Tuesday, 01 November 2011 16:54

Debates of the Senate - QUESTION PERIOD

Hon. Maria Chaput: Honourable senators, my question is for the Leader of the Government in the Senate. The health research initiative in official language minority communities has been cancelled. It was being managed by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

This initiative is key to the development of official language minority communities because it provides data on the health of these groups and such data are often requested when communities apply for funding from various departments. The research initiative has been cancelled, there are no data and the funding applications may be considered incomplete.

My question is as follows: before this research initiative was eliminated, did the government consult any official language minority communities? Before this research initiative was eliminated, did the government conduct an assessment, a study, of the impact this would have on official language minority communities?

Hon. Marjory LeBreton (Leader of the Government): Honourable senators, I am not aware of what research facility that Senator Chaput is referring to, so I will simply take her question as notice.

Senator Chaput: Given that the Leader plans on getting the information, if an assessment was done, I would like to have a copy. I would also like to know who made the final decision to eliminate this research initiative, when that decision was made and why.

Senator LeBreton: I thank the honourable senator again. As I am totally unaware of exactly what program the honourable senator is referring to, and therefore I do not know the origins or background behind it, I can make no such commitment. However, I will take the honourable senator's question as notice and attempt to answer it as best I can.