Hon. Claude Carignan: Minister, the decision is dated April 14. The deadline for appealing is May 16. It is now May 11. Having worked in private practice, I know that it takes time to prepare an appeal. I have a hard time believing that, today, you don’t know whether you’re going to appeal. I believe that you are holding something back.

I will help you and persuade you not to appeal. The judge states the following on page 41 of the ruling:

In circumstances where members of one of the two constitutionally recognized linguistic communities are unable to interact directly, in their language, with the head of state — how can that be considered equality of both linguistic communities?

Do you agree with this statement? If you do, the case should not be appealed.

As I clearly stated, I don’t know what decision the Minister of Justice will make on this matter. I can’t give you any information in reply to this specific question.

I can tell you that the Minister of Justice is reviewing the matter. I will be happy to inform you once the decision is made. The Department of Justice will certainly take the time to study the decision and determine the next steps.

We remain committed to protecting and promoting the French language across the country and advancing linguistic duality. As Minister of Official Languages, that is truly my priority.

Concerning the bills on the Lieutenant-Governor and the Governor General that are before the Senate, we are watching their progress in the Senate to see exactly what the outcome will be.

Hon. Mobina S. B. Jaffer: Thank you for being here, minister.

I’m from British Columbia and I dream of having everyone in B.C. speak French. As you know, my fellow British Columbians don’t have the opportunity to learn it.

What, in particular, has the department done to promote the French language and francophone culture in Canada outside Quebec? Your mandate letter states the following:

 . . . support the maintenance and vitality of official language minority communities by helping to build, renovate and develop educational and community spaces serving them.

Minister, what, specifically, have you done to fulfill this commitment?

What’s your plan, minister?

(1450)

Hon. Ginette Petitpas Taylor, P.C., M.P., Minister of Official Languages and Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency: Thank you very much for that important question. We certainly have a lot of work to do to address the demographic weight issue. We recognize that French is in decline in Canada and in Quebec. If we look at some statistics, in 1971, the francophone population outside Quebec was 6.6%. Projections indicate that it will be 3% by 2036. That is a 3.6% loss of francophones outside Quebec, which is huge.

That is why we drafted this bill with Minister Fraser. We want to go further than Bill C-32. We want to make sure we have an ambitious immigration strategy with targets and indicators. If we want to adjust this country’s demographic weight, we need targets and we have to do the work to meet them. We want to establish this policy for francophones outside Quebec, but we also have to make sure we can offer French integration services to immigrants to Quebec.

Once again, I’m very happy I had the opportunity to work with Minister Fraser to make sure that Bill C-13 includes an ambitious immigration policy complete with targets and indicators. This is a step in the right direction towards correcting that loss of demographic weight in this country.

[English]

Hon. Judith G. Seidman: Minister, welcome to the Senate. In Bill C-13, your government is giving up on the long-held principle of symmetry. That is the principle that the two languages, English and French, have equal status and rights in law in the federal jurisdiction. It is important for Canadians to understand that fact, and the reasons why, especially the impact on the English-speaking community of Quebec, who are completely abandoned. Why?

Hon. Jean-Guy Dagenais: Minister, you told a House of Commons committee on March 22 that your official languages bill gives the commissioner additional tools to impose decisions not only on Air Canada, but on all airlines. The very next day, you qualified your statement by saying that the French requirement will be regional and covered by regulations, not by the law itself. I look forward to reading those regulations, but I have the impression that you are talking out of both sides of your mouth when it comes to respect for French in this country.

Here is what I want to know. Why is respect for francophones, one of the two founding peoples recognized by the Constitution, not equal throughout Canada?

Aside from Quebec, where in Canada will your government enforce the use of French in the air transportation sector?

Hon. Ginette Petitpas Taylor, P.C., M.P., Minister of Official Languages and Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency: Thank you, senator. It’s always nice to see you, and you are quite right. With 8 million francophones in Canada living amongst more than 360 million anglophones from coast to coast to coast in North America, protecting the French language warrants special and immediate attention. Protecting French and promoting French internationally are also top priorities for me. Minister Joly and I are promoting it because we want to make sure we’re doing our part to protect our French language. The digital world is indeed causing some real concerns, and we must work tirelessly to ensure that French is used equally on the international stage.

Hon. Dennis Dawson: Thank you, minister, and welcome to the Senate. I’m going to open a debate on a new topic, the issue of French on the international stage. As you know, at the UN, the International Olympic Committee, the Inter-Parliamentary Union, and other organizations, French has the same status as English. However, that status is not respected and the use of French is decreasing every year. This week, you are meeting with the president of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie. I also know that the APF is meeting in Quebec City on the weekend to promote French. Should we be ensuring that French is used wherever we have the right to do so? In light of the growing use of English in the digital world, we in the international francophone communities need to work together on finding a way to combat the growing presence of English internationally and ensure the presence of French.

Hon. Ginette Petitpas Taylor, P.C., M.P., Minister of Official Languages and Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency: Thank you very much for these important questions, senator. Once again, the federal government recognizes that French is declining in Canada, including in Quebec. That is why we are addressing these concerns with a more ambitious bill that has more teeth. Federally regulated private companies like Air Canada and CN, which are subject to the Official Languages Act, need to step up and lead by example by respecting their official language obligations. Like you, I was angry to see that CN had not appointed a francophone to its board of directors. We would have expected the board of directors to be representative of Canada’s population and of our linguistic duality.

Our government has established strong measures in Bill C-13 to protect the use of French as a language of work and service in private and federally regulated businesses in Quebec, as well as in regions with a strong francophone presence. Again, with respect to the language provisions, which was part of your second question, we took the time to ensure that the text of Part VII clearly defines “positive measures.” We did that because we want to make sure that, in the context of issues such as language provisions, once Bill C-13 receives Royal Assent, the federal government will consider the impact that these issues will have on official language minority communities. As a government, we must ensure that we take positive measures to address these situations.