Audit Results
Page 13 of 25
3. CONSULTATION OF OFFICIAL LANGUAGE MINORITY COMMUNITIES (cont.)
In 2005, the CRTC asked for feedback from the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada on major broadcasting issues of concern to Francophone communities across Canada. The CRTC also consulted representatives of English speaking communities in Quebec separately to learn about their specific needs.
In December 2005, in preparing its new action plan for implementation of section 41, the CRTC consulted the same seven national organizations as in 2004.
We feel the methodology used by the CRTC for its consultation process in December 2005 was unsatisfactory. The consultation was initially conducted electronically through an e-mail sent to national organizations over the holidays, and organizations were given only two weeks to submit their comments. Some organizations asked for extra time to formulate their comments. As most of the organizations have their offices in the National Capital Region, representatives also asked for a meeting to discuss the specific needs of the official language communities they represent. The Commission agreed to both requests. We note, however, that in the consultation process, the CRTC did not contact provincial or regional community representatives.
The CRTC should expand its consultation network to include at least the provincial and regional representatives of official language minority communities in order to learn more about their specific needs with respect to radio, television and telephone communications, which may vary from one part of the country to another.
All of the provincial and regional representatives of linguistic communities to whom we spoke confirmed they had never met with CRTC representatives, not even to learn about their mandate. They all showed an interest in doing so.
| The CRTC must learn more about the realities of all official language minority communities and their specific broadcasting and telecommunications needs. |
The CRTC can better meet its obligations and break the isolation of official language minority communities by consulting them in a regular, structured and coordinated fashion. Consultation is a joint process that leads to positive outcomes: the CRTC should properly target official language minority communities and key players by inviting them to its official activities and meeting with them at the same time. Under the Official Languages Accountability and Coordination Framework, the CRTC has the duty to consult these communities when it develops and implements policy.
In addition to consulting official language minority communities, the CRTC should establish a mechanism for consulting official language majority groups that defend the interests of both communities, such as Canadian Parents for French, to fulfill its linguistic duality obligations under section 41.
| Recommendation 8 |
