LANG Committee Meeting

     Good morning everyone. I would like to call to order this 40th meeting of the Standing Committee on Official Languages.

    This morning, pursuant to Standing Order 108(3)(f), the orders of the day are the 2009-10 annual report, volume II, of the Commissioner of Official Languages referred to the committee on Tuesday, November 2, 2010.

    This morning, we will be hearing from two groups of witnesses. First, we will hear from officials from Passport Canada. Then, at 9:45, we will hear from officials representing Public Works and Government Services Canada.

    Just before we begin, I would like to welcome you all back to Parliament, after the holiday recess. Welcome back. Also, there are some new faces around the table. I would like to extend a warm welcome to Mr. Luc Malo, Ms. Sylvie Boucher, who is a committee regular, and to our new parliamentary secretary. Welcome to the committee, Mr. Gourde.

    Without any further ado, I will ask our two witnesses to make their presentation. We have with us this morning the Chief Executive Officer of Passport Canada, Ms. Christine Desloges. Welcome, Ms. Desloges. With her today is the Chief Human Resources Officer, Ms. Danielle Marquis.

    I invite you now to make your opening statement. After that, committee members will have questions for you.

    Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

    Honorable members of the committee, Ms. Marquis, our Chief Human Resources Officer at Passport Canada, and myself, would like to thank you for your kind invitation to appear today. I'd like to take this opportunity to wish you a happy new year.

    I am very pleased to have this opportunity to discuss the 2009-2010 Annual Report of the Commissioner of Official Languages, and I'm here to answer your questions with respect to the official languages program at Passport Canada.

    I am proud of the results that Passport Canada has achieved in recent years. However, before going into detail with respect to our response to the report, I would like to take this opportunity to provide some information about our organization, which is unique within the Government of Canada.

     To begin with, we are not financed in the same way as most of the government departments. Passport Canada is a special operating agency that functions on a 100% cost-recovery basis. That means we are financed by the fees that are paid by Canadian passport applicants, and not by federal tax revenues.

    As a cost-recovery special operating agency, we strive to balance service delivery standards with the need to maintain the integrity and the international reputation of the Canadian passport, while, of course, delivering our services in as cost-effective a way as possible.

    We provide one of the most visible services that are offered to Canadians by their government. Last year we issued more than 4.8 million passports to Canadians at home and abroad. What this means is that roughly 60% of all Canadians now have a valid passport. Like you, millions of Canadians depend on us for internationally recognized travel documents, and we take this responsibility very seriously.

    Service delivery is a key priority for us in both official languages. Our latest client satisfaction survey showed that 97% of our clients were satisfied in terms of receiving service from Passport Canada in the official language of their choice. Nous avons 34 offices across the country that deliver front-line service to Canadians, in addition to two production centres, two call centres, and also our headquarters in Gatineau.

    We currently employ 2,732 people across Canada, and 80% of all our employees are dedicated to service delivery to our clients. The proportion of bilingual employees in our offices compares favourably with the presence of official languages in the general population. We ensure that our employees are equipped with the required tools and resources to work in both official languages and serve Canadians in the official language of their choice.

    Our focus on service delivery is reflected in the strong ratings we achieved in the 2009-10 official languages report card. We received an A in participation of English- and French-speaking Canadians, and we scored Bs in the areas of language of work and service to the public.

    Much has been accomplished. The report card and the feedback from Canadians confirm our commitment to excellence in providing services to Canadians and supporting our employees. Online, in person, and through telephone services, as well as our network of receiving agents, Canadians can access passport services in both languages anywhere in the country. Our products, our application forms, our communication materials are produced and simultaneously issued in both official languages. Our client-oriented website is completely bilingual and offers equal access to information and services in both official languages.

    Technology also plays an important role. For example, we have Q-Matic, a customer flow management system, which we use in all the Passport Canada offices to direct clients to the correct counter to receive service in the official language of their choice.

    Between March and September of 2009, we conducted 133 mobile passport clinics, where we offered passport services in both official languages to remote areas and border communities.

    In January 2010,

we took part in Canadian initiatives following the earthquake in Haiti. There was bilingual support for our missions aimed at assisting Canadians in Haiti.

    Internally, the 2008 survey of federal public servants indicated that our employees are grateful for the fact that their language rights are respected. Indeed, the latest report of the Commissioner of Official Languages has confirmed that. This success is due in part to the fact that we ensure that our senior managers are bilingual and that managers in those regions designated bilingual are able to manage the work of their employees in both official languages. Furthermore, our executive committee includes the largest number of bilingual managers of any that I have had the pleasure of working with. I must say it's fantastic to attend meetings where participants pass seamlessly from French to English, and vice versa, during substantive discussions.

    Our managers are also taking initiatives with a view to improving the language proficiency of their team members. I could cite the example of our office in Vancouver, where our manager has set up a group for the purpose of maintaining their proficiency in French. The employees get together several times a month to speak French and to maintain their level of language proficiency. Open discussion sessions, national manager conferences and other presentations—indeed, pretty well all of our communications with employees—are prepared and distributed in both official languages.

     Our Internet site includes a vast array of resources and information in both official languages aimed at all our employees. One example I could cite is La Source, which is an important reference tool for our counter staff, as well as for our managers and call centres. It is available in both official languages and allows us to ensure the consistency of our messaging, both in English and French, through our various modes of service delivery. In addition, our centralized training budget enabled more than 200 employees to be trained in their second official language in the last fiscal year.

    We take the Commissioner's report very seriously and we know that bilingualism is essential to meeting our service delivery goals. We also know that Passport Canada plays a crucial role in the promotion and monitoring of compliance with official language requirements.

    Members of our executive committee have reiterated their commitment to improving Passport Canada's official languages program. I would just like to mention a few examples of the action that has been taken. One example is the renewed commitment to implementation of official language activities as part of a formal, consolidated plan of action that allows us to measure progress, in order to obtain concrete results. I would also note the buy-in and active participation of regional directors across the country, as well as confirmation of the role and responsibilities of the official languages champion and co-champion.

    With a view to strengthening the organization's leadership with respect to official languages, we will also see to it that our performance management agreements include more direct statements and more precise performance measures. Those agreements will enable us to track, maintain and improve 2011-2012 outcomes. The co-champion and myself will use this new framework to promote all the positive measures being taken with respect to official languages and resolve issues identified in the last report.

     Although it fell just outside of the reporting period of this last report card, last spring Passport Canada made some great efforts to engage Canadians across the country as part of the User Fees Act consultation. Consulting minority groups was part of our plan, and we invited the Quebec Community Groups Network and the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada to participate in the consultation.

    We asked Canadians for their ideas for improvements, and in total we received input from more than 7,000 Canadians through the bilingual online surveys we had, the round tables, and a letter campaign. This enabled us to pinpoint the services that Canadians expect.

    This input will help us with designing a new fee-for-service structure in preparation for the introduction of the new enhanced security electronic passport that we will deliver to Canadians in 2012-13.

    As part of this process,

we also held four information sessions with MPs in English and in French.

    As is the rule when we organize activities, communications were fully bilingual.

     Moving forward, we recognize that Passport Canada needs to develop a targeted approach to ensure that it meets the needs of official language minority communities across the country today and in the future.

    We are considering partnerships with other departments and federal agencies in order to promote linguistic duality and enhance support for minority official language communities. We are exploring the possibility of including minority official language minorities in our upcoming consultations, to be sure that we are effectively meeting their needs.

    In closing, I can assure you that at Passport Canada, we are proud of all that we have accomplished with a view to ensuring that Canadians are able to receive services in the official language of their choice. We also know that service improvement, whatever service may be involved, is never over because, as they say: in service improvement, the job is never done. You can always improve. Over the coming year, we are determined to make additional progress in the area of official languages.

    Thank you. I would now be pleased to take your questions.

    Thank you, Ms. Desloges.

    Without any further ado, we will begin the first round with Mr. Bélanger.

    Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

    I was preparing to do something that could be a criminal act, so I guess I won't. The fact is that I have heard rumours that the government is preparing a government bill to prohibit people from wishing each other a happy new year after January 31. So, I won't do that. I will just say: welcome back.

    Thank you for being here this morning and for your presentation.

    Ms. Desloges, whom do you report to?

    To the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs.

    Are official languages part of your organization's performance evaluation? Are there performance criteria relating to official languages?

    The criteria relate to service delivery to Canadians and, naturally, that includes official languages. Part of our service to Canadians, as I mentioned, involves providing equivalent service to communities across the country. It's a transactional service that…

    Yes, I understand all of that. What importance is given to official languages in yours and Passport Canada's performance evaluation?

    We are required to provide equivalent service in both official languages. We review complaints. Out of 9.2 million transactions in the last two years, we received 15 complaints. We take steps to revolve any complaints effectively. We resolved all of the above complaints, including three that were made to the Commissioner of Official Languages.

    I also have an obligation to our employees. In that respect, it's a matter of seeing that our management team assumes its responsibilities with respect to official languages and official languages promotion in the workplace. I myself act as official languages champion for the executive committee.

    I see. Do you have a mandate or mandate letter given to you either annually, or in some other fashion?

    In my case, it's not a mandate letter. It's a performance agreement setting out objectives which include official languages in relation to employee management.

    Are official languages mentioned in that performance agreement?

    Not specifically, but I can guarantee you that next year, they will be under the approach I outlined earlier, as well as in my own performance agreement.

    There is something I would like to understand. Overall, I'm satisfied with what Passport Canada is doing; however, I am not satisfied, overall, with the focus on official languages across government. I'm trying to establish that official languages are not part of the mandates given certain agencies, as you have just confirmed. However, you will be including this next year.

    That is part of our mandate. You specifically asked me whether the words “official languages” appear in my performance agreement. And it is one of the items.

    But it's not specifically mentioned.

    No, it isn't. However, it is part and parcel of our obligations under the Act.

    Can you tell me whether you have an action plan that covers all the different parts of the Act under which you have certain obligations?

    We do have an action plan. I brought it today. It is a three-year action plan covering all the areas subject to the Official Languages Act.

    Can you tell me generally what activities are set out in your action plan with respect to Part VII of the act?

    The first one was consultation with minority groups in order to identify their needs. We began by contacting Canadian Heritage to secure a list of organizations. As early as last year, we consulted the minority groups I mentioned in my presentation. That was part of our consultation process on user fees. I also contacted the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages to see how we could improve our performance, as well as the Network of Official Languages Champions to see how we could get involved in certain networks, particularly the Network of Stakeholders Working in the Field of Justice and Security, to see how we could cooperate with these partners. I also had discussions with our regional directors to look at how we could establish better communication with minority groups in the regions.

    How far back does your plan go?

    Our plan was drafted last year. Naturally, following the report of the Commissioner, we took steps to ensure it responded to the comments made and problems that were identified.

    Was there one previously?

    We did not have an official, consolidated action plan but, as you noted, our performance speaks for itself. We did receive an “A” for participation of both Anglophone and Francophone groups, all across Canada. According to the official languages report, we received a “B” for language of work and service to Canadians. I think that reflects the fact that, even in the absence of an official plan, we took very constructive measures for the communities all across the country.

    You also received two “E”s.

    As I said, there is always room for improvement. That's why we took a serious look at this whole issue, to determine what could be done to respond to the Commissioner's comments.

    Our notes indicate that you did not submit an official languages report to Canadian Heritage. You are not required to, but nothing is preventing you from doing so, if you so desire.

    In 1994, a framework was developed to determine which departments and agencies were best able to support official language minority communities. But Passport Canada was not one of them. That may be due in large part to--

    Is my time up already?

    We have to stop now, but we can come back to this later.

    Thank you, Mr. Bélanger.

    We will move now to Ms. Guay.

    Good morning.

    As you know, passport applications very often go through our riding offices. We are also the ones who receive complaints about non-compliance with the Official Languages Act. I can tell you that in Quebec, things are generally working well. However, I am very concerned to discover that, before receiving ratings as low as “D” or “E”, you had no action plan whatsoever.

    At Passport Canada, you received an “E” for official languages program management. You say that you have a new program, but how do you intend to implement it? How are you going to change your employees' work habits? It won't be possible to do all of that in one year.

    Thank you very much, Ms. Guay.

    As I mentioned, we did receive a good rating for language of work—in that case, a “B”—as well as for service to the public. It was the same for minority community participation.

    At the same time, there were some gaps, and in that respect, we will have to identify all of that in an official document, which will help us to be more accountable. I can also tell you that we will be working harder to ensure that we can more accurately report on our performance.

    And who will that document be addressed to: staff, personnel, managers?

    It will be addressed to everyone. We can send it to you.

    We don't have that document. Perhaps you could table it with the clerk, so that we can have a look at it.

    Certainly.

    The document covers a three-year period. It's a road map that systematically lays out how we will go about improving our performance in such areas as customer service, support for minority communities, personnel management, and developing language profiles as well as tools to better support our staff. It encompasses all our obligations under the Official Languages Act.

    You received an “E” with respect to implementation of Part VII of the Official Languages Act, despite the assessments you received in 2005-2006, 2006-2007 and 2007-2008. What do you intend to do to rectify the situation in that respect?

    I'd like to begin by briefly describing the context of our activities. Passport Canada provides a transactional service. We see our clients once every five years, or once every ten years, in the case of clients whose passport is valid for that length of time. As I mentioned to Mr. Bélanger, I met with the Assistant Commissioner of Official Languages to see how this could be resolved. I also discussed it with the Network of Officials Languages Champions to find out about best practices. We got our regional directors involved. Indeed, our communities are in the regions. We also considered forming a committee within the organization to handle issues related to diversity, official languages and employment equity, with a view to implementing integrated approaches.

    What percentage of your staff that is in direct contact with clients applying for a passport is bilingual? I'm not talking about Quebec, but elsewhere in the country.

    I can tell you that 41% of our employees who work in bilingual offices are bilingual.

    But I'm talking about the other provinces.

    In the other provinces, the proportion of bilingual employees in central offices is 65%. In terms of operations in the Eastern provinces, the rate is 68%. So, 42% for central operations, 10% in Ontario and 17% in the West.

    Ten or 17% is not exactly huge.

    Some Treasury Board rules specify the percentage for a given population. For example, in large metropolitan areas with a minority population of 5,000, we are required to provide bilingual services. We have 34 offices. If 10% of the population is bilingual, one office in five must provide bilingual service. And we do meet those Treasury Board requirements.

    If more than one person comes in to make an application in French and it is impossible to provide the service, or if a group comes in to apply for a passport, these individuals have to wait longer than others do to be served in their language.

    We offer bilingual services through our website and call centres. In our bilingual offices, there is always a Q-Matic system which, as I mentioned in my opening statement, allows the applicant to be directed to a counter providing services in the language of his or her choice. All of that is in place. In terms of telephone services, staff in our offices help each other. We use a cost-recovery system and try, insofar as possible, to provide that service to all Canadians.

    As you probably know, people who want to secure a passport quickly go directly to an office, rather than applying over the Internet or--

    That's correct, and in 26 of our offices, we provide that bilingual service.

    How many offices are there in total?

    There are 34. We also have a network--

    That means that eight of your offices are not bilingual.

    Yes, but in those regions, there is an alternative. For example, in the Toronto region, we have a bilingual office that provides these services.

    But there are a lot of Francophones in Toronto.

    That's why--

    You talk about 10% bilingual services in Ontario. That is a concern, since there is a large Francophone community there.

    Yes, but I also talked about all of our front-line staff who work at the counter. Of those positions, 41% are bilingual, and the incumbents meet the requirements. There are 210 bilingual positions. All the incumbents meet the requirements and are bilingual.

    Thank you very much.

    Thank you, Ms. Guay.

    We will move now to Mr. Godin.

    Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

    Welcome to the committee.

    Before I begin this morning, I would just like to say that staff in my Bathurst office asked me to congratulate you on the services provided by Passport Canada. When things work efficiently, it's important to say so. I was asked to be sure to pass on that message.

    Since the changes brought about by 9/11, people need passports. Indeed, I think everybody in my riding should all have a passport by now. In my area, it's more like a Passport Canada office than an MP's office. The number of people coming in is unbelievable. There are dozens of them every day. It is quite a service that we provide. It should be provided by Passport Canada, but in our area of North-Eastern New Brunswick, we are not entitled to it. I want to commend you for that part of your service, for the quick turnaround and even the communication between our office and the Passport Canada office.

    I also have some questions. In your presentation, you referred to the A and B ratings you received, but you didn't talk about the “E” rating. I would like to try and understand why you received that rating, and where the gaps were. I know that you explained this, but I'd like to have a better understanding. You say that you had no obligation, but it's also possible that people didn't need a passport at the time. So, there was no urgency in that regard. Now, however, people do need to communicate extensively with you. It's not like before. Nobody can leave the country without a passport. The time will come when it will be the same as in Europe. I think it's perfectly normal for people to always carry their passport with them. I think we are moving in that direction.

    Do you think the regulations or that attitude should change, since you have to meet new obligations?

    First of all, I'd like to thank you for your kind words and comments about customer service in your riding.

    In terms of our obligations under the Act, we—myself included—take them very seriously. As I noted in my opening presentation, we need to make improvements in two areas. We are dealing with this two ways.

    First of all, we have been told we need a better management program. We were doing things, but they were not included in an official plan. The evidence of that is that we received good ratings for customer service, employee management, workplace integration of minority groups, and so on. However, even if you asked me, I would not be in a position to present a formal report explaining and recounting every aspect of our story. We don't have one, because we have been extremely busy. Our goal was, first and foremost, to improve customer service.

    As a result of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative and Americans' need for security, it is now necessary to have a passport to enter the United States. I must admit that our volumes increased by about 50% during that period. As a result, we had to increase our staff. The fact is that even Ms. Marquis worked at the counter and helped out providing service to our clients. At that point, the priority was serving Canadians. In terms of the paperwork, mea culpa: we didn't spend much time on it.

    If you didn't spend much time on it, that means the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs wasn't asking you to. He wasn't asking you for a report.

    The deputy minister was asking us to provide services in both official languages, to ensure there would be no complaints, and to effectively serve our clients.

    So he wasn't asking for a report.

    In terms of client services, I prepared a report, just as my predecessor did. We did improve service. We reviewed the comments made by the Commissioner of Official Languages and prepared an action plan that covers a three-year period. It will help us to formalize and consolidate what we were already doing.

    In my discussion with the Assistant Commissioner of Official Languages, she said that it was clear that what we're doing in the area of official languages was intuitive, because otherwise, our performance would not have been what it was. However, it is important to put some structure around it. And that is what we did. Measures will be incorporated into our performance agreements. Every quarter, at the executive committee level, we will be reviewing what can be done to improve our performance.

    There is something I don't understand. You have worked very hard and are proud of that. I know that certain changes were made, unless I was dreaming.

    However, I do recall that, in Vancouver, someone applied for a passport but was unable to receive a passport in French, with the appropriate French accents. Do you recall that problem? Passport Canada had a policy whereby information should not be written in French, in a supposedly bilingual country such as ours. If it were bilingual, Supreme Court justices would be bilingual—but I don't intend to start attacking them this morning. With all that you have accomplished, I do not understand why no mention is made of official languages anywhere in your report to the government or that the department made no such request of you.

    It is part of the requirements we are expected to meet—in other words, our services must be provided in both official languages. That's why we survey our clients to identify their level of satisfaction. In our last survey, the satisfaction rate was 97%. We asked a very specific question of those Canadians who took part in this survey, to determine whether they were satisfied with the quality of in-person and telephone service in terms of official languages.

    Thank you, Mr. Godin.

    We move now to Mr. Gourde.

    Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

    Ms. Desloges, Ms. Marquis, thank you for your presentation.

    It is absolutely true that Passport Canada provides excellent service. As members of Parliament, we are on the front line when people have criticisms to raise. In the last five years, I have never heard any criticism from my fellow citizens with respect to Passport Canada's services. There is an office several kilometers from my riding, on the other side of the Quebec City bridge. My office is located on the south shore. Eighty per cent of the population lives less than 15 kilometers away from the Passport Canada office. I want to underscore the fact that you are doing a good job.

    In spite of that, you received a rating of E. Were you surprised by the mark you were given by the Office of the Commissioner for Official Languages? And if not, were you expecting it? What do you intend to do to improve things? Based on your own analysis, were there just a couple of small issues to be resolved to ensure better compliance with the Act?

    First of all, we should have done a better job of responding to the questionnaire we received from the Office of the Commissioner. We were actually doing certain things that are not reflected in our response.

    I refer to 133 clinics that we gave in both official languages in all the remote areas of the country, in border zones. That was not mentioned in our report. We admit that was a mistake. It is one of the improvements we will be making. We will be doing a better job of telling our own story. We will also set more precise targets in order to focus more effectively on those areas where improvements are needed and track our progress. Those are some of the things we will be doing.

    Also, how will we go about consulting minority communities? As I already mentioned, in cooperation with the Assistant Commissioner, we have begun to look at what was relevant. Because our service is a transactional one, we see our clients only once every five or ten years. We are not a department that provides grants. We do not offer training services to people on a monthly basis. So we will be looking at what can be done.

    One thing we will do with our regional directors is hold local consultations. People work in the local communities. We will also be reviewing our staffing plans. In Winnipeg, for example, a bilingual employee will be retiring. So, we intend to consult with the minority communities so that they are aware that a bilingual position will be available.

    Furthermore, we will also be consulting other communities. Some departments take specific actions in order to meet the needs of minority groups. If we can work in cooperation with them, it will be positive in the sense that this will help us meet our obligations under the Act.

    We are currently looking at setting up a network of champions in the regions to identify best practices. That is the kind of thing that is done at the local level. For example, what can we do to introduce the kind of best practices used by a group in Vancouver? What can we do in other areas of Canada to strengthen our capacity with our available resources? How can we develop better tools? If another department has tools that could help us, we will go out and get those tools. All this is part of what we will be doing to benefit from best practices, to quickly incorporate them into our own way of working and continue to move forward.

    We did identify one area where we received complaints. I mentioned that we had received 15 complaints out of a total of 9.2 million transactions over a two-year period. Six of those complaints had to do with the services provided by the Commissionaires who work at the entrance to our offices. The problem is that six Commissionaires were not bilingual. To remedy the problem, we added a clause to our service agreement with the Commissionaires, stipulating that all new Commissionaires must be bilingual working in our offices. We replaced three unilingual Commissionaires and we reminded three other Commissionaires, who were able to provide service in French, that services must be bilingual.

    We are currently reviewing available tools that could support staff and Commissionaires to ensure that their client-based approach is bilingual. So, we are currently working on improvements in a number of areas with a view to enhancing our performance.

    I see that you have taken the time to reflect. You have an action plan and a strategic plan. How will you go about assessing whether all these efforts will yield the expected results?

    First of all, in the plan we will be tabling with the clerk, we have defined performance measures for each of these items, in order to identify how we will actually achieve the desired results. Also, as I mentioned in my presentation, we will be incorporating this into the performance agreements of every one of our managers, including members of the executive committee and all of our managers in the regions.

    That is how we intend to measure our results. We will be identifying practical items. They will have to look at training plans for our staff, bilingualism levels, position profiles and classifications for their respective offices. All of that will be part of the performance agreement to be introduced starting in April.

    Thank you very much, Mr. Gourde.

    We will now begin our “compact” second round, to be sure we stay on schedule.

    Without any further ado, Mr. Bélanger, you have the floor.

    What do you mean by “compact”?

    It means that everyone will have a four-minute turn, Mr. Bélanger.

    Ms. Desloges, I asked a question about the fact that you don't have to report to Canadian Heritage. On the other hand, I think you should report to the Treasury Board Secretariat.

    We report to Treasury Board through Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada.

    How is it then that, according to my notes, there was no report submitted in either 2008 or 2009?

    It is the consolidated Foreign Affairs report that reports on our performance, because we--

    Can we be given a copy of the report that you submit to the department?

    I understand that there were times when you had urgent priorities to attend to, and paperwork was not one of them; I agree with that. But at one point, there was less of an emergency. Since our job is to assess your performance, we need that paperwork. Now, if you're saying that you submit a report to the department and that it is part and parcel of the departmental report, how are we to identify what Passport Canada is doing?

    So, I'm wondering if we could be given a copy of the report that you submit to the department with respect to official languages?

    Perhaps I can answer that from a different perspective, Mr. Chairman.

    What I would suggest is that you consult our action plan, which covers a three-year period. It identifies performance measures. That would allow you to--

    No, I realize that you did that because the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages investigated you. So, you responded, and I want to commend you for that.

    What I'm looking for, however, is information about what was done before. For the 2008-2009 fiscal period, you say that reports were submitted to the department. Could we be given a copy?

    We will forward to the clerk the report we submitted to the department.

    I would also like to mention that in the annual report submitted to the Minister, which includes our consolidated financial statements, official languages are addressed. We will be pleased to provide a copy of this year's annual report to the clerk at the same time.

    Since we are going to be receiving all these documents, could I also ask you for a copy of the questionnaire you used for your survey? You say that the satisfaction rate was 97%. I would like to have a look at the questions on official languages that were used in the survey.

    We will be pleased to provide them and I would also be happy to read them to you, since I have them here with me.

    No, I can wait until you make them available. That way, we will all have access to them, as part of the record.

    I can tell you that in five of the points addressed in two questions, we specifically mentioned official languages. We asked whether clients were satisfied with services in the two official languages, both in person and on the phone.

    I understand that Passport Canada is a specific type of agency whose mandate is self-sufficiency. Notwithstanding that fact, would you agree with me that Passport Canada is still subject to the Official Languages Act and the obligations that flow from it?

    I fully agree with you. As I said, we take the report very seriously and we have implemented an action plan to help us attain our goals. We have an equally serious commitment to both client services and providing a bilingual workplace. It is very important to us.

    As for official language minorities, they are also very important to us. We will certainly be looking at best practices, to see which ones we should introduce. It's true that our financial situation is a little more difficult, but that does not mean that we are not prepared to look at what can be done. It is likely that colleagues from other departments will be making appropriate suggestions to us. We can also take advantage of whatever is available in these departments to foster the development of minority communities.

    Thank you very much, Mr. Bélanger.

    We move on now to Mr. Luc Malo.

    Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

    Ms. Desloges, Ms. Marquis, good morning.

    You were saying a little earlier that you were providing the service intuitively, prior to setting any standards or specifications, or developing a roadmap or a three-year plan. Can you provide a little more detail as to how a service is provided intuitively?

    Passport Canada is a service delivery agency. There are standards, but they are not connected to official languages. Therefore, when seeking to identify the rate of client satisfaction, the items assessed are courtesy, the speed of service, the accuracy of information provided to clients, and so on. Those are all things that can be delivered in both official languages. We added the official languages dimension to our questionnaires because it was important for us. We wanted to know, through our client surveys, whether they were satisfied or whether there was a need for improvement. Thus we determined that our approach has yielded a 97% satisfaction rate. That means that when we hire new employees, we ensure that they meet the language requirements. We also provide them with tools. Since we serve the entire country, we want to be certain that all our communications with the public over the Internet and all our material in call centres is bilingual, including our forms.

    We are also giving some thought to additional mechanisms. If we are unable to provide everything, for example, what is the alternative for the client? We do that intuitively. That specific approach is not identified in a plan, and that's why we have now consolidated all of that in an official languages plan.

     We are also reviewing what can be done to better equip our agents. A little earlier, I was talking about La Source, which is an initiative by our call centre in Montreal. The idea behind this initiative was not to improve our performance with respect to official languages; rather, it was to ensure that people at the counter, on the phone and on the Internet all receive the same message. Since we do that in both official languages, one of the advantages is that it helps us to better serve the public in the two official languages. So, it was really a question of service quality, and as far as we were concerned, it was natural for that to be done in both official languages. We had no need for a plan to make that happen. We know that our clients speak to us in both official languages. I myself review documents in both official languages. That is important. When I say “intuitively”, what I mean is that it's instinctive. When our executive committee looks at a new approach or a new policy, we consider whether it will work in the two languages, whether it works for our clients.

    This was not a plan that dealt specifically with official languages, but it does show that we are incorporating the official languages dimension into our service approach to our clients and the way we manage our employees. That's the difference between having a plan on paper and being actively engaged in implementing the plan, if you will.

    Thank you very much, Mr. Malo.

    We will move on now to Mr. Galipeau.

    Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

    Ms. Desloges, Ms. Marquis, I would like to begin by extending my best wishes for 11 of the 12 months in the new year. Allow me also to be the first to wish you a merry Christmas—2011, of course.

    How long has your agency, Passport Canada, been around?

    Oh good heavens, it was created before we starting working there.

    I think it's been around for at least 50 years.

    Thank you, that's a very helpful answer.

    The people sitting at this table seem surprised that you waited until now to prepare an action plan on services in the two official languages. What surprises me is the critical tone of some of the comments that have been made to you. Personally, I want to commend you for doing that now. It probably would have been helpful to do it back in 1995 or 2001, but the fact remains that you are doing now, in 2010-2011.

     The big boss who writes up official languages reports did not give you very high scores but, compared to others, your ratings are not that bad.

    Before I ask my question, I want to thank you for the services your agency provides the residents of Ottawa—Orleans. At my riding office, we receive a lot of complaints about a number of different departments, but we have only received compliments about Passport Canada. It has happened twice that there have been complaints, but it was our office that was at fault, or should I say, I was at fault. In your case, everything is fine.

    What prompted you to now prepare an official languages plan? Why didn't you do this five or ten years ago?

    That's a good question. I can tell you that, in the past, Passport Canada was not a large agency. Not so long ago it had only 500 employees.

    That's pretty big.

    People have told me stories about how they used to put together passports using an iron and glue to stick the photograph onto the passport.

    The agency has expanded and become more professional because of the fact that Canadians travel a great deal. International standards are another aspect of this. We are now required to meet ever more demanding international standards. As a result, we have greatly enhanced our professionalism.

    We also went through the WHTI crisis, when the Americans brought in the requirement for Canadians to have a passport in order to enter the United States. That meant that, over a two-year period, we went from 1,500 to 3,000 employees. Our passport volume increased from 3 million to 4.8 million.

    And the idea of systematically establishing a plan for activities in various areas is part and parcel of that professionalisation. It's part of the obligations that we are determined to meet. We are here to tell you that we take that very seriously and that we will do better.

    Thank you very much.

    Thank you, Mr. Galipeau.

    We will end off with Mr. Godin.

    On your website, there is a corporate business plan which sets out your operational goals and objectives for the next fiscal year, identifies the strategies that will allow you to achieve them and provides for the necessary resources. There is also the annual report, with an assessment of the agency's main activities and financial results for the previous fiscal year.

    Now, the Commissioner has made his rounds, and I want to commend him for that. I recently heard a senator make comments to the effect that the Commissioner should not be using taxpayers' money to promote official languages. Personally, I believe that is his mandate, that he was appointed for that purpose, and that he is doing a good job by identifying weaknesses in the different plans and reports.

    Could you talk about official languages as addressed in your corporate business plan and annual report?

    In our annual report both last year and this year, we deal with official languages. I can assure you that in our upcoming business plan, there will be a significant emphasis on official languages.

    That's great.

    You talked about your 34 offices scattered across the country, but you did not talk about Canada Post. Canada Post now has certain responsibilities towards Passport Canada. Do you audit the service provided by Canada Post with respect to official languages? If not, do you intend to do so? Have you received any complaints?

    We have entered into an agreement with Canada Post and Service Canada for delivery of our services in 200 service points across Canada. Our memoranda of understanding include a clause on official languages in both cases.

    In the case of Service Canada, there is also a complaint management process. If clients complain, there is a well-established process to be followed. I can tell you that we have not received any complaints with respect to Canada Post in the last two years.

    I don't understand how you could not have received any complaints. It may be because people complain directly to Canada Post, because I know that people are complaining about bilingual service at Canada Post. That agency does receive complaints. Now that it also offers passport service, there must be complaints coming in. Does Passport Canada carry out any follow-up in that regard, to ensure that the terms of the agreement with respect to official languages are being met?

    That is part of our action plan and will be part of our activities in the coming year.

    Thank you, Mr. Godin.

    That completes the first part of our meeting. We will suspend the sitting for a few minutes so that these witnesses can leave and our new witnesses have a chance to settle in.

    Thank you for being with us today. I also want to thank you for your work. My office makes frequent use of your services.

    Good morning to you all. I think we will get started immediately, since time is a precious commodity.

    We move now to the second part of our meeting. I would like to welcome officials from the Department of Public Works and Government Services, PWGSC. We will be hearing today from the Deputy Minister and Deputy Receiver General for Canada, Mr. François Guimont. Welcome to the committee, Mr. Guimont. With him today are the Assistant Deputy Minister, Ms. Diane Lorenzato, the Chief Executive Officer of the Translation Bureau, Ms. Francine Kennedy, and Mr. Marc Olivier, Manager of the Linguistic Services Division at the Translation Bureau. You will be making both an oral and visual presentation.

    Without any further ado, I invite you to make your presentation.

    Mr. Chairman, I received the English version of this presentation, but not the French.

    We will be sure you have the presentation in the language of your choice, Mr. Galipeau.

    Thank you.

    All right, that's fine.

    We can begin then.

    Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

    Ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to be with you today as Deputy Minister of Public Works and Government Services, and to have this opportunity to convey my pride in our progress in meeting our official languages goals, and to describe our continuing efforts to improve our performance.

    I am here today with Diane Lorenzato, Assistant Deputy Minister of Human Resources, and Francine Kennedy, Chief Executive Officer of the Translation Bureau.

    First of all I want to say how pleased we were to have sustained a good overall score in the Commissioner's most recent report. We acknowledge, however, that there are areas where we still have work to do.

    We put a heavy emphasis on getting the fundamentals right at Public Works and Government Services. This means focusing on our key functions and having the tools to do them well on a daily basis, whether it's acquisition, real property, compensation, linguistic services, or our many other services. I want to assure the members present that we absolutely regard official languages as fundamental to our work.

    We believe in continuous improvement, and our success is due to leadership, engagement, the right policies, and a clear set of deliverables with defined actions and timeframes attached.

    Quite simply, official languages are part and parcel of governance. I know that's a substantial claim to make, but consider the following.

    We have an official languages governance committee. Members of the official languages governance committee also act as a network of departmental official languages ambassadors. Our strategic plan for 2011-2014 will continue to advance the tremendous momentum achieved under the 2008-2010 plan.

    Official languages are part of discussions at my management committee table and part of the departmental dashboard. The dashboard is a key instrument to track performance indicators and progress related to various initiatives led by Public Works and Government Services.

    In addition to the ambassadors from the governance committee, Public Works has dedicated two champions to official languages at the assistant deputy minister level. Consistent with our ambitious dual focus on promoting official languages, both within the department and externally to the general public, one champion works to enhance bilingual services delivery and one to promote linguistic duality and the vitality of official languages minority communities.

    The department also has a policy on official languages comprised of guidelines on four aspects of our approach: the use of official languages for communications with and services to the public; language of work; official languages for human resources management; and promotion of linguistic duality, support to official languages minority communities, and the preparation of Treasury Board submissions.

    As indicated by our good overall grade in the Commissioner's report, we have undertaken a number of effective initiatives to promote the use of both official languages in service delivery and as an attribute of the workplace.

    We acknowledge, however, that more work is required to achieve equitable participation of Anglophone Quebeckers. We are committed to achieving this through the following approaches.

    We have recently begun to use networks established by an organization that speaks for the Anglophone community to promote employment opportunities in the region. We hope to promote job opportunities within other networks of organizations representing the Anglophone community.

    We hope to better target professional association job fairs and those organized by Anglophone colleges and universities, in partnership with the Public Service Commission.

    We are maximizing our use of the Post-secondary Coop/Internship Program to recruit students in Anglophone universities, followed by our student bridging mechanism.

    We have started to promote job opportunities in Anglophone newspapers and employment websites, such as Workopolis.

    We are making maximum use of the Youth Employment Services special project to support Anglophone youth from different regions of Quebec who are interested in moving to Montreal.

    We'll also be making maximum use of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada programs, such as Canada Summer Jobs, Skills Link and Youth Awareness, in order to promote career possibilities within PWGSC to Quebec Anglophones.

    Finally, we are promoting PWGSC as an employer through 23 Community Learning Centres, which are an initiative of the Quebec English-speaking community.

    We support second-language acquisition and retention via an agreement with the Canada School of Public Service to provide language training to employees within the National Capital Region. This agreement is supported by the departmental language training policy, and helps us to build a bilingual organizational culture.

    The department has been celebrating Linguistic Duality Week since 2007. We are very proud to have been the first federal department to organize an event of this magnitude, and to have led the way on this public service initiative.

     As part of our action plan, PWGSC disseminates an electronic newsletter called Dialogue, which is devoted to official languages issues. Launched in 2007, Dialogue covers contemporary official languages issues, while providing staff with games and exercises to engage their interest in and improve their mastery of their second language.

    The Translation Bureau is heavily involved in the promotion of linguistic duality through the Language Portal of Canada, launched in 2009. The Portal is a forum where all Canadians, including provinces and territories, share thoughts, ideas and best practices in both official languages.

    Another Translation Bureau initiative, the Canadian Language Sector Enhancement Program, supports the training of a skilled linguistic workforce. To encourage students to adopt careers in translation and interpretation, the program provides post-secondary scholarships in these disciplines. The program also helps post-secondary institutions to attract, retain and graduate students in these subjects. Assistance is also provided to the language industry, in the areas of promotion, training, innovation and language technologies.

     The department is determined to keep improving its services in both official languages, including the active offer. To that end, we have developed and distributed a kit to help employees recognize their roles and responsibilities and to make the active offer part of our work culture.

    We are very proud of the A we earned for the development of official languages in minority communities and promotion of linguistic duality through the 2007 creation of the Public Works and Government Services Official Languages Minority Community Secretariat and the work of our office of small and medium-sized enterprises, targeting official languages minority communities throughout Canada, including Quebec's English-speaking minority. I trust you will agree that this reflects a significant commitment of energy and resources in support of our official languages goal. We hold Canada's linguistic duality as a central organizational value and work tirelessly to make it part of the culture of the department.

    Thank you for your attention. My colleague will now give you a short presentation on the Language Portal of Canada, after which I look forward to taking your questions.

    Good morning. It's my pleasure to introduce you to the Portail linguistique du Canada and its English equivalent, the Language Portal of Canada.

    The objectives of the portal are to disseminate and promote language products developed in Canada, to share and enhance Canadian linguistic expertise and to help Canadians communicate in the country's two official languages.

     The English equivalent of the language portal is called the Language Portal of Canada. The two sites are not absolutely identical, given the fact that linguistic needs and resources differ from one language to the next.

     Let's start in English with the section called “Headlines”, where the users can read every week different and interesting articles. As an example, this week we had an article called “Canadian students shine”. You'll be happy to learn that out of half a million teens tested in over 70 countries, Canadians ranked sixth in reading. If you want to know more about the articles, you click on the link.

    On the French side, there are also five or six headlines every week. For example, there is an interesting head line this week on the history of the French-speaking coast of Newfoundland, told using a needlework tapestry. It's quite interesting, if you're interested in knowing more about the subject. Once again, you click on the link for more information.

    Because the portal is a Canada-wide project, we currently benefit from the cooperation of ten or so organizations that help to enrich the portal's content, particularly the Canadian Association of Immersion Teachers.

    If you check under “From Our Contributors”, you'll find “Cultural Immersion”, an article signed by a member of the Canadian Association of Immersion Teachers. If I switch to French, I'll also get the article but in French this time.

    I am back at the home page now. Under the section “Discover”, you will find more than 1,500 hyperlink that take you to different interesting sites that have to do with languages in Canada. They are divided into seven categories, including “Language Professions”. Someone wanting to secure more information or register for a course in terminology or translation can find the necessary information there.

    Another quick way of finding useful links is to use the map of Canada. For example, if I click on the Province of New Brunswick, I immediately see a list of helpful resources if I live in that province, or if I'm interested in what is going on there with respect to languages.

    The same list exists in English also.

    Coming back to the home page, I will now show you Termium Plus, the second-largest terminology bank in the world, with over four million terms in English and French and 200,000 terms in Spanish.

    So, if I type “changement climatique”

and I want to know how to say “changement climatique” in English, I just click on French to English and there I will find the English equivalent of “changement climatique”, which is “climatic change” or “climate change”. You also have the Spanish equivalent.

    If you go right down under Termium Plus, you'll find 15 writing tools, some in English, some in French.

    For example, on the French side, there is a very popular tool called ConjugArt, which is the equivalent of the French Bescherelle. It gives you the conjugation of almost 8,000 verbs in French. I can give you an example. If I type “courir”, I automatically get the conjugation of the verb in every tense.

     I'll come back to the portal.

    Every week, we also have the tip of the week. Is the expression “widow of the late” redundant? Should we say only “widow” or “widow of the late”? You click on the articles and you'll find out if you're supposed to say “the late” or just “widow”. I would only say “widow”.

    Now I'm back at the webpage of the French site.

    We also have the “Flash Quiz”. Every day there is a different question. Today the question is: “The library reminds us to keep quiet”. You can choose a), b), or c). You say c)? Congratulations, that's the right answer.

    We can also try to answer the question in English.

    Flash quiz: Montgomery's sequel to Anne of Green Gables was called?

    An hon. member: Anne of Avonlea.

    Mr. Marc Olivier: You guys are really good.

     That's an example of one of the games. There are 100 or more other games under the heading “Quizzes”. There are all kinds of them and they deal with Canadian expressions, grammar and syntax. There are also 50 or more games on the French side.

    So, that is what the Language Portal of Canada is all about. If you are interested in obtaining more information, you can take the guided tour of the portal, which allows you to access video clips that introduce the different sections of the portal.

    Thank you very much.

    Thank you very much, Mr. Olivier.

    I am glad to know that I can go to your site and have the lesson I missed on past participles.

    We are going to move now to Ms. Zarac.

    Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

    Good morning and congratulations on your website. It is really great. It would be so much easier to be able to manage everything that way. With the right translation, you really can switch back and forth from one language to the other.

    You received good grades from the Commissioner of Official Languages. We just met with officials from an agency who were telling us that they would like to set up a network of official languages champions. Since you present yourselves as leaders, I was wondering if you have already done something similar—in other words, engaged in discussions with officials from other departments to exchange best practices.

     That's interesting. I was saying in my opening comments that in my department, we put a heavy emphasis on getting the fundamentals right, as they say in English. And here, we really are talking about the core business of the department. With the management team, I want us to be the best just about everywhere. And, if possible, although that is not always the case, I would like it to be everywhere.

    In terms of official languages, we are very satisfied. It reflects the efforts we have made. Very often, when I'm talking to my managers, I ask how we compare to the other departments in terms of our financial position or the way we manage official languages, for example. I tend to ask people to check out what is being done in the other departments, to retain the best practices and to import them into our own.

    I have to admit that we did not do that in a proactive manner. On the other hand, I'm certain that we established contacts, in terms of proactively spreading the good news; I'm not really involved in that side of things. It's not as though we had actually set up a network, but we certainly would never refuse to help people.

    I will ask Ms. Lorenzato to add her own comments.

    In fact, we are part of two networks: the Network of Official Languages Champions—Ms. Kennedy is our ambassador—and the program management network. So, in terms of human resources, people working in official languages meet on a regular basis, via e-mail or actual meetings, to discuss best practices.

    We also have the Human Resources Council, which serves to promote best practices. Often we put departmental best practices up on the GCPEDIA site so that other departments that may be having trouble can take advantage of them. So, that network is in place and it's simply a matter of getting involved and participating actively to benefit from the work that others are doing.

    Thank you.

    For active offer, you have a good rating. When it comes to in-person active offer, however, your score is not so good. And you are not the only ones. Looking at all the different departments and agencies that were observed, that is where there is some weakness.

    I have just found out that the rules for determining the percentage of bilingual staff are set by the Treasury Board.

    First of all, what is your target? Do you really achieve it? Secondly, if you do, do these targets really reflect actual needs?

    I will start with position identification. I'd like to explain how Public Works went about this. We reviewed 14,000 positions in the department over the course of the last year, to determine in which positions employees are in contact with the public and what the appropriate level of bilingualism is for these positions. We have now completed that exercise. Certain positions have been revised upwards, while others have been revised downwards. Our objective is for all positions where employees are in contact with the public to be bilingual. And that exercise has now been completed.

    We then looked at the bilingualism level of the current incumbents of those positions. We determined that, at this time, the people on the front line providing service do have the required level.

     One exercise that is needed involves changing the culture, so that it becomes natural, in terms of active offer, to greet people in both languages. For telephone service, I believe we received a rating of 80%. So, it's natural to greet people with: “Bonjour, hello, good morning”. However, in person, even though we have visual signs, such as one stating that we provide services in both languages, employees often tend to only answer in their own language. So we have developed a kit to equip our employees with written texts, scripts, and so on, to help them develop that reflex and thereby change the culture.

    Now we have only just distributed our kit. And we have just received our rating, which is 50%. This is one of the areas where we will really be trying to work with employees over the next few months to develop their spontaneity in terms of addressing a client in both languages.

    So, to answer my other question, you do not rely on the targets set by Treasury Board.

    No.

    You base yourselves on your own survey.

    Yes, on the services we offer our clients.

    I'd like you to talk a little about your kit. I noted that it is quite recent. What does it contain? You can give someone something, but without any follow-up or specific goals to meet.

    Can you give us a brief description of what the kit contains and tell us how you are measuring improvements?

    First of all, the kit contains an educational tool intended to remind employees of their obligations under the Act, of the benefits in terms of business, and of the reasons why it is important to provide service in both languages. We provide them with scripts that they can use. We are currently working with the managers of these employees, so that this will be included in their performance objectives. Therefore, there will be follow-up, not only in the form of the kit they will receive, but also by our working with the organization responsible for offices and points of service. We will be measuring results by conducting our own tests. What we want to do is send people out to conduct surprise visits, to see whether things are working properly or not, so that we can then make adjustments.

    Thank you very much, Ms. Zarac.

    We will move now to Ms. Guay.

    Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

    Good morning. You received very good ratings. Congratulations. On the other hand, you also received a “D”. Perhaps you could talk about that.

    I'm surprised, because you talk about the Anglophone population in Quebec, but I have to point out that Montreal is one of the most bilingual cities in Canada. So, I find that surprising. I would like you to give me a little more information on what that “D” means.

    Thank you for your question. I will begin and Diane may want to add her own comments.

    I was very surprised to see that our rating was slightly better in the past. It was “C”. That is hardly nirvana, but it was slightly better than a “D”. I have to admit that this has always been a source of frustration. It's a difficult thing to achieve. However, I agree with you that, in the case of Montreal, it doesn't make sense.

    There are English-speaking universities.

    I fully agree with you.

    Perhaps I could just review three or four points I mentioned in my opening statement. First of all, we will be much more closely connected to Anglophone organizations all across Quebec, not only in Montreal. There must be points of entry; that's my first point. They have to be made aware that there are jobs in the federal government, in my department, that offer interesting work, a career, and so on.

    And this is the other point I strongly believe in. We will have a more active presence at job fairs organized by the public service. This will be an opportunity to show the community colleges and Anglophone universities that there is work at the federal government level, in my department, which is attractive and should be considered.

    Yes, but these people will have to be bilingual.

    Yes, absolutely. I fully agree with you. In my opinion, the challenge was that people were not necessarily aware. I am a Francophone from Quebec City. I didn't speak much English when I began working in Yellowknife, in the Northwest Territories, and there weren't many Francophones there.

    It was total immersion.

    That's right. I learned a lot, very quickly. You have to be ready to make the leap.

     I also want to point out that co-op programs lend themselves to young people's aspirations. It is possible to do a co-op internship in the department. We have a lot of co-op students. We are the largest user of co-op students from the University of Ottawa, as well as other institutions. After that, you can do what is called student bridging, something that is very quick.

    Does the department provide training to people who are not bilingual?

    Yes. We have an agreement with the School of Public Service. Nine teachers, Francophones or Anglophones, are dedicated to us for training, whether it is for skills upgrading or to develop the second language. This year, we invested almost $5 million in language training, which is the most significant amount that has been invested in a number of years. Of course, the amount of money means nothing, in the sense that it is proportional to demand. But it is still a significant amount.

    So, your “D” may change.

    Perhaps I could draw a parallel, although it doesn't relate to official languages. In the case of visible minorities, we had certain challenges. Ms. Lorenzato and myself took the bull by the horns and now we have exceeded our goals. Personally, I can tell you that we are determined and firmly committed to this. It's a plan that includes tangible actions. I believe we can improve; and I would very much like us to achieve that. This is an area where it should be feasible to do so. It's not as hard to pinpoint as other items where we received a good grade. I'd like to maintain this, but in that area, we should be able to encourage bilingual Anglophones to come and work in Quebec.

    There will always be some areas that are more difficult. Matane is very Francophone. On the other hand, Quebec City, Montreal, West Quebec and Sherbrooke--

    The University of Sherbrooke is not an Anglophone institution, but a lot of the students that attend are perfectly bilingual. So, you don't have to target only places where there are bilingual Anglophone students; you can also target the University of Sherbrooke and other similar institutions.

    I would just like to make one final point, Mr. Chairman. I had an idea that came out of my own personal experience when I was younger. I asked Ms. Lorenzato and the management team whether it would be possible for an Anglophone from Vancouver, Alberta or Ontario who is interested in improving his or her French to participate in an exchange through the department, whereby that person would be transferred to Montreal for six months. I know this kind of thing occurred when I was working at the agency--

    Do people do that?

    The ones I saw who were able to do it learned French very quickly. We're really talking about complete immersion both culturally and linguistically, and they don't lose their French. I remember that.

    Unfortunately, it is not always easy to arrange. Often it is because of the family. People have families, which is perfectly legitimate. As a result, there is always a little bit of tension around that. Even if the employee says he wants to go to Montreal for six months, that it will be fun and he'll be able to work rather than sitting in a classroom, that it will be productive and he'll be learning, it's not always very easy to arrange.

    Do I have any time left?

    Yes, you have more than one minute.

    I have one last fairly important question. I would like to know how many positions your department has in Quebec.

    In Quebec, there are approximately 800.

    Approximately 800 and--

    No, no; it's more like 1,200.

    And are the majority of them bilingual?

    No.

    I would say that about 75% of them are bilingual.

    Go ahead and make your comment, Ms. Lorenzato.

    I wanted to talk about the exchange program. Right now we are launching a pilot project involving exchanges between the regions and headquarters. In a year from now perhaps, we will be in a position to tell you whether it worked or not. We are actually launching a skills enrichment program.

    Thank you very much.

    Thank you very much, Ms. Guay.

    Up next we have Mr. Godin.

    Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

    Welcome to the committee. You are the person I want to congratulate this morning. The fact is that you and your team received an “A”. You are one of the rare deputy ministers to have received an “A” in their departmental report, and I think it's important to underscore that.

    On the other hand, one report was not prepared because of the Olympic Games, is that correct?

    You refer to the Olympic Games--

    It relates to an evaluation of objectives. This is what it says:

    It also says that some data were not available. Then it goes on to say:

    I can answer that. This was one of the Translation Bureau's projects that was carried over. We wanted to conduct a sampling of all our translations to get an idea of the levels of quality. We did do some sampling, but we wanted to go a little further. However, because our expertise was required for the translation of documents and other materials for the Olympic Games, we postponed the project somewhat, but we will be going ahead with it.

    You sit on a committee that includes several deputy ministers, do you not?

    I'm a member of several different deputy minister committees, yes.

    How many are there? Five?

    Well, I've never counted, but there are a number of them.

    Do you talk about official languages at those committee meetings?

    Yes, we do. I sit on the Senior Officials Committee chaired by the Clerk of the Privy Council which is responsible for succession planning, if you will, at the deputy minister and associate deputy minister levels. We have discussed official languages. Every time that official languages--

    Is a report prepared after that?

    No, there are no reports. Often these discussions are intended to determine whether there is an issue that needs to be resolved and whether there are potential solutions. People attend the meetings, take notes, do the necessary follow-up and ensure that what needs to be done gets done.

    So, you talk about it, but are there any actual commitments made afterwards? There have to be, because things are not all that rosy in every single department.

    I'm thinking of both this committee and others as well. I also sit on the Deputy Ministers Committee on Public Service Renewal. There we talk about bilingualism, and we talk about the importance of the French fact and the English fact in Canada. Commitments are translated into action by means of commitments related to public service renewal. Departmental commitments come under four pillars.

    Some budgets have been frozen. Is that having a detrimental effect on official languages?

    No. As far as I'm concerned, official languages do not correspond to a specific program. In our department, it is a way of operating. I obviously have projects, but they are not affected by budget reductions. It's important to keep them in place. It is also a whole way of working within the department. Our department is made up of 50% Francophones and 50% Anglophones. There are a lot of Francophones on my management committee.

    I've heard Francophones who work for the federal government say that they had no opportunity to take English courses even though French courses were being offered to Anglophones. Do you encounter that kind of problem in your department?

    Second-language training is offered to all our employees, whether they are Francophone or Anglophone.

    On an equal basis?

    Yes. I referred earlier to 9 teachers and the agreement we entered into with the School of Public Service. I did not want there to be a line-up for training. So, I discussed it with Ms. Lorenzato. The fact is that people were waiting for their turn to arrive, something that can be very frustrating. Under the agreement, our people have much quicker access to this service. It covers both French and English. The teacher can train individual employees in French or in English, depending on their needs and what they're seeking in terms of training.

    So individual employees make the request and it's accepted. There is a process in place, and specific training is offered.

    Yes.

    You don't accept one person's request and then refuse someone else's.

    No. Often it's connected to the position. Approximately 80% of our positions in the department are considered bilingual. When people move from one position to another, they have to meet the language requirements of the new position, whether they are Francophones interested in a position requiring knowledge of English, or the reverse. If proficiency in the language is imperative, there will obviously be a problem, but language training is offered based on the priority of the positions involved.

    You say the percentage is 80%, but the OCOL survey states that 68% of Francophone employees and 73% of Anglophone employees are satisfied with their ability to communicate in writing in the official language of their choice.

    The most recent public service survey that my employees took part in showed that 80% of our employees were satisfied and that they are able to communicate in the language of their choice. I was a little surprised because that percentage is a little lower than the one for the public service as a whole. The average across the public service is 85%, compared to 80% for my department, which is still not bad. That 5% difference surprised me somewhat, given the number of initiatives that we are taking to encourage people along those lines. However, there can be variations between departments. I am not in a position to explain that 5% difference.

    Diane, I don't know whether you have any explanation for that.

    We have taken several initiatives to ensure that all our employees felt comfortable working in the language of their choice. For example, we are preparing a kit on language of work and will ensure that supervisors understand that is their responsibility to create that working environment.

    We have also changed our orientation program. It mentions the responsibilities, not only of supervisors, but of employees as well when it comes to working in the language of their choice. The survey was carried out in 2007. Since then we have made an effort to change the organizational culture. We hope that the results of the 2011 survey will be a little different.

    Thank you, Mr. Godin.

    We will move now to Ms. Boucher.

    Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. This is very interesting. I particularly want to congratulate you for achieving perfectly acceptable results, something that is greatly appreciated. Personally, I hope all departments can one day have that kind of profile. If all the departments also received an “A” and “B” overall, that would be fantastic.

    Earlier, you talked about specificities associated with official language minority communities, both Francophone and Anglophone. Could you explain what your Official Language Minority Communities Secretariat is doing to stay on top of the needs of both Francophones and Anglophones who are part of minority communities, and to ensure that their specific needs are considered at every stage of the decision-making process?

    I will let Ms. Lorenzato answer that question, Mr. Chairman, but I would like to correct one point I mentioned earlier. One of the numbers I gave you was incorrect and that has been bothering me. We have 8,000 bilingual positions in the department out of a total of 13,000. I talked about 80% earlier, because I was thinking of 8,000 positions. That actually represents 63% of positions. I want that to be clear for everyone.

    Go ahead, Diane, please.

    In 2007, we set up a small secretariat which is 100% responsible for relations with minority communities. So, we now have employees who devote 100% of their time to networking, cooperating and consulting with minority groups across the country.

    Their mandate is also to review all Treasury Board submissions and memoranda to ensure that the programs and activities that the department brings forward comply with Part VII of the Act.

    They also take part in events organized by these groups, and we work with all of them. For example, we work with Francophone associations in Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta, Acadian federations in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, the Economic Development and Employability Network, the Community Economic Development and Employability Corporation, or CEDEC, the Quebec Community Groups and the Community Table.

    We are in contact with these associations on a daily basis. I have a team of three which devotes all of its time to this. They participate in forums. attend meetings and hold discussions on a regular basis. We also promote exchanges between our regional offices and these federations or associations at the local level, and we work with them to develop locally-targeted action plans. We have been very active since 2007 in that respect.

    Thank you very much. It was very interesting.

    Mr. Chairman, I am sharing my time with Bernard Généreux.

    Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

    I would like to thank the witnesses for being here. You seem to be extremely rigourous and professional in your approach to official languages in your department. I consider that to be very positive. Not that the previous witnesses from other departments did not, but one has the sense that in your department—and I may be mistaken—it really is part and parcel of the way you do things. It's not just a commitment you make; that is really the way it is. It's real and one has the sense that it is real.

    I would like to quickly come back to the Portal we saw earlier. I don't know whether Mr. Olivier can go back to it. Perhaps you could quickly answer my question in the meantime.

    Is the purpose of the Portal per se to attract people to come and work for you? What exactly is the purpose of the Portal?

    The real purpose of the Portal is to promote linguistic duality. We are working very hard to ensure that the Portal is national in scope. It stays inside the department, but the whole idea is really to try and develop partners around the country.

    In fact, we have set up an advisory board, made up of stakeholders from different regions of the country, to oversee the work associated with the Portal. For example, the Commissioner of Official Languages for New Brunswick is a member of the advisory board. Other members include representatives from Manitoba, the University of Ottawa and the Commissioner of Official Languages in the National Capital Region—in other words, at the federal level.

    In terms of promoting the Portal, there is obviously so much material on the Internet that it is not necessarily possible to know about everything. I was not aware of it.

    Yes.

    Actually, there are a lot of things on the Internet that I'm not aware of.

    I'd like to talk about promotion of the Portal per se to people working at the political level—both elected members and everyone working in the departments—as well as to students in all the schools across the country by means of contests, such as quizzes. Do you have an action plan in place to raise awareness of the Portal?

    Yes. We are starting our second year of promotion. We will be involved in much more active promotion this time. One thing we did was purchase our spot on Google. So, when you ask language-related questions, the language Portal should pop up among the initial results. Young people use it a lot. We also promote it in the schools.

    And, through the strategic advisory board, we are trying to find other ways of promoting it all across the country. We are getting a lot of support from each of the members. As a result, we will be doing a lot more promotion.

    The first few years were spent developing it and ensuring that we have the right information. Now we are really entering a period of very major and active promotion, in order to make it accessible to everyone and further its popularity.

     What I saw a little earlier struck me as really quite extraordinary. It would be great if you could get the home page of the site back up on the screen. It's really very well done, in addition to being very easy to use, very user-friendly.

    As I see it, sharing is important. The whole rationale for this Standing Committee on Official Languages is to improve the use of our official languages in Canada, obviously in any and every way possible. Sharing is a responsibility for each of the departments, in my opinion, and you already seem to be assuming that responsibility. A number of official languages champions from various departments have come to meet with us. Is there a league of champions where you can get together and share your successes? Once again, I think everyone fundamentally accepts the notion that helping to improve the French fact and the status of Canada's official languages is intrinsic and that it must systematically be part of everything that goes on—which seems to be the case in your department.

    Do you have ample opportunity to share with other departments the successes and positive results you have achieved?

    I am what is known as the official languages champion for our department and, as such, I sit on the Committee of Assistant Deputy Ministers on Official Languages. It is a committee where we can share information about our successes and other issues that may arise in each of our individual departments. I am also a member of the Council of the Network of Official Languages Champions in the public service. For example, when we launched the Portal, I sent a letter providing the electronic address for the Portal to all the public service champions, and we very actively promoted the Portal to departments across the public service. We have methods of promoting this tool to a wide variety of users.

    Earlier I referred to games or contests aimed at students. Do you think there should be something similar for public servants, as a way for people to activate--

    Thank you, Mr. Généreux.

    You presented your product to us and I will personally pledge to add it to my list of favourites, both here and in my riding office, and to share it with my staff.

    Mr. Bernard Généreux: It should be shared with Canadians.

    The Chair: Yes, perhaps this information should be included in our communications.

    Mr. Royal Galipeau: That's going to increase traffic. Ah, ah!

    The Chair: Speaking of traffic, we have a few minutes left. I suggest we have another round following the usual order. I invite you to try and limit yourselves to one specific question, so that everyone will have a chance.

    Mr. Bélanger, why not set an example for us.

    Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

    I primarily have comments to make. Unfortunately, I have been around at times when the conduct of the Department of Public Works and Government Services was not as positive as it is today in terms of official languages.

    Mr. Guimont, I want to congratulate you and your team for the work you are doing. I think this is the kind of leadership we are looking for when it comes to official languages. It is also the kind of leadership the Commissioner of Official Languages is looking for when he talks about going beyond obligations. Do keep up your work, because I believe things are off to a very good start.

    In terms of there being 1,200 jobs in Quebec, I suppose you are talking about jobs outside the National Capital Region, because I would have thought the number was higher than that.

    Mr. François Guimont: Yes.

    Hon. Mauril Bélanger: In terms of your efforts to ensure there is equitable Anglophone representation, I suppose that the same is being done, or will be done, with respect to Francophones outside Quebec.

    I would also like to have a copy of the kit you referred to, so that other departments can be made aware of it and make use of it.

    I, personally, am aware of one area where there is room for improvement. I am talking about plans and specifications for a contract on the MERX website. There were previously major differences between the English and French versions of the specifications, which ended up costing the Crown and taxpayers' money to resolve the problem. There is still work to be done in that area.

    I know there is a committee that deals with advertizing in minority community media—a committee that represents such organizations as ARC, the Alliance des radios communautaires, etc. Do you have any way of ensuring that minority media which are not members of these associations are also considered? I will let you reflect on that.

    Thank you very much for being here this morning, and I encourage you to continue your work.

    Thank you very much, Mr. Bélanger.

    Mr. Malo, please.

    I have two brief questions. The first has to do with the Portal. Does the general public know about it and use it? It offers some attractive tools.

    My second question is addressed to Mr. Guimont. Is the reason you received such positive results with respect to official languages tied to the fact that you yourself are Francophone, and that there are a lot of Francophones on your management committee? Is that the reason why you pay particular attention to these issues?

    I will answer the second question, and Ms. Kennedy can tackle the first one.

    I have always wanted the members of my team to feel comfortable and be proud of speaking French or English. Around my management table, I have never been aware of any language-related tensions, and I would not tolerate that. That's where it starts.

    Furthermore, the proportion of French and English probably helps. If there were slightly fewer Francophones at the table, things might be different. However, I find that the experienced Anglophone members are very comfortable speaking French. That is simply an observation.

    As elsewhere, I believe this is a critical function within the department. I believe in it deeply, and that is also the case for the people who work with me. Furthermore, it becomes a question of culture. I must admit that I am very pleased with our results, but the most important thing for me is that everyone, both Francophones and Anglophones, feels comfortable and has the sense they are properly treated by the department. I know that I have to meet the requirements set out in the Act, but culture, pride and feeling comfortable in French or in English in a department that considers itself to be bilingual are what I really consider to be most important. That is how I see it.

    In terms of promoting the Portal, as I said earlier, this being the second year, we are starting to do much more active promotion of the Portal, even though we did some previously.

    The Portal is accessible over the Internet. As I was saying, we hope that Internet traffic will result in greater access. However, it is absolutely necessary that promotional activities be expanded in order to enhance awareness. That is the reason why we have a strategic advisory board. It provides suggestions as to how to make the Portal better known across the country. We are currently looking at those suggestions.

    One of the issues associated with the Portal which, in my opinion, presents a minor challenge even though it is fantastic, is the fact that it contains such a wealth of information that people have to click several times in order to access the information they are seeking. So, we still have some work to do to refine and develop this search tool. That is the kind of work that is underway now with a view to developing it.

    Thank you very much.

    I would like to ask colleagues whether they agree that everyone should have one minute.

    I did not have a chance on the second round--

    We are working on that, Mr. Godin.

    I really want you to understand that members of Parliament are important vectors when it comes to conveying information to the public. We work with many different people on a daily basis. I sincerely believe that you have a fabulous site and that you need to make people aware of it. You should be giving us additional information about it, so that we can promote it.

    We can discuss that among committee members. They can make a note of your suggestion.

    Mr. Galipeau, please.

    I would really like to spend half an hour with you, but I only have 30 seconds. So, I want to fully endorse the comments made by Mr. Bélanger, so that they will count double.

     Also, I would like to know whether your Portal contains lexicons. Previously, the Secretary of State published lexicons on different areas of activity. Even so, automobiles were one area where there were no lexicons. I used to deal with a garage where the employees didn't speak English, but they didn't know the French terminology. They would say things like: “Le tire de mon truck a un flat”.

    Is there a lexicon now?

    The Translation Bureau, which is now part of Public Works and Government Services, is continuing this work. The terminology program is now managed by the Translation Bureau.

    Is that part of your Portal?

    Everything is there.

    Including a lexicon on the auto sector?

    I don't know whether there is one on that. We would have to check.

    But the most important thing is what Mr. Bélanger said.

    Mr. Godin, it's your turn; I worked hard to save the one minute for you.

     “J'ai brisé le bumper de mon truck quand j'ai frappé le poteau”, as they say.

    Voices: Ah, ah!

    Mr. Yvon Godin: Now I have forgotten my question.

    The only thing I want to say, Mr. Guimont, is that you might want to apply for the job of Deputy Minister of Justice. Supreme Court justices, at that unique institution in Canada, should be bilingual. It is not as though it was scattered all across Canada. There are lots of places where--

    Thank you, Mr. Godin.

    That is all the time we have this morning.

    Just a minute; I have 30 seconds left.

    With respect to official languages, what specific instructions have you received from the Clerk of the Privy Council? Have you received any?

    I have to report to the Clerk.

    But have you received specific instructions?

    I don't remember receiving specific instructions--

    --as part of the Management Accountability Framework.

    Exactly; there are none in the Management Accountability Framework.

    When I don't talk about Supreme Court justices, I have more time. The Chair doesn't cut my speaking time.

    On that note, I wish you a pleasant day.

    I would like to express my thanks to all of you. Of course, we are open to the idea of your forwarding the relevant documents to committee members. As for members of Parliament, we leave that to their discretion.

    Thank you very much.

    The meeting is adjourned.