Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The 2010-2011 budget for the office of the Languages Commissioner was $220,000, up by $77,000 over the previous year. Approximately $35,000 remained unspent because an administrative assistant position was not filled until close to the end of the fiscal year.

At the public hearing, the Commissioner noted that additional funds were received to create and publish a directory of interpreters and translators for all official languages. While some funds again remained unspent, Ms. Jerome said that all of the outstanding surplus would be taken up in the first quarter of 2012-13, with the costs of publishing and distribution of this directory.

Promotion of the Office

Since 2004, the promotion of official languages has been the responsibility of the Minister for Official Languages. However, it is Ms. Jerome’s role to promote the office of the Languages Commissioner, the rights, status and privileges of official languages speakers pursuant to the Official Languages Act, and her availability to answer questions or to investigate complaints.

The office of the Languages Commissioner is accessible through its website, a toll-free phone line, and an office in Inuvik. The office is also promoted through radio advertisements in all official languages, the distribution of promotional items, media interviews and by Ms. Jerome’s attendance at public functions and summer assemblies.

The committee considers the website a critical communications tool and urges the Commissioner to make every effort to keep it lively, current and informative, in all official languages. Members also noted that the toll-free phone line is presently answered in English and suggested that the Commissioner investigate technology that would allow a caller to access the office in all official languages.

A major theme of the Languages Commissioner’s report, stemming from her travels to communities, is concern with the decreasing availability of trained and certified interpreter-translators for Aboriginal official languages in the Northwest Territories. The older generation of well-trained and experienced interpreter-translators is beginning to retire and they are not being replaced.

It is effectively impossible for the Official Languages Commissioner to promote her office without these services. This concern is what motivated the Commissioner to undertake the interpreter-translator directory project.

The Future

Under the Official Languages Act, the Languages Commissioner is empowered to make recommendations for necessary or desirable changes to the act as part of her annual report. In her latest report, the Languages Commissioner commented extensively on the recommendations of the 2008-2009 Review of the Official Languages Act by the 16th Assembly Standing Committee on

Government Operations. That review recommended the creation of designated areas for service provision in Aboriginal official languages, where the languages are indigenous.

The Commissioner recommended that the government move forward with the committee’s recommendations, but consider that not all speakers of Aboriginal official languages reside in their traditional territories. She also noted that residents must often travel outside their home areas to receive services.

At the public hearing, the Commissioner suggested using non-traditional means, such as audio or video conferencing, to provide services in official languages for residents who reside in or travel to the Northwest Territories locations outside their indigenous language area. The Languages Commissioner also believes the government and the Legislative Assembly should have a positive obligation, in legislation, to protect as well as promote official languages. A number of these recommendations were made in the Commissioner’s previous report.

The Standing Committee on Government Operations very much appreciates the Commissioner’s input. As required under the Official Languages Act, the committee will begin its five-year review of the act in February of 2013. Members intend to review and update the previous recommendations for legislative change. Pending this review, the committee wishes to obtain the government’s response to the legislative recommendations of the Commissioner.

Recommendation 3

The Standing Committee on Government Operations recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories review and respond to the Languages Commissioner’s recommendation’s for legislative change, namely recommendations three and four on page 20 of the 2010-2011 Annual Report.

Mr. Speaker, I would now like to return the reading of the report to the chair of the committee, Mr. Nadli, Member for Deh Cho. Thank you.