Hon. Lucie Moncion moved second reading of Bill S-252, An Act respecting Jury Duty Appreciation Week.

She said: Honourable senators, I rise today as the sponsor of Bill S-252, An Act respecting Jury Duty Appreciation Week.

Every year, thousands of Canadians are called to jury duty. Canadians, provincial governments and the federal government recognize that jury duty is a vital component of our justice system and our democracy. However, this recognition is not expressed annually and is not reflected in governments’ support for this cause. Even less well known are the challenges concerning the mental health supports available to individuals who carry out this civic duty.

Given my experience as a former juror, I have had several opportunities in this chamber to tell you about the challenges faced by jurors. Across Canada, from one province or territory to the next, this lack of understanding impedes the cause of jurors. Jury duty is a part of our justice system that deserves to be promoted and celebrated. My intention with Bill S-252 is to create an annual national event dedicated to promoting and raising awareness of all of the issues affecting current and former jurors.

In order to honour and show my gratitude to these citizens, I tabled a motion in the last session, asking the government to designate the second week of May in each year as Jury Appreciation Week in Canada. This motion was adopted by the Senate on May 12.

In particular, I would like to thank my colleagues, Senators Boisvenu and Dalphond, who have consistently supported the cause of jurors’ well-being for several years now. I would also like to mention Senator Kutcher, who is also concerned about the welfare of jurors and who has spoken in this chamber on that issue.

Senator Gold also spoke in support of the motion on behalf of the government and the Minister of Justice. In his speech, he emphasized the invaluable service of individuals called to do jury duty and said that passing this motion would be a modest gesture of our appreciation.

I would like to read a short excerpt from his speech. He said, and I quote:

While most Canadians understand the importance of jury duty and view it as a part of their civic responsibility in a free and fair democracy, they often don’t fully grasp the potential disruption to their lives and the lives of their families.

I am grateful for the support of my colleagues and the government in designating a Jury Appreciation Week in Canada.

Honourable senators, I think you will agree that the issues that affect jurors deserve our attention and the attention of Canadians at least once a year. These include recognition of the contribution of current and former jurors to the justice system and democracy, the mental health and well-being of current and former jurors, access to justice, and issues of representation and diversity on juries.

As senators, we have the privilege of being able to introduce bills to proclaim a national day or week. I want to take this opportunity to create a Canadian Jury Duty Appreciation Week through legislation. This official designation will reflect the scope and significance of these citizens’ contribution to the Canadian justice system. The preamble of Bill S-252 is a good starting point for better understanding the importance of this official recognition.

The preamble states:

 . . . whereas designating a week dedicated to the appreciation of jury duty will highlight the work that jurors do and will help to educate citizens, organizations, the justice system as a whole, and the provincial and federal governments about the issues involved in fulfilling this civic duty;

The psychological damage suffered by jurors can sometimes resurface long after a trial. Like other former jurors, I suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. Although the first-degree murder trial for which I served as a juror was held 30 years ago, I live with the repercussions of that experience every day. It would be nice if once a year, for one week, we could recognize this reality that affects thousands of Canadians and their families.

[English]

The annual recognition of jury duty would help encourage and promote ongoing and timely conversations between the federal government, the provinces and territories and the various stakeholders about the importance of improving support for jurors across Canada. It is also the occasion to remind ourselves of the daily struggles some jurors and former jurors experience with regard to their mental health.

Colleagues, the cause of jurors and their welfare has progressed very humbly in recent years. I believe the humble progression is in part due to the absence of a yearly reminder of the importance of jury duty.

In 2014, Mark Farrant was a juror in a first-degree murder trial. He helped raise awareness of the need for more jury support in Canada. Drawing from his own experience, he identified the gaps in support provided to jurors. He discovered that his experience was only the tip of the iceberg. Mark was diagnosed with PTSD after the trial and, like many other former jurors, he struggled to find support.

In 2016, his advocacy helped prompt the Ontario government to launch a free counselling program for former jurors. In 2017, Mark shed light on the issues at a national level. He brought the “12 angry letters” to the attention of parliamentarians and government officials. In those letters, 12 former jurors chronicled their suffering and struggle to find support.

[Translation]

It was not until 2017 that a parliamentary committee studied the issue for the first time. At its June 8, 2017, meeting, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights adopted a motion to conduct a study into counselling and other mental health supports for jurors. The study resulted in the tabling of a report entitled Improving Support for Jurors in Canada in May 2018. The fourth recommendation in this report was the genesis of Bill C-417, which was introduced for the first time on October 29, 2018.

The justice committee had recommended that an exception to the secrecy rule be created. I must congratulate Senator Boisvenu on the passage of Bill S-206, the former Bill C-417, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (disclosure of information by jurors), which implements this recommendation. The bill just received Royal Assent on October 18, 2022.

Despite many obstacles, ranging from prorogation to elections, Senator Boisvenu ably brought this bill to its conclusion. The passage of this bill is a pivotal moment in the quest for adequate support for the psychological well-being of Canadian jurors.

[English]

Colleagues, how can we continue this progress? I strongly believe that to bring change, we need to be reminded of the issues at stake. This is exactly what jury duty appreciation week will help accomplish. This has been the approach in other jurisdictions. The proposed week, the second week of May, coincides with the recognition of such a week by the American Bar Association and by other jurisdictions, notably the states of California and Louisiana. Courts across the U.S. as well as the Texas and Oregon legislatures and the Pennsylvania State Senate also recognize a week dedicated to honouring jury duty in the month of May.

The California legislature designated that week back in 1998. I think it’s important to go back to the resolution adopted by the legislature at the time. It reads:

Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate thereof concurring, That the week of May 10, 1998, to May 16, 1998, inclusive, and the second full week in May of each year thereafter shall be proclaimed and celebrated as annual Juror Appreciation Week throughout the state, in honor of the thousands of citizens who support the jury system, thereby making the cherished right of trial by jury a reality;

This was in 1998, colleagues. In 2022 — or 2023 for that matter — I believe Canada is ready to do the same.

In Canada, the week is now recognized by multiple stakeholders and by the federal government. It is not, however, enshrined in law. It was recognized for the first time in 2022 by the Canadian Juries Commission, which took the lead to put jury duty at the forefront, nationally, from May 9 to May 13.

Let me take the time here to recognize the invaluable contributions of the commission, including its founder and CEO, Mark Farrant; Tina Daenzer, CFO/COO; and all the hard‑working board members who accomplish great and important work with very little. Their advocacy and relentless efforts are truly admirable. The official recognition of the week would help the Canadian Juries Commission fill in the gaps in support for jurors across Canada and help their efforts to implement some of the recommendations of the 2018 report of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights.

[Translation]

Your Honour, colleagues, by supporting Bill S-252, we can remind Canadians and the government, each and every year, of the issues that affect jurors. Since this proposal is very simple, I hope we can pass the bill as soon as possible so that it can be sent to the other place. Thank you for your attention.

Hon. Lucie Moncion: Honourable senators, the important thing to note is that, proportionally, we are seeing the government steadily backing away from the post-secondary sector. This decline is largely what is behind the sector’s precarious financial situation.

Institutions are increasingly vulnerable to the ups and downs of Canada’s economy, and it is being left up to them to find reliable and sustainable sources of funding.

Then, on top of an already precarious financial situation, came the pandemic. According to the data collected by Statistics Canada and analyzed by the Library of Parliament, pandemic-related health measures have resulted in a significant decline in revenue for many universities, particularly from ancillary services. Examples include student housing, food services and parking.

Some universities anticipated deficits due to the pandemic and announced plans to cut operating costs. This was the case for the University of Ottawa, the University of Manitoba, Laurentian University, the University of Alberta and McGill University, among others.

In Ontario, tuition fees are replacing government funding as the primary source of revenue for colleges. In general, universities that rely heavily on international students for funding have suffered the most, such as those in British Columbia and Ontario.

In contrast, universities in Newfoundland and the territories are entirely publicly funded, shielding them from some of the negative impacts of the pandemic. Quebec’s universities are also predominantly publicly funded.

Clearly, larger institutions with robust funding structures and longer histories in communities able to support them have been faring better despite the pandemic. Typically, these are institutions serving the English-speaking majority.

[Translation]

I will now talk about funding for institutions serving official language minority communities. Things get more difficult when it comes to institutions that provide French-language programming in minority communities.

Canada’s 22 French-language colleges and universities face significant financial hardship. According to the Association des collèges et universités de la francophonie canadienne, or ACUFC, and I quote:

Structural challenges mean that French-language post‑secondary education in the FMCs does not benefit from conditions equivalent to those granted to the English-speaking majority.

The communities are waiting to see a move toward real equality in education.

Lynn Brouillette, Chief Executive Officer of the ACUFC, is asking us to come up with solutions to ensure the long-term sustainability of the sector. She said, and I quote:

Ad hoc measures are no longer enough to ensure the strength and well-being of this sector, which makes an enormous contribution to the vitality of francophone minority communities. The time has come to bring together those who care about the French-language post-secondary education sector in order to come up with sustainable solutions.

The president and lead researcher at Sociopol, Mariève Forest, who studied the French-language post-secondary education sector, said, and I quote, “Funding is the biggest challenge to the sustainability of French post-secondary education in minority communities.”

Volatile revenue is a threat to the sector’s long-term survival and has a direct impact on community vitality. The researcher noted that, in 2018-19, an estimated 30,000 francophones did their post-secondary studies in English, in part because of lack of access. At Laurentian University, the number of students wanting to study in French fell by 52% — 52% is a lot at Laurentian University — and that is for the northern Ontario campus.

Institutions serving francophones in a minority context are more fragile because they’re smaller. These institutions generally came along fairly recently, most of them in the 2000s, when the federal government introduced its Action Plan for Official Languages. Volatile revenue in that situation can mean the end of these institutions and especially the end of French-language programming.

Chiara Concini, a student in the second year of her B.A. at the University of Alberta’s Campus Saint-Jean, put it like this in an interview with Radio-Canada:

Now I can’t even finish my B.A. entirely in French. . . . Next year I’ll have to take some classes in English because they’re mandatory but not available at Saint-Jean.

[English]

This gap in the minority language education continuum is tragic. For francophones who have studied in French all their lives, being forced to study in English because of a lack of access is troubling.

The government’s increasingly hands-off approach forces a vision on post-secondary institutions that is strictly profit-driven, ignoring the other functions of post-secondary education that benefit communities. Institutions will, for example, focus on attracting greater numbers of international undergraduate students while neglecting to invest in research and less profitable programs, including French-language programs that typically have lower enrolment.

This growing privatization of post-secondary education is explained in the 2021 study on the “State of Postsecondary Education in Canada, 2021” by Higher Education Strategy Associates that I cited earlier. This is what the study says about the general trend towards privatization:

. . . Canada is moving further from a Western European model of a largely publicly funded system towards the model of other anglophone countries where postsecondary education may be mostly publicly owned, but it is ”publicly-aided“ rather than ”publicly-financed.”

[Translation]

This growing trend of relying on sources of private funding and tuition fees disproportionately disadvantages French-language minority institutions, which necessarily serve a smaller client base.

Charles Castonguay reminds us of the importance of demographics for the French fact in Canada. He said the following in his article entitled “L’intérêt particulier de la démographie pour le fait français au Canada,” or the significance of demographics for the French fact in Canada, and I quote:

The number shapes . . . virtually every aspect of life in French in Canada, from the quality of the spoken language to the availability of services in French, to the rate of anglicization and even to the way francophones perceive themselves and act as such.

I will step away from my text and tell you my story. I studied French my whole life, and I fought hard to study at university. I was living in the regions where we did not always have access to French-language universities. I took correspondence courses, I studied at Laurentian University, I moved to Sudbury to study in French.

During my French courses, when I was given books in English, I always complained saying, “I am taking a French course and the material is in English. Why is this material not available in French?”

I worked in a francophone community my entire life. That is very rare. I am a bit of an anomaly in the Ontario system. I’ve worked all over Ontario and always in French. I’ve tried to instill these values in my family, in the hopes that they would come to respect and understand the importance of the francophonie and the French language and also the importance of supporting our French-language institutions, through education, buying books, and so on. It’s such an important part of preserving a language. In my case, I was helping preserve the French language. I’m an anomaly in Ontario, I would say, since I’ve worked for 38 years exclusively in French. I don’t know whether there is anyone else in Ontario who has done that.

Universities and colleges in francophone minority communities do extra work to support the survival of the francophonie. To ensure that students can learn in French, it’s important that the university or college environment can foster linguistic security and that students can live a student experience in French outside the classroom.

However, the funding does not reflect the specific needs of minority communities and the long-standing catching up that needs to be done. In order to access additional funding, institutions must negotiate with their respective provincial governments. I will let you imagine how that works out with hostile governments or governments that don’t understand the challenges that francophone minority communities face. If you only knew how many university and college presidents are forced to lobby decision makers to get a little money so that the schools can meet the bottom line — it’s unbelievable.

Recruiting French-speaking students is also more complex. Francophone populations are often spread out and isolated. In terms of international recruitment, the centralized administrations of primarily anglophone institutions offering French-language programming do not always value or understand the importance of recruiting from francophone countries. This is a major challenge for Western Canadian institutions. The federal government also has a role to play here with respect to francophone immigration and recruitment.

Francophone communities are in the best position to understand their needs and challenges in post-secondary education. The example of Laurentian University has shown us that without the “by us, for us” approach, francophones risk being the worst hit when budget cuts need to be made. The restructuring of Laurentian University has been damaging in many ways, but francophones have suffered the most.

Let’s now turn our attention to the blind spot in post-secondary funding.

Researchers who study the issue of post-secondary funding and other stakeholders have long denounced, and with good reason, a lack of transparency and accountability with respect to federal transfers and provincial funding under agreements seeking to enhance the vitality of francophone minority communities.

[English]

It is important to understand that the financial picture of the sector I have presented is only a summary. It is incomplete not just to keep my speech from running too long but also in terms of academic and stakeholder knowledge. There are a lot of unknown variables, making it difficult to come up with solutions. We lose track of the funding when it is sent from the federal government to the provinces, and things get even murkier when it is sent to the various institutions.

For bilingual institutions in minority communities, we have no way of knowing whether, for example, federal money is actually being used to fund minority-language post-secondary education. Transfers from headquarters to the various programs or campuses are another unknown variable.

Funding earmarked for post-secondary education in the francophonie needs to be documented. The lack of transparency and accountability in federal transfers leaves many unanswered questions. This explains why the communities are reluctant to get excited about blank cheques sent to the provinces and why there were mixed reactions from the communities to the federal government’s announcement last August of $121.3 million to be invested over three years in support of minority-language post‑secondary education. Communities are calling for the ability to track the money and to hold governments accountable for the support they claim to provide.

[Translation]

Transparency and accountability are part of the solutions that can significantly help the financial viability of post-secondary institutions, and the federal government is fully aware of this. There is a way for the government to respect provincial jurisdictions while ensuring that its investments on behalf of the francophonie get to the right place, in accordance with its constitutional obligations.

At this time, I would like to speak to you about Bill S-215, which has two specific objectives.

First, it seeks to make the federal government responsible for finding solutions by requiring that it consult key stakeholders, specifically the communities and post-secondary institutions and, in particular, provincial governments.

Second, it seeks to prevent these institutions from having recourse to the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act, the CCAA, or the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act to prevent situations similar to what happened with Laurentian University.

The bill proposes to require the designated minister to develop federal initiatives designed to reduce the risk that an institution becomes bankrupt or insolvent; protect students, faculty and staff in the event that an institution becomes bankrupt or insolvent; and support communities that would be impacted, if necessary. The minister must develop solutions in consultation with institutions, provincial and municipal governments, groups and associations of students, faculty and staff, and parties advocating on their behalf. Development of the proposal must be completed as soon as practicable, but no later than one year after the day on which it comes into force. The proposal must be tabled both in the House of Commons and the Senate and it must be made public.

The federal government could do the minimum or it could exceed our expectations. The provincial governments and the institutions must also be prepared to work with the federal government to find solutions. Stakeholders must all assume their responsibilities and work together in the best interests of the sector and their communities.

Second, the bill prevents the use of inappropriate legal tools, such as the CCAA or the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act.

[English]

Facing insolvency, Laurentian University filed for protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act on February 1 to begin a restructuring process. The fact that a publicly funded educational institution can use this act is appalling and sets a dangerous precedent.

However, Laurentian University’s situation is not unique. The case of Laurentian University is a wake-up call because this underfunding threatens the economic, social and cultural vitality of the communities as well as the constitutional rights of official language minorities.

To address this issue, the bill amends the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act in clause 5 and the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act in clause 6 to exclude post-secondary educational institutions from the definitions of “corporation” and “company” under those acts respectively. The amendments to the BIA and CCAA only come into force on a day or days fixed by order of the Governor-in-Council, on recommendation of the minister that would be designated by the Governor-in-Council for the purposes of the act in clause 2. It would therefore prevent post-secondary institutions from using the BIA and CCAA when insolvent or bankrupt.

These legal tools are inadequate for this sector, more importantly, considering that their implementation — as we have seen with Laurentian University — is detrimental to the social, economic and cultural vitality of communities, especially in a minority context.

The bill provides a lot of flexibility to the government but forces it to act to address pressing issues. It also provides the government with a framework within to work and important elements to consider.

Among the possible solutions for the federal government to consider the ACUFC proposes the creation of a new permanent support program for francophone minority post-secondary institutions that would allow the federal government to intervene in needs categories related to areas under federal jurisdiction.

The government could also create a regime separate from the CCAA and the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act to govern the restructuring of post-secondary institutions that run into difficulty. The restructuring process should consider the particular characteristics of the institutions concerned, including its role in serving official language minority communities and its importance to their vitality. It should promote a restructuring plan that considers the unique functions of post-secondary institutions and should include communities and other stakeholders in decision making. In other words, the interests of an institution that delivers programming in French cannot be represented by a Bay Street law firm that has no understanding of the language rights at stake.

Campus Saint-Jean is the only institution in Alberta that trains French-language teachers, a function essential to implementing section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. According to counsel for Campus Saint-Jean, the right to an elementary and secondary education of a quality truly comparable to that of the majority is rendered meaningless if, in practice, the post-secondary infrastructure in place does not make it possible to train teachers and other staff needed to actually implement section 23.

[Translation]

Section 23 of the Charter guarantees a sliding scale of rights to instruction in the minority language. In her ruling regarding the Rose-des-Vents school in Vancouver, Justice Andromache Karakatsanis stated, and I quote:

What is paramount is that the educational experience of the children of s. 23 rights holders at the upper end of the sliding scale be of meaningfully similar quality to the educational experience of majority language students.

If we do not have teachers who have been trained in French‑language post-secondary institutions, how can we guarantee the exercise of these rights? We need to do everything in our power to keep Campus Saint-Jean from meeting the same fate as Laurentian University. The constitutional rights of francophones are in jeopardy.

To conclude, the bill that I am proposing seeks to make the federal government accountable and responsible for finding solutions and making decisions to help a sector in difficulty. The post-secondary institutions of official language minority communities are fundamental to their sustainability and survival.

Esteemed colleagues, we must act now if we are to protect the gains we have made with post-secondary education and to enhance the vitality of the Canadian francophonie. The survival of the linguistic and cultural heritage of our communities depends on it. Too often we end up preaching to the choir about the francophonie. However, we all have a responsibility to the Canadian francophonie and to the future of post-secondary education in French. The Commissioner of Official Languages wrote the following in a report entitled Learning from the Past, Shaping the Future: 50 Years of Official Languages in Canada:

Our unity is fragile, however. A lack of vigilance has led to complacency, which in turn has led to the erosion of language rights. And the less we talk about it, the more erosion will occur. But Canada needs to work on its own advancement as a nation. The recent actions of some governments are alarming, yet the greatest threat to Canada’s linguistic duality is indifference.

Linguistic duality is not just for Francophones, nor is it just for Anglophones in Quebec. It’s a valuable asset that belongs to all Canadians.

Colleagues, as senators, we have a duty not to remain indifferent to the needs of minorities. My Bill S-215 is a response to the heartfelt pleas from francophone minority communities. I am sharing the burden our communities have been carrying for far too long. Thank you for your attention.

Senator Moncion: Yes.

Senator Moncion: In the case of Campus Saint-Jean, if we look at the enrolment, there are currently close to 750 students, but it gets funding for only 450 students. The campus gets no funding at all for the other 300 students. It is already underfunded by the provincial government.

The other thing you asked is how the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act can help. That’s the point of this bill. We want provincial governments to be accountable for their education responsibilities toward both anglophones and francophones.

Campus Saint-Jean’s situation is unusual because there is a main campus, which is anglophone and provides funding for the francophone group, but when there are cuts to be made all across campus, they cut deeper for the francophone campus.

One thing the University of Alberta can do is gradually reduce the resources available to Campus Saint-Jean so that it can no longer function. In the comments received from Dean Mocquais, we learned that they had no money to invest in infrastructure, so their laboratories are aging. Students want modern labs. Once they enter the labour market, they’ll be working in modern facilities. The campus doesn’t even have the money to improve its labs and its library. There are infrastructure problems. Campus Saint-Jean is being squeezed as much as possible, while the university keeps its funds for the main campus.

What can the federal government do? One of the solutions we propose is that federal government funding for francophone institutions go directly to the institutions rather than through the provincial government.

How can the Bankruptcy Act help Campus Saint-Jean? I’m not sure that it can, since Campus Saint-Jean depends on the University of Alberta, but by no longer being subject to the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, universities would no longer be able to use that mechanism to walk away from their creditors. The goal is to make provincial governments accountable and responsible. We also want to ensure adequate funding so that universities function optimally, so they can offer all the required services and so francophone universities get the funding they are due.

[English]

Senator Moncion: Thank you.

That is one of the elements. We would also like to ensure that the federal government is no longer able to use the mechanism through the provinces. There are certain areas, for example in health, where a sector receives federal money. A precedent was created, and we would like to see the federal government fund francophone initiatives such as Campus Saint-Jean so that the money is no longer channelled through the general campus.

That was one of the problems at Laurentian University, where there was a federation agreement. The main campus controlled the money and crumbs were given to partner campuses. There were three other campuses, including Huntington University and the University of Sudbury. The federation was dissolved and now four institutions are grappling with financial problems. However, Laurentian University continues to receive all the funding. We must find mechanisms for sending the money directly to the educational institutions.

We are also putting pressure on the federal government to ensure that funding for official languages programs is indexed annually so that post-secondary institutions will no longer be chronically underfunded.

Senator Moncion: Absolutely. This has been going on for a long time. Education in francophone minority communities is underfunded. There are no equivalents, including when it comes to infrastructure.

Earlier I talked about research laboratories. There is not a lot of funding for specific research in French. It is a poor community. Post-secondary institutions that provide education in French or have a French campus have been getting by with very little for a long time. They perform miracles, as far as I am concerned, since they continue to offer top-notch courses. They have few resources for expanding and gaining the recognition of major universities. They are the poor relations of education.

(On motion of Senator Plett, debate adjourned.)

On the Order:

Resuming debate on the motion of the Honourable Senator Carignan, P.C., seconded by the Honourable Senator Housakos, for the second reading of Bill S-229, An Act to amend the Language Skills Act (Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick).