Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight conducted a public hearing on Bill 31, An Act to Amend the Official Languages Act, No. 3 on October 7, 2003 in Yellowknife.
The committee would like to thank Ms. Sabet Biscaye, Ms. Dorothy Minoza, and Ms. Betty Harnum who were able to appear at the hearing despite the short notice. Members would also like to thank the NWT Literacy Council, the Gwich'in Social and Cultural Institute and the Inuvialuit Cultural Resource Centre for their written submissions.
The committee recognizes that stakeholders were given a very limited opportunity to prepare comments on the bill. Had the government introduced a bill that responded adequately to the recommendations of the Special Committee on the Review of the Official Languages Act in the June 2003 sitting, the committee and the public would have had time to properly review it. Instead, the committee was put in the position of having to choose between proceeding with Bill 31 despite the limited time for public review, or leaving this important legislation to the next Assembly. Because Bill 31 in most aspects reflects the recommendations of the special committee, which undertook a very comprehensive consultation process, and because of concerns that the next assembly may not have an opportunity to revisit this legislation for some time, the committee chose to proceed with reporting this bill back to the House as the better of two less than ideal options.
Mr. Chairman, the most significant change in Bill 31 from the recommendations of the special committee is the creation of an official languages board in addition to an aboriginal languages revitalization board. Both Members and those who made submissions to the committee questioned the need for the official languages board, which was not part of the special committee's recommendations. The Minister indicated that this board is needed to provide all official language communities with the opportunity to advise and make recommendations to the Minister on the administration and delivery of services by government institutions. The committee was put in the difficult position of deciding whether to support the creation of this second board in the absence of research and consultation substantiating the need for it. Left with this choice, Members preferred to err on the side of providing an opportunity for all language groups to have representation on a board, and therefore did not propose any amendments to this part of the bill.
Ms. Minoza and the Inuvialuit Cultural Resource Centre questioned the need for the aboriginal languages revitalization board, and suggested they would have preferred resources be directed to community or regional language groups instead. The committee respectfully disagrees with the suggestion that the board will not be a useful resource for community and regional language groups, and notes that the recommendation to have this board was arrived at after two years of research and consultations with all language groups by the special committee.
Ms. Biscaye and Ms. Harnum raised concerns that the responsibilities of the Minister responsible for official languages are not broad enough. For example, the Minister's responsibilities include the promotion of official languages education, but do not clearly include the promotion of official languages in other government institutions such as courts and health facilities. The Minister's responsibilities are also limited to GNWT policies and programs that relate to the administration of this act. The committee would like to see this expanded so that the responsibilities include all GNWT policies and programs that relate to official languages, whether or not they relate specifically to the administration of this act. At the appropriate time, Members will be supporting amendments that will broaden the responsibilities of the Minister.
Ms. Harnum raised some specific issues about how language funding is being spent and the accountability for that spending. The committee acknowledges that these are valid concerns, but believes they would be more appropriately addressed by other special committee recommendations rather than by amendments to this act.
The Inuvialuit Cultural Resource Centre expressed concerns that Inuktitut will be continued as an official language. The centre is concerned that there is a potential for Inuit specific language money that could otherwise be used for Inuvialuktun and Innuinaqtun to be diverted to a small group of Inuktitut speakers. The majority of Members agreed that it would be unfair to remove Inuktitut at this time without consultation with Inuktitut speakers in the NWT.
The NWT Literacy Council, Ms. Biscaye and committee Members questioned how the Minister will go about prescribing representatives from each language community. Ms. Biscaye underlined the need for representatives to be accountable back to their language communities, and for this to be reflected in policies or guidelines if not in legislation. Members and the NWT Literacy Council asked about how representation will be sought from the English language community in particular. The Minister and his staff advised that, with the exception of English, there are specific organizations for each of the language communities that have been working with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, and that will likely become the prescribed representatives under the act. The Minister and his staff admitted that more thought needs to be given to how the English language community will be represented. Members will look forward to hearing how this issue is resolved.
Ms. Biscaye also suggested there is a need to change the references to some of the Dene languages in the act which are not the proper names for those languages. She did stress that further research and consultation is needed before this can be done. Members were pleased that the Minister indicated his interest in pursuing this research, and would encourage the next assembly to ensure this does take place.
This concludes the committee's opening comments on Bill 31. Individual Members may have additional questions or comments as we proceed. Following the committee's review, a motion was carried to report Bill 31, An Act to Amend the Official Languages Act, to the assembly as ready for Committee of the Whole. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.