Hon. Rose-May Poirier: Honourable senators, I rise today at third reading as critic for Bill C-13, An Act to amend the Official Languages Act, to enact the Use of French in Federally Regulated Private Businesses Act and to make related amendments to other Acts.

I’d like to begin by thanking my colleagues on the Standing Senate Committee on Official Languages, who worked very hard during our pre-study and study of the bill.

We have a great working relationship on the committee, and I’m proud of all the work we’ve done together for Canadians. Colleagues, now that we’re at third reading, I’d like to focus a little more on some of the concrete amendments that Bill C-13 proposes to the Official Languages Act, as well as the new use of French in federally regulated private businesses act.

As I said in my speech at second reading, the last major amendment to the Official Languages Act was in 1988. Even at that time, 17 years after the passage of the Official Languages Act, the need for revision was already apparent, as indicated in the Speech from the Throne at the opening of the Thirty-third Parliament:

Official bilingualism is an essential part of our national identity. Seventeen years after being passed, the Official Languages Act now needs to be revised. Legislative measures will therefore be proposed to you during the session, with a view to making the act consistent with the provisions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Here we are, 35 years after the Mulroney government’s commitment and the successive revisions, with the opportunity to strengthen the Official Languages Act and continue the march toward the substantive equality between French and English. In September 1969, on a Radio-Canada program hosted by Simon Durivage, the coming into force of the Official Languages Act was being discussed and people were already pointing out that there was a long way to go between interpreting the law and applying it.

The fact is that today, 53 years later, we have not gotten all the way there, and Bill C-13 is proposing a way for us to get closer to this objective.

[English]

Let me begin, honourable colleagues, with the coordination of the Official Languages Act. As some of you may know, stakeholders have been asking for years to have a clear and better coordination of the act. Like I said in my second-reading speech, the consensus was built around having the Treasury Board in charge of the coordination. But how we got there is not as simple as one would think.

In their white paper entitled English and French: Towards a substantive equality of official languages in Canada, the government seemed to take the engagement of having the Treasury Board as the department responsible for government-wide coordination. On page 26, a legislative proposal reads:

Strengthen and expand the Treasury Board’s powers, notably the power to monitor compliance with Part VII of the Act as appropriate, by providing the Treasury Board Secretariat with the necessary resources so that it assumes the role of a central body responsible for ensuring the compliance of federal institutions and by examining cases where permissive provisions would be made mandatory.

When Bill C-13 was introduced, the government-wide coordination was entrusted to the Minister of Canadian Heritage, in spite of the government’s own commitment to hand it to the Treasury Board. It was mind-boggling how, after the majority of stakeholders — including your committee — recommended to the government that it put the Treasury Board in charge of the coordination of the law, the government decided not to follow suit. Thankfully, the committee in the other place made sure the government respected its own engagement from its white paper by amending Bill C-13.

[Translation]

Colleagues, I would like to give a concrete example of why we need to strengthen the Treasury Board. In 2017, the government created the Canada Infrastructure Bank. However, from the moment it was created, there was a lack of leadership to ensure that this institution was knowledgeable about its linguistic commitments in terms of serving the public in both official languages.

As the Commissioner of Official Languages said in his 2018-19 annual report:

All of the players at the table must be active supporters and participants in order to achieve the Act’s objectives and advance official languages. The Commissioner therefore urges the Treasury Board Secretariat to increase its involvement by providing ongoing guidance to federal institutions—and especially to newly created ones that are still unfamiliar with their language obligations . . . .

As you can see, the commissioner is encouraging the Treasury Board Secretariat to play a more active role in federal institutions. That again brings me back to the subject of leadership, which I talked about in my speech at second reading. Since Treasury Board was given the responsibility of coordinating the Official Languages Act, it will be able to exercise stronger leadership. The language will be clearer. We discussed this when the Minister of Official Languages, the Honourable Ginette Petitpas Taylor, and the President of the Treasury Board, Mona Fortier, appeared before the committee. Treasury Board will play that role, while Canadian Heritage will continue to do more of the work on the ground.

However, there are still concerns, as demonstrated by the following observation from the report of the Standing Senate Committee on Official Languages, which states, and I quote:

However, your committee notes that several witnesses, including the Commissioner of Official Languages, stressed the importance of having the federal government devise an effective and comprehensive mechanism for overseeing the OLA’s implementation. This mechanism should assess compliance by entities subject to the OLA with its various provisions and include appropriate indicators, particularly the demographic weight of francophone minorities and the enumeration of the children of rights-holders.

That observation clearly indicates to the government what the committee and minority language communities expect. It is imperative that the government be able to properly assess the implementation of the act so that we can make any necessary adjustments when it is reviewed in 10 years.

[English]

Furthermore, Part VII of the act has been contested many times in court. To summarize, Part VII details that the government must take positive measures to promote the vitality of English and French linguistic minority communities. And that is where the problem lies: the lack of details on what a positive measure is and how the government is to undertake a positive measure. Again, this was a section where clarity was needed for stakeholders to understand what to expect from the federal government and what the obligations of the federal government are.

When discussing Part VII of the act, I believe it is important to remind ourselves of the commitment of the federal government to:

enhancing the vitality of the English and French linguistic minority communities in Canada and supporting and assisting their development; and

fostering the full recognition and use of both English and French in Canadian society.

The commitment by the federal government is amended, but only in the area of taking into account the uniqueness of all linguistic minorities in Canada. The culture and reality of francophones living in Halifax, Nova Scotia, will be quite different compared to anglophones living in Sherbrooke, Quebec, and their respective realities and culture will be different compared to the francophones living in Manitoba. But what this section also says is what they have in common, which is the federal government’s commitment in enhancing their vitality.

How will the federal government enhance the vitality of linguistic minority communities? It does so with the application of positive measures. With Bill C-13, the amendments to Part VII of the Official Languages Act list sectors in which positive measures may:

support sectors that are essential to enhancing the vitality of English and French linguistic minority communities, including the culture, education — from early childhood to post-secondary education — health, justice, employment and immigration sectors, and protect and promote the presence of strong institutions serving those communities.

Going forward, the government should have a clearer indication on which sectors are essential for our vitality. Furthermore, the committee in the other place reinforced provisions for consultation requirements. Bill C-13 now proposes that positive measures taken by federal institutions must be based on analyses that are the result of dialogue, consultation and research activities, and these dialogue activities must allow for the priorities of English and French linguistic minorities to be taken into account.

Like I mentioned in my second reading speech, Bill C-13 amends Part VII of the law to insert the government’s commitment to section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which is the right of children to receive their instructions in the language of the English or French linguistic minority population of a province or territory.

Combining that commitment with the sector of early childhood education to post-secondary education as a sector essential to enhancing the vitality of English and French linguistic minority communities gives hope for linguistic minorities in Canada that the federal government is getting closer to fulfilling their minority language educational rights.

[Translation]

Finally, a key element was added to Part VII, namely the provision pertaining to language provisions when the federal government negotiates with provincial and territorial governments. All too often, anglophone and francophone minority communities are forgotten in intergovernmental agreements. A recent example I can think of is that of the child care agreements the federal government signed with the provinces.

At the June 5, 2023, meeting of the Standing Senate Committee on Official Languages, my colleague, Senator Mockler, asked Liane Roy of the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada a question to which she replied the following:

It is already being done in negotiations. However, if we had to do it again and if we had Bill C-13 as it is currently drafted, during the negotiations between officials of the different provinces, territories and the federal government, there would be discussions to establish if these provinces and territories had consulted the communities to determine what should be in these child care agreements. Do we know the number of child care centres? Do we have the right numbers to determine funding that should be allocated to the communities? This applies to both groups, that is anglophones in Quebec and francophones outside Quebec.

This concern has already been expressed in my province of New Brunswick.

As part of the agreement between the province and the federal government to lower the cost of child care services, the provincial government decided to create 1,600 spots for the anglophone sector and 300 spots for the francophone sector. That is a major difference that does not in any way represent the demographic weight of the linguistic communities.

A low-income francophone family might have to make the heartbreaking choice between paying more to have their child start school in French and paying a reasonable price to start school in English.

With strong federal leadership, the agreement would have allowed the statistics from the 2021 census to be used and the demographic weight to be respected.

[English]

It is clear, honourable colleagues, that in its negotiation with the provinces, the federal government needed to do more to ensure that linguistic minorities had at least a fair share of funding. The federal government shall take the necessary measures to promote the federal government’s commitment to enhancing vitality of communities and fostering English and French, protecting and promoting French and in advancing opportunities for members of English and French linguistic minority communities to pursue learning in their language.

With all of these improvements in Part VII of the law, I do believe the federal government’s roles and responsibilities are a bit clearer. The consultation mechanism is stronger, and it goes beyond just consulting — it intends to establish a dialogue with the linguistic minority communities. It is not only to be a check mark when consulting; it will be in maintaining a dialogue. The strength of the dialogue will be determined by the government’s involvement because, without a doubt, the linguistic minority communities are always willing to have constructive dialogue.

How will these new amendments work if Bill C-13 becomes law? I have to return to an important element from my second reading speech, which is federal leadership. The strength of Part VII of the act, the reach that it has and the impact it could have relies on the federal government’s leadership to apply the provisions. If history has taught us anything, when you are a linguistic minority in Canada, you must rely heavily on the courts to validate and confirm your rights. Too often, linguistic minorities must turn to the courts to validate their rights, and to have the federal government respect its own laws and commitments. How many resources have been spent in the courts when they could’ve been spent elsewhere — if only the language were clearer, and if the federal government had shown better leadership?

That was, in my opinion, a major issue when it came to Part VII of the Official Languages Act. The federal government and its institutions were unable to fully understand the expectations of linguistic minorities and their own duty. They did not know what a positive measure was, and the language was vague. I sincerely hope the federal government will take its commitment seriously, and avoid forcing linguistic minority communities to turn to the courts. Court cases are expensive for all parties involved, and, at the end of the day, whether the government is right or the linguistic minority communities are right, it is the vitality of English and French that loses.

[Translation]

However, the Commissioner of Official Languages would have more tools at his disposal to ensure that federal institutions meet their language obligations. For example, following an investigation, the commissioner could enter into a compliance agreement with an institution if he deems that it is not meeting its language obligations. This kind of power will make it easier for the commissioner to enforce the Official Languages Act. It also gives him the opportunity to educate any federal institution that fails to meet its obligations. The commissioner could steer them in the right direction so that they comply with their language obligations. I hope that this expanded power will improve federal institutions’ compliance with their language obligations.

Finally, there is an important addition to the commissioner’s powers: administrative monetary penalties. It is important to note that this system of administrative monetary penalties is specific and limited to cases where the institution has duties under Part IV of the act, which covers communications with and services to the public, where the institution operates in the transportation sector, and where the institution “engages in communications with and provides or makes available services to the travelling public.”

Furthermore, this power is used as a last resort. Before imposing a monetary penalty, the commissioner must propose a compliance agreement. The objective of the complaint must not have already given rise to an administrative monetary penalty. There’s also a time limitation: no more than two years after the commissioner was informed of the facts or no more than three years after the date of the complaint.

[English]

Honourable senators, this part of my speech summarizes the major amendments — in my opinion — to the Official Languages Act. These are the amendments that could have a direct impact on the vitality of linguistic minority communities. The second part of my speech will focus on the process used by the government, as well as the concerns we heard regarding the bill.

Part 2 of Bill C-13 proposes a new act: the use of French in federally regulated private businesses act. This new act will introduce a new concept in language rights: a strong francophone presence. On one hand, Part IV of the Official Languages Act sets out the obligations where there is significant demand, and, on the other hand, the new act sets out the obligations for “regions with a strong francophone presence.”

As per a brief submitted by Air Canada, it will certainly cause confusion for employers, as well as employees. And what is a “strong francophone presence”? Your guess is as good as mine, honourable senators, because that will be determined after the bill receives Royal Assent.

As much as I will always agree with the advancement of French and English in Canadian society, I will always have a hard time when so many orders-in-council and regulations are to come into effect after a bill receives Royal Assent. When the committee conducted its pre-study of the bill last year, we heard concerns regarding the reliance on regulations in Part 2 of Bill C-13.

For witnesses — such as Reno Vaillancourt from FETCO, which is short for Federally Regulated Employers – Transportation and Communications — many questions remained unanswered. What is a region with an important francophone presence? Which criteria will be used to determine the new definition? These types of questions are concerning for employers, leaving them in the unknown.

[Translation]

For us legislators, it is harder to understand the bill we are studying. I understand that sometimes, the government has to leave room through regulations. However, for something as important as the concept of regions with a strong francophone presence, which is at the very heart of the use of French in federally regulated private businesses act, it makes our work more difficult. It is also difficult for the witnesses to give us a clear opinion on the bill, because the concept is not yet clearly defined.

That is not just a problem in Part 2 of Bill C-13, but also when it comes to adopting a policy for francophone immigration outside Quebec. Even though such a policy is mentioned in the act, the act does not specify when the policy will be adopted, what it will contain or when it will be put in place. For those who don’t know, the Official Languages Act already contains a number of provisions through which the government can create regulations. Before the modernization process began, stakeholders had been asking the federal government for years to adopt regulations regarding Part VII, as indicated in the act.

I’m still not convinced that making regulations under the Official Languages Act or issuing orders in council is the way to go. It would have been better if the government had imposed a 12-month timeline for adopting the policy for francophone immigration outside of Quebec. It will take time for such a policy to have any effect. It’s not a magic wand that we can wave to restore the demographic weight of francophones, and it can’t guarantee the successful arrival and retention of newcomers in francophone communities outside Quebec. It will take time before we see the effects. The longer the government waits, the more difficult it will be for francophone communities outside Quebec to regain their demographic weight.

[English]

Finally, I must mention my disappointment in the Liberal government for bringing Bill C-13 to us so late in the year, forcing us — as a chamber — to rush to approve the bill. The Standing Senate Committee on Official Languages began its study on the modernization of the Official Languages Act six years ago in 2017. Common sense would suggest that we should have leaned into our expertise once the bill arrived in order to see how it could be improved. Sadly, it did not. Our anglophone colleagues from Quebec are asked to trust the government’s judicial opinion on including Quebec’s Charter of the French Language in the Official Languages Act, while francophone communities outside of Quebec must accept Bill C-13 as a fait accompli in order to avoid the risk of losing the gains from Bill C-13. It is disappointing to see how the modernization has unfolded. When we first started this study in 2017, I did not envision a process where people would be divided. Uniting people is at the basis of bilingualism and linguistic duality, and, in my opinion, the government failed in that regard.

Honourable senators, if Bill C-13 is adopted, the work across the federal government begins. It will take time, it will take dialogue, it will take adjustments and it will take patience and understanding, but, at the end of the day, with strong federal leadership, bilingualism and linguistic duality in Canada can be strengthened for generations to come. The vitality of French and English linguistic minority communities depends on the efficiency of the federal government to respect the Official Languages Act.

[Translation]

When I say that the vitality of linguistic minority communities depends on the Official Languages Act, I’m not exaggerating, and my own background is a perfect illustration of that. I was born into a francophone family living in an anglophone community. This meant that I had to begin my schooling in English. When I started grade 9, we moved to Saint-Louis-de-Kent, where there was a French-language school. However, since I had already started my schooling in English, it was easier just to finish it in English. I never learned to read or write in my mother tongue at school. That happened later, once my daughters started school in French. It is crucial that every child has the opportunity to begin their education in their mother tongue, whether in English in Quebec or French outside Quebec.

Could the process leading to the passage of Bill C-13 have been different? I think so. The government missed an opportunity to capitalize on our sober second thought by forcing us to rush this bill through. Improvements could have been made now, although I’m sure they’ll be proposed in 10 years’ time, during the review of the act. Even if these improvements are made, the effect will not be felt for another five years. A change like the one that MP Joël Godin proposed, to enumerate the rights‑holders instead of estimating the number, could set linguistic minority communities back 15 years.

[English]

As a senator, my duty is to be a voice for my people, the Acadians from New Brunswick, who, even in the only officially bilingual province, are a linguistic minority. At every generation, our vitality becomes more and more fragile. The case is the same for every linguistic minority community across the country. No province, territory or linguistic group can avoid it.

I take issue with the way the government handled the process for the modernization of the Official Languages Act. This should be a time to celebrate our commitment to bilingualism and linguistic duality. However, I cannot allow their mishandling to delay the modernization of the Official Languages Act. They’ve been waiting 35 years, and I encourage all senators to support their respective linguistic minority in their own province or territory by supporting bilingualism and linguistic duality tonight through Bill C-13.

[Translation]

In conclusion, honourable senators, just as I did at second reading, I support Bill C-13, An Act for the Substantive Equality of Canada’s Official Languages. I have some reservations about the government’s approach, and the regulations and orders in council don’t inspire me with confidence.

However, it is a step forward for minority francophone and anglophone communities.

It is significant that the federal government is recognizing the education continuum, and these gains could make a real difference.

The success of all these measures depends on the leadership of the federal government. We don’t want to see any more lawsuits forcing the government to uphold its language obligations. Instead, we want a government that listens, that is committed and that supports the promotion of bilingualism and linguistic duality in the cultural mosaic that is Canada. Thank you.