Knowlton, September 17, 1999
Speech Delivered at the Townshippers' Annual General Meeting
Dr. Dyane Adam - Commissioner of Official Languages
Check against delivery
Good evening and thank you for your kind invitation. It is a great pleasure to be here tonight. It reminds me of the summer I spent as a young adult at Abercorn when I biked all over this part of the country.
As you know, I have only been Commissioner of Official Languages for a few weeks. However, I already have some impressions. My job, and the official languages program, is about working with people: women and men, young and old, country and city-folk, and, of course, Anglophones and Francophones. One thing I am sure of when working with people is that cooperation is necessary. It is necessary for the official languages program and even for Canada itself.
Townshippers excel at working in cooperation. You have created alliances, even friendships, across both linguistic and cultural lines. I think that Quebec and the rest of Canada have much to learn from your success. That is no doubt why my predecessor, Dr. Victor Goldbloom, liked to come to your Townshippers days.
However, your region and your association, like the country generally, face some challenges. As a linguistic ombudsman I receive some 1,700 complaints each year. Some are simple, some are complex. All are important to those who submit them and we must do what we can to take corrective action. We are in daily contact with Air Canada, Human Resources Development Canada, Canada Post and many other federal institutions about complaints we have received. Generally, federal institutions are cooperative and fix matters quickly. Occasionally however, we have to go to court and this is long and arduous. More than half of the complaints we receive concern language of service by federal institutions to clients in English or French. Last year, 40 of these came from English-speaking Quebecers, but only one came from a Townshipper. I wonder why; does this mean that federal institutions in this region are performing very well?
I am also interested in policy issues, especially those that affect the vitality of the minority official language communities. The field of education has been evolving rapidly; yet English-speaking Quebecers have responded well, and I note that you have succeeded in getting your new school boards up and running.
My Office has anxiously watched the decline in enrolments in English schools in this province over the past three decades. We have sought to convince the Quebec government to make access to English schools easier. For example, former McGill University Chancellor, Gretta Chambers, made some interesting suggestions in her task force on English education in Quebec in 1992. On the other hand I am pleased to note the recent trends towards increasing enrolments. In 1997-98 there were some 110,000 children in Quebec's English schools, up more than 2% from the previous year.
From the beginning of our Office in 1970, we have stressed the need for better second language teaching programs. These have been a success. Some 60% of English-speaking Quebecers can now speak French, and I am sure that this percentage is higher in the Townships, especially among your young people. Time and again our Office has invited the Department of Canadian Heritage to contribute more liberally to French and English second language teaching programs through its grants to provincial governments. We would like to also see greater contributions to organizations that promote second language programs, such as the Canadian Parents for French, Parents pour l'apprentissage de l'anglais langue seconde and the Société pour la promotion de l'enseignement de l'anglais langue seconde au Québec.
Another sector that has undergone extensive change is the health and social services sector. Greater reliance has been placed on home care and on the Centres de services locaux et communautaires, and many venerable institutions have been closed or drastically altered. Here in the Townships the loss of the Sherbrooke Hospital has caused difficulties.
I have not forgotten Premier Lucien Bouchard's remarks, made in his Centaur Theatre speech in 1996, to the effect that people, when sick, may need a blood test but not a language test. As a Franco-Ontarian, I know the hurt you feel when health professionals fail to serve you in the language they should. In a nursing home in Ontario, my mother, unilingual French, had to struggle to be understood by nursing staff in what is considered to be a Franco-Ontarian enclave near Ottawa.
As a result of the vigilence and hard work of the community, and the good will of all Townshippers, both Anglophone and Francophone, the access plans for English language health and social services have been approved. I am pleased.
One matter in relation to health and social services leaves me particularly perplexed. As many of you know, the Federal and Quebec governments signed an agreement in 1989. Under the terms of this agreement coordinators of English language services in the province's regional health councils were to be hired. While relatively small sums of money were involved in this federal-provincial accord, about half a million dollars yearly, this agreement made a difference. Unfortunately, it lapsed in March of this year. The Minister of Health, Madame Pauline Marois, has not yet shown any interest in renewing this program with the Federal government. However, my Office has been in touch with the Canadian Heritage Department to see what can be done. It is my hope that this agreement can be renewed.
I am concerned about Quebec's Bédard Report on the financing and restructuring of local government. This report recommends amalgamation of municipalities and supramunicipal structures, without any concern for linguistic implications. I understand that some towns could be linked with neighbours that have a Francophone majority. Would the new larger municipality be recognized by the Office de la langue française as bilingual? In an effort to ensure that language rights are protected, my Office has been in touch with both Madame Louise Harel, Minister of Municipal Affairs, and with Madame Nicole René, President of the Office de la langue française.
In their reply the representatives of the Quebec government have suggested that the danger of loss of service in English has been exaggerated. They say that even municipalities without bilingual status can and do serve their citizens in both English and French. For my part, I continue to believe that the long-standing rights of English-speaking citizens must be carefully protected. When municipalities join together, the language issue must be examined and special provisions must be made to protect the linguistic rights of citizens.
We are encouraging governments to improve the participation of English speaking Quebecers in the public service. At just under 6%, progress has been slow with the Anglophone participation rate in federal offices in Quebec. However, we are continuing our efforts and to date have at least prevented a decline in Anglophone representation. This, during a time when, because of budget restraints, the government has been more often letting people go than hiring them. It is also true that the overall Anglophone representation in all federal institutions in Quebec, including Crown Corporations, is higher, some 12%.
My Office frequently consults with the Department of Canadian Heritage concerning support for minority official language communities. In recent years we have been concerned with the impact of budget constraints on association grants. We have made clear our belief that sufficient funding must be maintained in order to ensure respect for the spirit of the Official Languages Act.
As for the provincial public service, my Office has been in touch with Treasury Board President Jacques Léonard. We hope that his new program to hire representatives of minority communities will assist us. On the other hand, my Office has been closely watching the progress of the devolution of manpower programs from the Federal to the Quebec government. We are in frequent contact with Human Resources Development Canada to ensure that services in English are maintained in Quebec.
I am aware of the importance of the English-language media in Quebec. What would we do without the noble Sherbrooke Record and the Quebec Community Newspapers Association? The community newspapers and radio stations and the cultural groups are essential to keeping English-speaking groups across the province alive and vital.
Finally, let me say how important your association is for the country. You promote values of dialogue, respect and openness across linguistic and cultural lines, and you are an example for the rest of Quebec and Canada to emulate. More than this, I would say that you have a responsibility to others to show how cross-cultural relations can and should be conducted.
I say this because our people need bridges - social and cultural bridges - between our linguistic communities. We need, and indeed must ensure, better understanding between Anglophones and Francophones. I feel that your association has a bright future in this regard.
I look forward to our discussions together this evening and to your Townshippers' Day tomorrow. Once again, thank you for your hospitality.
