Proceedings of the Standing Senate Committee on
Official Languages
Issue 1 - Minutes of Proceedings
OTTAWA, Tuesday, November 5, 2002
(1)
[English]
The Standing Senate Committee on Official Languages met this day at 8:33 a.m., in room 705, Victoria Building, for the purpose of organizing.
Members of the committee present: The Honourable Senators Beaudoin, Comeau, Gauthier, Lapointe, Léger and Losier-Cool (6).
In attendance: The official reporters of the Senate.
The committee proceeded to organize pursuant to rule 88.
The Clerk of the Committee presided over the election of the Chair.
It was moved by the Honourable Senator Gauthier — That the Honourable Senator Losier-Cool take the Chair of this committee.
The question being put on the motion, it was adopted.
The Honourable Senator Losier-Cool took the Chair.
It was moved by the Honourable Senator Comeau — That the Honourable Senator Keon be Deputy Chair of this committee.
The question being put on the motion, it was adopted.
It was moved by the Honourable Senator Gauthier — That the Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure be created and composed of the Chair, the Deputy Chair and one other member of this committee to be designated later.
The question being put on the motion, it was adopted.
It was moved by the Honourable Senator Beaudoin — That, on behalf of this committee, the Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure determine the agenda of this committee, invite witnesses before this committee and schedule hearings of this committee.
The question being put on the motion, it was adopted.
It was moved by the Honourable Senator Beaudoin — That this committee ask the Library of Parliament Research Branch to assign a research analyst to this committee.
The question being put on the motion, it was adopted.
The Honourable Senator Gauthier recommended that the research analyst assigned to this committee by the Library of Parliament Research Branch be fully conversant with issues surrounding official languages in Canada.
It was moved by the Honourable Senator Comeau — That the Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure be authorized to negotiate the contracts and retain the services of such companies or experts as is required by the work of this committee.
The question being put on the motion, it was adopted.
It was moved by the Honourable Senator Lapointe — That the Chair be authorized to seek authority from the Senate to hire such counsel, technical, clerical and other personnel as may be necessary for this committee's study of bills, subject-matters of bills and estimates referred to this committee.
The question being put on the motion, it was adopted.
It was moved by the Honourable Senator Léger — That, on behalf of this committee, the Chair direct its research staff in the preparation of analyses, draft reports, studies, summaries and other documents.
The question being put on the motion, it was adopted.
It was moved by the Honourable Senator Comeau — That this committee always meet from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., every second Monday, in room 257 of the East Block.
After debate, it was agreed that the motion be amended to read — That this committee always meet from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. every second Monday, in a room to be determined by the Chair after consultation with both whips.
The question being put on the motion as amended, it was adopted.
It was moved by the Honourable Senator Gauthier — That, pursuant to rule 89, the Chair be authorized to hold hearings to receive evidence and to have it printed when a quorum is not present, provided that at least one member of this committee from each of the government and the opposition be present.
The question being put on the motion, it was adopted.
It was moved by the Honourable Senator Lapointe — That this committee print its proceedings.
The question being put on the motion, it was adopted.
It was moved by the Honourable Senator Léger — That the Chair be authorized to set from time to time the number of printed copies of the proceedings of this committee as required.
The question being put on the motion, it was adopted.
It was moved by the Honourable Senator Comeau — That, pursuant to rule 102, and the Senate guidelines for witness expenses, this committee have the authority and discretion to reimburse reasonable travelling and living expenses for one witness from any one organization, with payment to take place following a formal claim by the witness.
The question being put on the motion, it was adopted.
It was moved by the Honourable Senator Beaudoin — That, pursuant to the Senate guidelines for witness expenses, and if exceptional circumstances warrant it, the Chair have the discretion to approve the reimbursement of reasonable living expenses for a second witness from a given organization.
The question being put on the motion, it was adopted.
It was moved by the Honourable Senator Comeau — That, pursuant to section 32 of the Financial Administration Act, the authority to commit the funds of this committee be conferred individually on the Chair, the Deputy Chair and the Clerk of the Committee.
The question being put on the motion, it was adopted.
It was moved by the Honourable Senator Comeau — That, pursuant to section 34 of the Financial Administration Act, and Guideline 3:05 of Appendix II of the Rules of the Senate, the authority to certify the accounts payable by this committee be conferred individually on the Chair, the Deputy Chair and the Clerk of the Committee.
The question being put on the motion, it was adopted.
It was moved by the Honourable Senator Gauthier — That the Chair be authorized to seek permission from the Senate to have the public proceedings of this committee, at its discretion, televised with the least possible disruption of its hearings.
The question being put on the motion, it was adopted.
It was moved by the Honourable Senator Léger — That the Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure have the power to designate, as required, one or more members of this committee and/or such staff as may be necessary to travel on assignment on behalf of this committee.
The question being put on the motion, it was adopted.
It was moved by the Honourable Senator Léger — That, for the purpose of paragraph 8(3)(a) of the Senators Attendance Policy published in the Journals of the Senate on Wednesday, June 3, 1998, the Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure be authorized to consider a member of this committee to be on ``official business'' if the member is: (a) attending a function, event or meeting related to the work of this committee; or (b) making a presentation related to the work of this committee.
The question being put on the motion, it was adopted.
It was moved by the Honourable Senator Comeau — That documents to be distributed to the members and staff of this committee be distributed via electronic mail whenever possible.
The question being put on the motion, it was adopted.
It was moved by the Honourable Senator Gauthier — That documents to be distributed to the members and staff of this committee by the Clerk of this committee always be distributed in both official languages.
The question being put on the motion, it was adopted.
The Honourable Senator Gauthier suggested that a representative from the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages be invited to all public meetings of this committee.
The Chair closed the meeting by advising the members that she would seek a more convenient meeting room, hold consultations on the third member of the Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure, and hold a meeting of this Subcommittee before calling the members to another meeting of this committee.
At 9:23 a.m., the committee adjourned to the call of the Chair.
ATTEST:
OTTAWA, Monday, November 18, 2002
(2)
[Français]
The Standing Senate Committee on Official Languages met this day in camera at 4:08 p.m., in room 256-S, Centre Block, the Chair, the Honourable Senator Losier-Cool presiding.
Members of the committee present: The Honourable Senators Beaudoin, Comeau, Gauthier, Keon, Lapointe, Léger, Losier-Cool and Maheu (8).
The committee proceeded to discuss its future business.
Following a motion from the Honourable Senator Beaudoin, members agreed that their research staff could remain in the room during the meeting.
Following a second motion from the Honourable Senator Beaudoin, members agreed to adopt the agenda as presented.
The following points were confirmed:
Formal committee meetings will take place every second Monday beginning on December 2, 2002. These meetings will be open to the public and take place in Room 256-S of the Centre Block, between 4 and 7 p.m. During these meetings, interpretation, reporting, coffee and a light meal will be available.
Informal working meetings will take place every other Monday as required, beginning on November 25, 2002. These meetings, attendance to which would be optional, will be closed to all but Members and their staff, and will see the Committee's Research Analyst and/or other internal resources brief members in preparation for the following week's formal meeting. During these meetings, interpretation and coffee will be available.
The third member of the Steering Committee will be the Honourable Senator Gauthier.
The role of the Steering Committee will be strictly administrative, dealing with the hiring of outside resources where required, the designation of members and staff authorised to travel on behalf of the committee, and the certification of ``official business.'' When required, decisions as to the future work of the committee will be taken by the full committee during its formal meetings.
Members discussed what the mandate of the new Senate Committee on Official Languages should be in relation both to that of the former Standing Joint Committee on Official Languages and that of the pending new Commons Committee on Official Languages. The Honourable Senators Comeau and Maheu suggested that the new Senate Committee should determine its future work based on whether or not such work would further the cause of linguistic minority communities and prevent their further assimilation by the majority. The Honourable Senator Beaudoin recommended that the new Senate Committee prefer to conduct in-depth studies.
The Chair reminded members that the committee will need to look at the annual reports of the Commissioner of Official Languages, the President of the Treasury Board and the Minister of Canadian Heritage as mandated by the Official Languages Act. The Chair distributed a list of possible projects that the committee could undertake and asked members to submit their suggestions from that list to her as early as possible.
Following a motion from the Honourable Senator Comeau, members authorised the Chair to seek from the Senate an Order of Reference allowing the committee to study the application of the Official Languages Act in Canada in general and in the federal public service in particular. The committee would table its final report on this topic no later than March 31, 2004.
The Chair advised members that the chief witness for the first formal meeting of the committee, on December 2, 2002, will be Dyane Adam, Commissioner of Official Languages. The preparatory meeting for this formal meeting will take place November 25. The second formal meeting of the committee, on December 16, 2002, would be with Treasury Board President Lucienne Robillard. The third, on January 27, 2003, would be with Canadian Heritage Minister Sheila Copps, and the fourth, on February 10, with Stéphane Dion, Minister responsible for the federal action plan on official languages.
The six following documents were distributed to all members:
``An Introduction to the Standing Senate Committee on Official Languages,'' a document from the staff of the committee;
the Official Languages Act;
the 2001-2002 Annual Report of the Commissioner of Official Languages;
``The Use of the Official Language Minority Press by Federal Institutions,'' a November 2002 report from the Commissioner of Official Languages;
the federal government's response to the June 2002 report of the former Standing Joint Committee on Official Languages, dealing with justice and the official languages; and
Air Canada's new customer comment card.
At 5:21 p.m., the committee adjourned to the call of the Chair.
ATTEST:
Richard Maurel
Clerk of the Committee