I would like to thank the Minister for his comments. Your first remarks were suggesting that we didn't back up a lot of the general statements that we tend to make about things we find out from the public. I invite you to look at chapter six where there are statistics. These are all the replies to the employees' survey where we received 1,305 surveys. They are all calculated and entered into the computer. Anyone is welcome to look at those stats in the computer. There are no names attached to them. All of the original questionnaires are stored in boxes and we didn't ask for people to put names on them either, so it doesn't reveal any confidential information. But all of those statistics are in the computer and they are all analyzed in chapter six. So the general comments that I am making are not just general impressions that I have gained, they are statistically backed up.
The same is true with the comments about aboriginal languages declining. Those are all backed up by the statistical analysis we did in chapter one. They are not just general comments and they are not just a feeling that I have. These are actually things we have been able to research, document and put into numbers as much as possible.
As far as complaints and inquiries, in chapter five, for each one of them I can be held accountable. The file number is right there. I cannot give you the name. The act says I cannot reveal confidential information that comes to my attention. So I cannot tell you who the person was that gave me that complaint, so we replaced their name with a file number. All of the file numbers are right there. If any of the MLAs are interested in coming to the office to see that we have those files, they can. I cannot allow them to look into those files, but they can see that those things exist. We cannot let people look at the names on the files because I am bound by the act not to reveal those confidential details.
I don't think I have anything personal to gain from the comments I make. Why would I say that aboriginal languages are dying or declining? What personal gain could I get from that? What personal gain can I get from the fact that I report that 85 per cent of the respondents to our employee questionnaires said they want language training? What personal gain can I get from that?
I'm simply a spokesperson for all these people who are providing this information to our office. We pass it on to the government in this report and in the form of correspondence and discussions we have with them on an ongoing basis. This is available to the public too, so they can use this information to back up the things they think or feel or help them change their opinions about things if they think there is nothing that proves this or that. We tried to break down, as much as we could, information we received so we could show the actual instances of people saying these things. The actual number of employees who reported this and that.
That's why we put 11 months of work into this report because we analyzed all the files we have in our office, everything we have in the computer. So, if I did make general comments, it was simply because I wasn't flipping the pages in the book to look for specific numbers, but they are there. I'm not sure if I could provide any further information to back up any of the general comments I made, but I think that maybe most of what is required is actually there in the report because the numbers are reported wherever we could report them.
With regard to my judgement in this position, it is true, this was a totally new position. Nobody has ever been an ombudsman in the territories before. I was given the job of trying to find out what this position is, and what it should be. In order to do that, I consulted with a lot of other people who have had similar roles and I've used the advice that they've given to me to make judgements. I've used advice from various Members. A couple of Members have talked to me about things they think I should concentrate on or directions I should take. I appreciate that very much.
But, the other thing that you'll notice I asked for in my first recommendation is that there be a standing committee on official languages so that this problem of accountability can be addressed on a regular basis. This is so that I do have some feedback from Members on a regular basis and so that they can provide some direction to us and so that we can keep the legislature informed, as well, about the issues we're dealing with, if our office is running into some problems.
I think it's a really difficult thing right now. This is the first report of a Official Languages Commissioner or of an ombudsman to this legislature and you'll have to expect that it is going to be critical. It's not all critical, there is some good stuff in there, too. But, it is my job, under the act, to deal with complaints, to take all actions and measures within my authority to resolve complaints. That means that my position was set up so that I would deal with those things and bring them to the attention of the government.
When I make a judgement call, for example about this particular travel incident, I was asked not to speak about official languages but to speak using one official language, which I happen to know. The speech I was making was not about official languages. I asked if I could even speak about them, to say we have an Official Languages Act here with eight official languages, and that sort of thing, and I was told, no, they would prepare the speech and I could just read it in French. I had accepted that invitation, begrudgingly. I said, no, at first a couple of times and finally said, yes, because they didn't have somebody else to do it. When they accepted it, it was simply to read the speech in French. I still haven't even seen it. I never saw the speech I was supposed to read so I don't even know about the content, but it wasn't about official languages, it wasn't on their agenda.
When I was asked to deal with a situation that, in my mind, dealt with a problem that involved languages and NWT languages, I felt that if I could contribute anything to that situation -- and they indicated to me that it was quite urgent and they set the date -- I said yes. I think that's more important than reading a speech in French that doesn't deal with official languages. Other than the fact that I speak another official language, I wasn't doing any promotion or explaining to people about the official languages or that sort of thing.
When I was asked to deal with a problem situation, to me that was a higher priority and that's why I made the judgement I made at that point. To me, if I get a complaint, I have to deal with them as quickly as possible. Sometimes, I don't know what the complaints are until I have a chance to investigate them, so I have to deal with them as quickly as I can. That's why I made the decision I did at that particular time. I don't know if there is any other information I can provide to the Minister, or if that answers his question.