- Member of Parliament
- Member of Parliament
- Liberal
- Cloverdale—Langley City
- British Columbia
- Voting Attendance: 68%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $163,149.67
- Government Page
Madam Speaker, my work to pass International Mother Language Day dates back to the 42nd Parliament. At the time, I brought Senator Jaffer's bill to the House. It was reintroduced in the 43rd, and now the 44th, Parliament. The meaning behind International Mother Language Day is rooted in Canadian multiculturalism and openness and diversity. It is also an empowerment of our indigenous languages and a loud symbol of acceptance, internationally, during a dark time in world history. I would like to thank my colleague, Senator Jaffer, for her commitment to the bill, as well as my colleagues for Fleetwood—Port Kells, Beaches—East York and Surrey—Newton for their continued support for the bill.
If the bill passes, it will establish International Mother Language Day, a day that promotes the preservation and protection of all languages used by peoples of the world on February 21. If this had been in effect this year, it would have been just three days before Russia invaded Ukraine, partially based on the false pretext that the Ukrainian language and its people are pseudo-Russian.
We, as Canadian parliamentarians, have a duty to protect and preserve Canadian values, including multiculturalism. Ukrainians and peoples around the world have had to fight to keep their languages from imperial, jingoist and colonial powers. We have always stood up for minority groups around the world, and that is why we see so many people immigrate here. They know we offer a safe country for them. Establishing this day is yet another reinforcement of this multiculturalism.
We are not perfect, though. I just mentioned that peoples have had to fight colonial powers from taking their languages from them. That has happened here in Canada up until very recently and, even now, indigenous communities and individuals are struggling to restore the knowledge and languages lost.
International Mother Language Day promotes not only international languages but the more than 60 indigenous languages from within Canada that are not officially recognized. While this is not an official call to action, it should be seen as a small but important step on our path towards truth and reconciliation.
To my Bloc colleagues, this bill would fully and explicitly recognize that English and French remain Canada's only official languages, and this would not change. Rather, it would promote the preservation of all languages.
I know the Bloc and Quebec are adamant allies of peoples around the world seeking the right to exist as unique, distinct nations with their own languages. This day epitomizes those values. Whether it is the Ukrainian language, Catalan or any other language, the Bloc and Quebec have also stood up for people's right to speak their own language. I ask you to support this bill today for the same reason.
I would like to add that asking for support for this day is not novel. The city of Surrey, which is part of my riding, already recognizes International Mother Language Day and so does the province of British Columbia. Canada would be the first country to do so. We never shied away from standing up for those without voices before, so why stop now? It is beyond time to recognize this day.
If the symbolism in Ukraine, multiculturalism groups, promoting indigenous languages, protection of minority languages or established precedent have yet to convince some of my colleagues, perhaps a story from one of my constituents will.
The late Rafiqul Islam and Abdus Salam, constituents from Surrey, immigrated to Canada from Bangladesh. Abdus is still a constituent of my riding in Cloverdale—Langley City. This issue is dear to Abdus's heart, and was to Rafiqul's, as Bengali speakers. Both have been fully aware of what it means to not be allowed to speak their mother language and of the pain that came with fighting for the right to speak it by their elders, dating back to 1952 in what was then East Pakistan.
They had lived in Bangladesh during a time when Bengali was not officially recognized, and people would be discriminated against if they did speak it. The identity of a people was in question.
After Britain left the Indian subcontinent in 1947, dividing it into India and Pakistan, the West Pakistani ruling class declared from the outset of the new country that only Urdu would be the official state language of Pakistan. English was to be taught and recognized as a second language. Bengali, the dominant language spoken by 54% of the total population of Pakistan, was excluded.
This threatened to sideline Bengali speakers from involvement in politics. It limited their ability to succeed in all spheres, including practising their own rich language and culture. It was another example of how colonial rule led languages and peoples to be oppressed.
These discriminatory laws soon came under pressure from Bengali speakers to be changed. This was led by student protests that called for the government to include Bengali as one of the official languages.
On the 21st day of February, 1952, in the streets of Dhaka, while people were protesting and demonstrating for the right to establish Bengali as one of the official languages of Pakistan, the police opened fire on this unarmed protest. This killed at least five students on the spot and injured several more. Some were later known to have died in the hospital.
The deaths of these students and student protesters sparked national unrest and eventually the central government relented and granted official status to the Bengali language in 1956, along with Urdu, in the Pakistan constitution of 1956.
This language movement had a major cultural impact on Bengali society. It inspired the development and celebration of the Bengali language, literature and culture. February 21, celebrated as Language Movement Day, is a major national holiday in Bangladesh. While Bengalis had to fight for this, Canada now takes this for granted.
This also impacted Rafiqul and Abdus when they arrived in Vancouver as immigrants. They saw that Canada is a land where all kinds of different nationalities have come together. Along with the indigenous-rich culture, it was a mosaic of inherent beauty and strength among people, but they also realized that many small languages were dying away. These two men formed an organization named Mother Language Lovers of the World and brought in eight other people from different linguistic backgrounds.
Apart from these two Bengali speakers, there were two English-, two Filipino-, one German-, one Cantonese Chinese-, one Hindi- and one Kutchi-speaking individuals. They petitioned first to the UN and then UNESCO in early 1998 and, through various processes and protocols of UNESCO, finally International Mother Language Day was declared unanimously on November 17, 1999. The inherent beauty and unique mutual respect hidden in this for all languages and cultures was recognized by the world at UNESCO's 30th general conference. It was a big victory for all the mother languages of the world. Since 2000, the world observes International Mother Language Day on February 21.
We should recognize International Mother Language Day in solidarity for those who did not and still do not have the ability to freely speak their own language. We should recognize it in support of Ukraine today. We should recognize it because it represents our multicultural roots. We should recognize it because it promotes indigenous languages. We should recognize it because it highlights the need for protection of minority languages.
Today, I ask all my colleagues to join me in recognizing International Mother Language Day. In doing so, Canada can be a beacon for the rest of the world to follow in this peaceful gesture.
I have appreciated the opportunity to speak to this bill.
1283 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
Madam Speaker, I worked on the Official Languages Act in my first term in Parliament, in the 42nd Parliament. I know there were a lot of consultations happening. The federation of British Columbia francophones was very involved in those inputs. I know there were some concerns raised. Then, with the next iteration in the last Parliament, it had some concerns, but those, in many ways, have been addressed in this one.
I would like to see this get to committee, to hear the committee's input and perhaps hear from organizations such as the francophone federation in British Columbia. This is excellent legislation to move forward the Official Languages Act in 2022.
112 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
Madam Speaker, I will speak as a British Columbian member of Parliament. I know how important the federal government's support is to the francophone community within British Columbia. I would like to see these measures continue to support the minority official language communities across the country.
I know we have heard throughout the debate this evening that Quebec is this island of French within a monolithic anglophone culture surrounding it in the rest of Canada and the United States. I think any supports we can have, as our government has done with the francophone population in Quebec, help to strengthen the culture, the survivability and hopefully the thriving of French language and culture within our country.
117 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
Madam Speaker, on the member's first point about fines, the enhanced authorities that we are talking about for the Official Languages Commissioner are needed. They are needed to go after companies, as we said, that often find themselves in non-compliance. Fines are one tool, but I spoke of some of the other instruments that would be available, as far as investigating complaints and enforcing corrective measures for that.
I would also say that our government has taken official language rights forward through this legislation. We are committed to increasing immigration, and to helping maintain and support a flourishing official language community both in Quebec for English minority communities, and throughout the rest of the country for francophones.
119 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
Madam Speaker, prior to entering politics, I had the privilege of spending 34 years working in the public service with Parks Canada moving around the country. I saw at that time how important the Official Languages Act was to the provision of services to the public and tourists who require French services in Canada.
I also saw how important it was to the official language minority communities that I encountered in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon and Northwest Territories. I saw that these communities had the desire to thrive and really celebrate their culture. However, they also experienced a lot of struggles in this pursuit. That is why it is my pleasure this evening to speak to the importance of Bill C-13, which is our government's proposed modernization of the Official Languages Act.
I was delighted, first of all, to see the Minister of Official Languages table a bill so quickly in the 44th Parliament. This was one of our platform promises during the last election and it was in her mandate letter. She not only delivered on this commitment, but tabled a bill that is even stronger than the bill that was tabled during the previous Parliament. I want to thank and congratulate the minister for her efforts on this.
All along, ever since the Prime Minister first promised to modernize the Official Languages Act, our goal has been to put forward a bill that reflected the linguistic realities of all Canadians. We wanted a bill that protected and promoted French for everyone in the country, including in Quebec. We wanted a bill that defended our official language minority communities from coast to coast to coast.
With Bill C-13, we have delivered on that. In fact, we have delivered a bill with teeth that responds to what we heard from the Commissioner of Official Languages, from parliamentarians here and in the other place and from stakeholders all across the country. Let me illustrate this point by highlighting a very specific example: the powers granted to the Commissioner of Official Languages and the compliance of federal institutions covered by the official languages regime.
In recent years, Canadians have lodged an increasing number of complaints with the commissioner. Over the past decade, that number has gone from a few hundred complaints every year to more than a thousand complaints annually. Last year, the Commissioner of Official Languages received a record number of complaints. While this reflects a more widespread understanding among Canadians of linguistic rights, it also shows that Canadians expect us to do more. They expect our institutions to do better when it comes to respecting official language obligations.
These complaints go to the Commissioner of Official Languages because he has the power to investigate these complaints and publish his findings. However, we heard from the commissioner himself that this was not enough. The commissioner wanted more powers in order to fulfill his mandate and to make sure that the official language rights of Canadians were being respected. As an officer of Parliament, the commissioner felt that he needed to have the same powers as other officers of Parliament, particularly the Information Commissioner. We heard this request, and with Bill C-13 we acted.
From day one after our bill receives royal assent, the commissioner will have a wider range of powers that will allow him to do his job and make sure federal institutions live up to their obligations under the Official Languages Act. We are giving the commissioner a continuum of enhanced powers, widening the scope of what he will be allowed to do.
To begin with, the commissioner will have the power to establish compliance agreements with federal institutions. These agreements would be entered into between the commissioner and federal institutions and would detail the specific terms with which the federal institutions would have to comply in order to fix their non-compliance. The commissioner would then be able to oversee the implementation of the agreement to ensure federal institutions are fully complying with the terms.
If non-compliance persists, the commissioner would have the power to issue an order requiring the federal institution to change its course immediately. If this order did not yield the expected results, citizens and the commissioner would be allowed to elevate the matter. The bill also specifies the commissioner would be allowed to use other methods of dispute resolution, such as mediation, to try to diffuse a situation.
In some situations, for companies that deal with the travelling public, such as Air Canada, Via Rail, Marine Atlantic and airport authorities, the commissioner would even have the power to impose administrative monetary penalties. The commissioner would be able to impose penalties for individual complaints, giving him more power to ensure that these companies, which are routinely the subjects of the most complaints, live up to their obligations. While such penalties would only be used as part of a continuum of powers, in cases where companies refuse to comply with the Official Languages Act, they represent a major win for the Canadian travelling public in an industry where non-compliance issues have been known for a long time.
Under this bill, the commissioner would be given the power to publish the findings and recommendations of his investigations. This would strengthen institutional compliance by establishing public precedence on a large body of linguistic issues.
To be sure, the commissioner's day-to-day functions would remain largely unchanged. The commissioner's office would still be responsible for handling complaints from citizens and federal public servants who have difficulty working in the public service, being served or communicating with federal institutions in the official language of their choice.
The commissioner would also be allowed to continue to produce reports, investigate on his own initiative and educate federal institutions by sharing his recommendations and corrective measures. Again, these changes come at the request of the Official Languages Commissioner. We heard these changes were necessary to ensure Canadians could speak in either official language when dealing with federal institutions, as well as businesses in federal jurisdictions, and our government has acted.
These changes will ensure that Canadians see their linguistic realities reflected in their institutions, and they ensure that in cases where Canadians are not able to get the services they need in the official language of their choice, they would be able to file a complaint with the Official Languages Commissioner, who would be able to respond with enhanced powers.
I recently met with La Fédération des francophones de la Colombie-Britannique. This organization believes we can do more, as well. Since the enactment of the Official Languages Act, it has enhanced the use of French and English in Canada, but it has consistently lacked precision, as well as the means to ensure its full implementation. Living daily life in French remains difficult in various places throughout the country, including in my province of British Columbia. La Fédération des francophones de la Colombie-Britannique has advocated for various enhancements, including a greater overarching authority over federal institutions that are responsible for implementing different parts of the act. There also needs to be greater clarity on what federal institutions need to do concretely to promote French and English, and support official language minority communities. Our legislation would also modernize the Official Languages Act.
Bill C-13 represents a major improvement over our previous legislation, which was already a very ambitious modernization of Canada's official languages regime. We are doing this because we understand that if we want an Official Languages Act that responds to the needs of Canadians, we need a bill that is bold and that speaks to the realities of minority official language communities in Canada, whether they are francophone or anglophone.
That is why I am so proud to stand and speak in support of Bill C-13, which is the modernization of the Official Languages Act.
1327 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- menumenu
- notificationsnotifications
- home
- mailmail
- searchsearch
