Ottawa, June 12, 2006
Speaking Notes for an Appearance before the Senate Standing Committee
on Official Languages
Dr. Dyane Adam - Commissioner of Official Languages
Check against delivery
Mr. Chairman and committee members:
I am pleased to meet with you today for what is most likely my last appearance before you as Commissioner of Official Languages.
On May 9, I filed my seventh and final annual report, and I am pleased to present the highlights to you today. I have also included a copy of my recommendations to the government.
This new report is entitled Official Languages in Canada: Taking on the New Challenge. Presented to a new government, this report sets out courses of action for implementing the significant changes that were approved by Parliament over the past year.
This is a forward-looking Annual Report and a call for action and governmental responsibility. It reiterates what I have been saying over the past seven years: that without ongoing leadership by the government the official languages file cannot move forward and may even lose ground.
With the strengthening of the Official Languages Act last November, each institution must henceforth take positive measures to enhance the vitality of official language communities and promote linguistic duality. My annual report suggests courses of action that I believe are essential to the government’s firm commitment to renewal and consolidation. It also contains the second edition of the report card for federal institutions. Apart from that, my recommendations focus mainly on four areas: horizontal governance, promoting linguistic duality, vitality of official language communities, and new regulations.
Enhancing the Vitality of Official Language Communities
The most significant amendment made to the Act in the past year requires that federal institutions establish a strategy to foster the vitality of official language minority communities. Institutions must review their policies and programs in light of the new provisions of the Act to ensure that these communities receive all the benefits that majority communities do.
Federal institutions will need to build relationships with the communities and consider them as partners in this move towards enhanced vitality.
The government and the communities must adopt a consistent approach to vitality based on indicators and research to arrive at better-targeted actions and achieve concrete results for the benefit of Canadian society.
We will have to document the measures taken and clarify the objectives by identifying vitality indicators that are relevant and appropriate to the specific circumstances of official language communities. The government is accountable to Canadians for both the actions that it takes and the actions that it fails to take.
I therefore recommend that the Minister of Official Languages :
ensure that all federal institutions, within their respective mandates, establish a strategy to foster the vitality of official language minority communities
Promoting Linguistic Duality
Development of official language communities and promotion of linguistic duality require closer relationships between the federal government and civil society’s stakeholders.
With the strengthening of the Act, each federal institution will have to embody linguistic duality as a fundamental value and promote it in light of today’s Canadian society.
We must situate our official languages framework in the context of a changing Canada. Globalization, the information age, the knowledge society and technological innovation all remind us that there are new and ever-growing forces at play. The linguistic makeup of our country is also evolving, through an increase in mixed marriages between Anglophones and Francophones, the influence of newcomers, the demographic profile of rural and urban regions, and the increased role of the provinces and territories in community development.
Cultural diversity and linguistic duality are central values of Canadian society, and federal institutions must consider them as equally important.
I therefore recommend that the Minister of Official Languages:
initiate a dialogue with the various stakeholders in Canadian society to identify the measures to take in order to fully integrate the fundamental values of linguistic duality and cultural diversity into our governance models, and derive the full benefits that flow from them.
Leadership and Horizontal Governance
To help the government implement these new requirements, a chapter of the annual report is devoted to the issue of horizontal governance, or the mechanisms that govern the relationships between the federal government and official language communities. It proposes directions for effectively handling horizontal official languages issues.
The government must use appropriate and ongoing mechanisms to coordinate activities with communities themselves, but also with all key players, especially other governments. Such coordination mechanisms, for example in immigration, have also produced excellent results.
You know the communities I’m talking about. The government must engage in dialogue with them to learn more about them and adjust to their diverse needs.
I therefore recommend that the Minister of Official Languages:
ensure the efficiency of the horizontal governance mechanisms by drawing on basic proven principles such as the sharing of knowledge and resources, mutual trust between stakeholders, and sound management.
Ensuring Compliance
The second part of the report deals with ensuring the federal government’s compliance with its obligations. All the investigations, studies, and audits show that the government has succeeded at implementing administrative processes and plans to meet its obligations. Even though the means are in place, the results, however, are not yet particularly convincing.
This year, the analysis of overall observations presented in the second edition of the federal institutions’ report cards shows us that service to the public and language of work are the two areas where the institutions performed the weakest. It is disappointing that the results are mixed and that the institutions’ overall performance is mediocre.
The federal government must take action to ensure that active offer of service and use of English and French become part of institutional culture. It needs to assume its responsibilities in order to improve the current performance of the institutions and to eliminate persistent stagnation. After more than 35 years of waiting, a serious push is necessary.
Official Languages Regulations
As I noted in last year’s annual report, I encourage the government to seriously examine the state of its linguistic framework. The government must adopt a regulatory framework that sets out the precise methods by which federal institutions must fulfill their obligations in the areas of community development and promotion of linguistic duality. We must review our approach to the Act so that we no longer see it as a collection of separate parts (on communications with the public, language of work, promoting duality, etc.) but rather as a coherent and logical whole, that reflects society’s changing realities.
Considering the amendments made to the Act over the past year and our country’s socio-demographic changes over the past decade, it is clear that the current Regulations are no longer relevant to the realities of Canadian society. The levelling-off witnessed with respect to the delivery of services to the public in the official language of their choice is only one example of the need to modernize the Regulations.
It would therefore be appropriate to create new regulations, based on a coherent and effective implementation of the Act.
I therefore recommend that the President of the Treasury Board, for the purpose of establishing adapted, coherent and effective official languages regulations within the government:
- Modernize the Official Languages Regulations—Communications with and Services to the Public to allow Canadians to receive services of equal quality in the official language of their choice.
- Examine the relevance of adopting new regulations that aim to specify the implementation of the obligations set out in other Parts of the Official Languages Act, particularly Parts V and VII.
Air Canada
Air Canada’s situation has been a concern throughout my mandate. I would be remiss if I did not tell you about the one last request I will be making of the federal government.
You probably remember that the latest restructuring created a regulatory vacuum concerning the language obligations of its various subsidiaries.
I therefore recommend that the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities:
introduce a bill as soon as possible to ensure that Canadian travellers, both Anglophone and Francophone, retain their right to be served in their official language of choice by all Air Canada subsidiaries, and that Air Canada employees also retain their language rights.
However, I am concerned by the recent response from the Honourable Lawrence Cannon, who indicated in a letter that his department is still not ready to take a stand on this issue.
This is an example of a gesture that promotes linguistic duality that the government can make right away. In fact, the House of Commons Transport Committee has already considered a bill of this nature and has collected evidence last fall. The new government simply has to present a revised version of the bill in the House of Commons. Further procrastination will only serve to cement a situation in which the rights of both employees and the public are regressing.
Conclusion
Linguistic duality is more firmly rooted than ever before as a fundamental value of Canadian society. However, the decisions and actions of our political and administrative leaders do not always reflect this central social value and, as a consequence, equality of English and French is by no means a given in today's society. Now more than ever, citizens expect that federal institutions will fulfill their obligations under the Official Languages Act.
The government is responsible for enforcing the country’s laws, and parliamentarians must therefore demonstrate full respect for the OLA so we can cross the threshold into true equality.
So far, the government has been somewhat timid in its public response to my report. Since public leadership is needed for the federal government to recognize and implement the desired changes, I expect that the government will clearly state the approach that it intends to adopt to get meaningful results.
Thank you for your attention. I would be happy to answer any questions.
LIST OF RECOMMENDATIONS
1. That the Minister of Official Languages ensure the efficiency of the horizontal governance mechanisms by drawing on basic proven principles such as the sharing of knowledge and resources, mutual trust between stakeholders, and sound management.
2. That the President of the Treasury Board, for the purpose of establishing adapted, coherent and effective official languages regulations within the government:
- Modernize the Official Languages Regulations—Communications with and Services to the Public to allow Canadians to receive services of equal quality in the official language of their choice.
- Examine the relevance of adopting new regulations that aim to specify the implementation of the obligations set out in other Parts of the Official Languages Act, particularly Parts V and VII.
3. That the Minister of Official Languages ensure that all federal institutions, within their respective mandates, establish a strategy to foster the vitality of official language minority communities that includes:
- Developing, with the active and sustained participation of communities, indicators for the vitality of the communities that corresponds to their needs.
- Establishing means of collecting data and disseminating research on vitality, with an aim to inform federal institutions, communities and other partners.
- Demonstrating how they incorporate the development and growth of the communities into their policies and programs and their research plans.
- Evaluating programs, taking into account the results on the development of official language communities.
- Devoting particular attention to research-based funding agencies.
4. That the Minister of Official Languages initiate a dialogue with the various stakeholders in Canadian society to identify the measures to take in order to fully integrate the fundamental values of linguistic duality and cultural diversity into our governance models, and derive the full benefits that flow from them.
5. That the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities introduce a bill as soon as possible to ensure that Canadian travellers, both Anglophone and Francophone, retain their right to be served in their official language of choice by all Air Canada subsidiaries, and that Air Canada employees also retain their language rights.
