Wednesday, 20 October 2010 22:30
Bill to Amend—Second Reading—Debate Continued
On the Order:
Resuming debate on the motion of the Honourable Senator Chaput, seconded by the Honourable Senator Mahovlich, for the second reading of Bill S-220, An Act to amend the Official Languages Act (communications with and services to the public).
Hon. Gerald J. Comeau (Deputy Leader of the Government): Honourable senators, I would like to remind you that we wish to reserve the typical 45 minutes of speaking time to which we are entitled on this side of the chamber.
The Hon. the Speaker: Is it your pleasure, honourable senators, to adopt the motion?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
Hon. Rose-Marie Losier-Cool: Honourable senators, I rise today to show my support for Bill S-220, introduced by my colleague from Manitoba, Senator Maria Chaput. Her bill seeks to amend the Official Languages Act, primarily to guarantee equal quality of communications with and services to speakers of either of our official languages. This objective fully acknowledges the importance of equality between the two principal linguistic communities that formed the Canadian Confederation and that continue to define it, even on the international stage.
To meet this objective, the bill addresses four elements: the organizations and businesses that must guarantee communications
with and services to the public in equal quality in the two official languages; the places where these communications and services must be offered; the obligation to consult official language minority communities; and how to determine the geographic locations where there is a significant demand that would justify communications and services in the minority official language.
I would like to cover the four main elements in the bill.
Bill S-220 will require designated Canadian carriers to provide communications and services in both official languages. The term designated carrier refers to a rail, maritime or air carrier that is subject to federal, provincial or territorial legislation, and is designated by regulation.
Honourable senators, many of us have been extremely frustrated at the poor quality of language we have seen in the services provided by some of our air carriers. That is why the amendment proposed in this bill is justified and is long overdue.
Any carrier that provides national service would be designated by these regulations, as well as any carrier that offers services within a province or territory where there is a sufficiently large official language minority to justify it. I am talking about mandatory bilingualism for these designated carriers, which would provide their clients with communications and services of equal quality in French and English. This is an admirable goal, and I fully support it.
Moreover, Bill S-220 requires communications and services of equal linguistic quality in all regions where the provincial or territorial governments are already required to provide bilingual service. Naturally I am referring to Ontario and New Brunswick, but there are other regions in Canada where the official language minority is large enough to warrant this additional effort by the federal government.
As a member of an official language minority, I fully support the objective of this bill. I find that the use of a provincial or territorial determinant complements the federal requirement of "significant demand."
In addition, Bill S-220 would require the RCMP to provide communications and services of equal linguistic quality on those portions of the Trans-Canada Highway it polices. This addresses the recent Supreme Court ruling that clearly identified RCMP shortcomings in this regard. Therefore, I support it 100 per cent.
Bill S-220 also states that federal institutions and designated carriers shall provide communications and services to the public of equal linguistic quality in all airports, railway stations, ferry terminals and ports that are significant because of their location or number of passengers they serve.
This new requirement - also applicable to third party contractors such as restaurants or car rental agencies that do business in airports, railway terminals and ports - is again commendable and could have prevented some language disasters at the Vancouver Airport during the 2010 Winter Games.
(1440)
[English]
Let me now turn to one of the most interesting propositions of Bill S-220: the requirement to consult official language minority communities. As stated in the proposed new subsection 23.1(2) of the Official Languages Act, this requirement to consult is the answer these minority communities have been waiting for for a long time. Those communities often put up with seemingly arbitrary changes to the services they receive from federal institutions, be it the disappearance of a subsidy, the closure of a local office, or the faraway relocation of a federal staffer who used to know their case well and was able to speak their language.
Such arbitrary changes can only harm minority communities. This new requirement to consult will go a long way toward making real our national, yet sometimes abstract, concept of official linguistic duality.
I congratulate the Honourable Senator Chaput for having enshrined in her bill this requirement to consult, which most of the witnesses appearing before our Standing Senate Committee on Official Languages have called for over the years. I also express the hope that the regulatory underpinning for this requirement will be drafted by our federal experts in a way that is objective, inclusive and community-friendly.
[Translation]
The other major innovation in Bill S-220 is found in the new subsections 24(1)(a.1) and 24(1)(a.2) that the bill would add to the Official Languages Act. These two subsections introduce the idea of protecting significant or fragile official language minority communities and enhance the concept of "significant demand" already found in the act.
The idea behind the first subsection is to provide services, in both official languages, to official language minority communities where the services in question significantly affect or benefit those communities. The purpose of the second, complementary subsection is for these official language minority communities to receive communications and services in their language if they are at risk of linguistic assimilation and if such communications are likely to lead to their revitalization.
Honourable senators, these two new concepts echo the intention of Bill S-3, which amended section 41 of the Official Languages Act to require federal institutions to support the development of official language minority communities. This new requirement, with its vague concept of "positive measures" has certainly already produced results, as you can see in our committee's report on Part VII of the Act, tabled last spring. However, the two new concepts in Bill S-220 will go even further, since they require an analysis of the vitality of these communities.
[English]
The way Bill S-220 modifies subsection 32.1(2) of the Official Languages Act would have the Governor-in-Council analyze the vitality of a given official language minority community based not only on the number of people speaking the minority official language in that community, but also on the vibrancy of the institutions created by those speakers within their community. This dual test is a true first, and I heartily congratulate my colleague for having had such a brilliant idea.
[Translation]
In conclusion, honourable senators, Senator Chaput's Bill S-220 presents a long-awaited and much-needed update of the Official Languages Act. It addresses the issues that have been
affecting the application of that legislation for quite some time now: carriers, the RCMP, consultation with official-language minority communities, and determining where to provide communications and services in the minority's official language. I wholeheartedly support the bill's objectives, and I encourage all honourable senators to refer the bill to committee as soon as possible for further study with the assistance of the main witnesses involved.
(On motion of Senator Comeau, debate adjourned.)