority Francophone communities. It did so at the request of the Governor in Council and the Minister of Canadian Heritage, who asked the CRTC to conduct this type of consultation and report on the results (P.C. Order 2000-511).
National representatives of Francophone communities that participated in these consultations underscored the importance of and need for the CRTC to take a firm position on promoting the vitality and development of their communities. They also said it was essential for the CRTC to adopt an action plan consistent with provisions of Part VII of the Act, which defines the language rights of these communities.
It is important to note that provincial and regional representatives of official language minority communities were not on the list of participants in these public consultations. Our interviews also showed that the CRTC did not make any particular effort to obtain the views of official language minority communities in any specific way regarding broadcasting and telecommunications. It opted instead for the official process of public consultations announced in newspaper notices for the general public. We would have expected the CRTC to invite various national, provincial and regional associations to take part in these consultations, even though Canadian Heritage had not yet designated the CRTC for implementation of Part VII.
In 2004, while preparing its first action plan for implementation of section 41, the CRTC consulted the following seven national organizations: Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada, Fédération culturelle canadienne-française, Association des producteurs francophones, Alliance nationale de l’industrie musicale, Alliance des radios communautaires du Canada, Association de la presse francophone and the Quebec Community Groups Network. The purpose of these consultations was to gather pertinent information on their specific needs. This information is found in the CRTC’s 2004-2005 action plan.
