Hon. Pierre J. Dalphond: Welcome to the Senate, minister.

On March 29, the Senate adopted a motion reminding the government of its commitment to have a fully bilingual Constitution, as set out in section 55 of the Constitution Act, 1982, and noting that, of the 31 enactments that make up the Constitution, 22 are not officially bilingual in both official languages, including almost all of the Constitution Act, 1867.

The motion also calls upon the government to consider, in the context of the review of the Official Languages Act, the addition of a requirement to submit, every 12 months, a report detailing the efforts made by you or another minister to finally comply with section 55 of the Constitution Act, 1982.

How can we have a country that calls itself officially bilingual when our Constitution, our supreme law, is not bilingual?

Are you willing to amend Bill C-13 to add this obligation and the obligation to submit an annual report detailing the government’s efforts to finally make the Constitution bilingual?

Senator Dalphond: Could the government demonstrate its responsiveness to this matter with concrete action? Do we need to conduct a pre-study to repeat once again that the chamber has asked that Bill C-13 be amended so that it is finally amended or that we are told it will be amended?

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Hon. Pierre J. Dalphond: Honourable senators, my question is for the Government Representative in the Senate. In 1982, the country’s francophones were promised that Canada would finally have a fully bilingual Constitution. In December 1990, the translation of the text was tabled in the Senate and in the House of Commons. Today, more than 30 years later, that text is still not officially part of the Constitution.

On March 29, 2022, this chamber unanimously adopted a motion calling on the government to amend Bill C-13 to add an obligation for the government to report annually on the efforts made to fulfill the promise that was made to francophones in 1982. Could you, as the Government Representative in the Senate, tell us what steps you have taken with the government to follow up on this motion? I would also like to know what results have been achieved so far.