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CANADA
Standing Committee on Official Languages
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EVIDENCE
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
[Recorded by Electronic Apparatus]
[Translation]
Good morning to you all. Mr. Blaney could not be here with us today. I therefore have the pleasure of chairing this meeting. I see that Mr. Godin is delighted with that.
Before introducing our witnesses, I would first like to address two issues that were raised by the clerk. First, you are invited to put forward, before May 6th, names of witnesses for the meeting dealing with post-secondary institutions. Second, the clerk needs some clarification, and I would like to settle the issue straightaway, before moving on to discussions with our witnesses.
The issue is official language exemptions. My understanding is that some people are exempted after having passed a test. They no longer have to undergo training or pass further tests. These people no longer have to take language courses to upgrade their skills, and are also dispensed with having to take such tests. That is the issue we wanted to consider. Perhaps the clerk would like to ask a more specific question. Is this how people around the table understood the issue?
I think that what we are talking about here is the language level that a person has to attain in order to be exempted from further testing and having to take second-language training.
Mr. Chairman, it is my understanding that the current system is such that people have to pass a test and, if they score high enough, are exempted forevermore. I think that what we wanted to study is the level needed to obtain that exemption. Among the people who have passed the test, some say that they are quite glad that they no longer need to speak the other language or pass further tests. That's common knowledge.
Therefore, we want to know what is expected of people for them to obtain an exemption. We have to study the issue in its entirety. I think that we have to take a very broad approach. People pass a test at the start of their careers and, if they succeed, they are exempted.
Mr. Lebel.
Mr. Chairman, there are also people who, at one point or another, can access a position and who are asked to get refresher training. I have heard of federal public servants in Quebec who were qualified for a position and who were required to upgrade their English skills. I would like to know the level of English they have to reach in order to keep their jobs. These are questions we have to consider.
There is another issue I would like to address but I am not sure whether it would be appropriate to include it in this study or not. From what I have heard, there is a federal government building in my area that houses approximately 550 workers, and where anglophones can take French-language courses during working hours, but where francophones who want to improve their English are not entitled to the same treatment. If they wish to do so, they have to take evening courses, on their own initiative.
Mr. Godin, that is another interesting issue, but we are currently dealing with the official languages exemption. Okay?
[English]
Is that clear for everybody?
[Translation]
I'd say that it applies to all judges, across the board. That is a very timely issue, as we saw yesterday on the news.
Mr. Petit.
Having bilingual justices is not the only way to ensure access to justice. The issue is much broader than that. Let's be clear about that. You don't need to have a bilingual judge to access justice. There can be a unilingual judge and people can still access justice. I would like to know what we are talking about exactly.
We are considering the issue from an official languages perspective, since that is the mandate of the Standing Committee on Official Languages.
No. The justice committee deals with that. Exactly. We are talking about access to justice in one's own language. For example, can francophones outside Quebec or anglophones within Quebec access justice in their own language? This committee is concerned with how language has an impact on access to justice.
Has that cleared things up?
[English]
Are you okay? Everybody is okay? Happy? We can go on?
Thank you for your patience.
Mr. Furlong, welcome to the committee. Madam Bolduc, welcome also. Thanks for being here.
[Translation]
Thank you very much. Our witnesses will have 10 minutes to make opening remarks and then we will move on to questions.
Mr. Furlong.
[English]
Good morning, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee. It's a genuine pleasure for me to be here with my colleague Francine Bolduc to address you this morning. We're looking forward to our discussion with you.
Let me start by saying that it's always nice to be here and to see the support there is for the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games across all of the parties of government. It's a wonderful situation for us to be in.
That said, let me start by walking you through a little bit of history, so you can put some perspective on where we are today.
As you may or may not be aware, the official language commitments of Vancouver 2010 originated in a document referred to as the Multiparty Agreement, which basically was an agreement signed among all of the parties that were involved in the bid for the Olympic Games many years ago. This Multiparty Agreement, in fact, was the brainchild of a person who worked at Heritage Canada. It was an agreement we decided to develop way back, long before the games would be staged, that covered many areas, including language.
This agreement spoke very clearly, though, to what the obligations of the organizing committee were in respect to performing its functions around official languages. What I'm going to be telling you today is that we are far surpassing the obligations that we had, and I'll come back to that in a moment.
Let me start my presentation this way. Shortly after we got the games, we were a very small infant organization with very few resources. Today, of course, we've grown. We're becoming quite large. We're about 900 persons strong, and we're going to be an enterprise of about 50,000 by 2010, including volunteers from all over the country and around the world.
In the early days, we had a visit from some people at Heritage Canada who told us that they had great concerns about our ability and commitment to deliver against these obligations as they were outlined in the Multiparty Agreement. If they were here today, they would probably tell you that they think we have actually gone dramatically past those obligations, and we are trying to achieve a level of performance unprecedented in Olympic history and in Paralympic history. We're doing everything we possibly can not just to keep our promises, but to really rise to the occasion and to respect and celebrate the duality of Canada through the power of the Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games.
This formal agreement in place today among the organizing committee and the various partners, including the Government of Canada, is the first formal agreement of its kind in Olympic history. At the time, it was more about making sure we met the obligations, but I think behind it is our desire to really seize the opportunity that the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games give us to really showcase the unique linguistic duality of Canada in the most prolific way, and of course, especially while the world is watching us—and in our case, some 3.5 billion people will be watching the games from around the world.
For us, it's about quite a bit more than just language; it really is much more about the spirit of what linguistic duality itself is. What we have tried to do from the moment we started--or we would have risked failure--is to integrate official languages right into the organizational culture of Vancouver 2010. We have embedded a commitment to official languages right into our strategic plans. It exists in every division, every department, every function of the organizing committee. Whatever functional plan you look at--and as you can imagine, Vancouver 2010 is one of the most complex, complicated organizations in the country--you will find in every division and area a commitment to official languages. It's just part of everything that we are trying to do.
Frankly, if we tried just to live up to the basic obligations we have, I think we would really have undervalued the opportunity we have. We wouldn't really have seized the moment that we have to take advantage of what this duality really means in our country. While we want to perform at a very high level, we also want to set an example for future games. We have been told loud and clear that past organizing committees in different parts of the world have not performed particularly well in this area, so the expectations for us are pretty high. We are committed to demonstrating excellence wherever we can. We're doing everything we can to exceed expectations.
I would say that if you were to point to something about the performance of the organizing committee and say that this or that is not good enough, it would be because we made a mistake. It wouldn't be because of who we are. We are very committed to this, and I'll give you some examples of what I mean as we go forward.
We have a profoundly positive relationship with the francophone communities of Canada, all across the country. We've been in every province and territory. We meet with these communities all the time, and I think if they were sitting here beside us today they would confirm that they have a very good relationship with us. They see the opportunity much as we do.
We have profoundly positive relationships with the Government of Canada, the Commissioner of Official Languages, and Heritage Canada. We've been before the Senate committee, and I believe their findings on our performance so far have been quite positive.
Inside the organization—and you have to keep in mind that we are in Vancouver, a long way from Ottawa—25% of the Vancouver 2010 employees can communicate in both official languages very well. This is a dramatic departure from the local average, if you were to take the local average for any other business. We have tried extremely hard to make sure that we have strong capacity. This is especially true of the departments of Vancouver 2010 that are critical to helping us deliver on our outside performance. So we're dramatically ahead of the average.
Inside the organization, we have for years provided French classes to our staff, to our volunteers. We have people inside the organization who volunteer on a daily basis to teach French. As I sit here today in front of the committee, I can tell you that some 7,000 applicants for our volunteer program are fluent in French, which is a very good sign. We believe that by the time the games begin we will be able to provide these services at a very high level to those who need them. We'll be able to meet our obligations.
We have also tried very hard to make sure this spirit also exists inside the cultural programs of Vancouver 2010. We're working with the francophone community to make sure the Cultural Olympiad embodies that spirit in its work. This year, when we launched the Cultural Olympiad, which will go on for three years and conclude in 2010, we featured francophone artists and a global star on the opening night presentation in Vancouver. Everybody felt that this was a good sign and a great success.
We will have no difficulty in meeting our obligations in respect of signage. It will all be bilingual. It is now. We produce all of our press releases and documentation in both languages. Are we absolutely perfect? Of course not, but we are doing everything we can to grow and complement our expertise so that our performance will continue to serve as an example that everybody can be proud of.
Many of our national sponsors deal with this every day. They perform in both languages all the time. This is not the case for all of them, though, and wherever we can we try to encourage the sponsors to abide by essentially the same spirit.
One of the areas of concern that were brought to our attention many years ago here in Ottawa was the airport—what would happen when people landed in Vancouver, what it would feel like. A long time ago, long before we started to talk about official languages and what our obligations were, we concluded that the airport was a mission-critical facility for the games. This is true for many reasons: it's the place where people land, where they get their first impressions, where they get a sense of what this adventure is going to be like. Many years ago, we chose to pursue Vancouver International Airport not just as a facility for us to occupy and use during the games, but also as a fully pledged partner. They are in fact a third-tier sponsor of the games.
When you land at Vancouver International Airport, you will land in an Olympic venue. It will be like landing right in the middle of the Olympic Games. You will be met by bilingual signage, with all of the proper sounds and announcements in both languages. There will be volunteers and staff who speak both languages fluently. The atmosphere will send a message that you're in Canada, that this duality is here. It will be quite impressive, and it is already moving in that direction. We have a spectacularly good partner here. It's a tremendous opportunity to show what can be achieved when you work with a good partner who has the same passion for this as you have.
So our progress has been good and we're receiving pretty good international commendation for how this has all gone so far, but there are still lots of challenges. This is a very big undertaking for us. We're obviously building our capacity as we go. Most of what we're doing is being funded by our sponsors; we're not separately funded for this. So we're trying to find ways wherever we can to improvise and grow our capacity so we can perform at a high level.
We expect to be held to account, and we are held to account. We hear regularly from people who would like our performance to be better than it is. But overall, over the past three years we have gone from struggling somewhat with this to pretty well getting ahead of it. Now we're in a position where we believe we can do a spectacularly good job and make the country proud, so everybody will feel that this was one of our finest hours. We're certainly trying our best to do that.
We're proud of our progress. There's lots to do, and any help we can get from any entity or partner is welcome. But today we are well set to perform at the highest level of any organizing committee in Olympic history.
I would be happy to take any questions, ideas, or comments you have on all of that.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
[Translation]
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I would like to thank you for appearing before us this morning. You have clearly spoken about significant issues with regard to bilingualism, and the need to provide bilingual services within the organizing committee. I nevertheless have a few questions for you.
Being from New Brunswick, I am very much attuned to the importance of bilingualism. Mr. Furlong, you mentioned a number of elements. For example, you said that you had established good relations with the francophone community of British Columbia. However, having good relations is one thing, but I would like to know how the francophone community in British Columbia directly participates in the organizing committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.
[English]
Let me start, and then I'll hand it over to my colleague.
First of all, the relationships are positive. They're ongoing and the dialogue is continuing week in and week out. They're engaged almost on a day-to-day, week-to-week basis in the work we're doing.
But I'll let Francine give you a more detailed comment on how that all plays out.
[Translation]
First of all, we signed a cooperative agreement with the Fondation dialogue and the Fédération des francophones de la Colombie-Britannique, in November 2006. That is more than a written agreement. We organize quarterly meetings and deal with specific files for which the francophone community can truly provide us with assistance, in such sectors as culture, education and volunteer work. We therefore work together on those various files and projects, and we meet on a quarterly basis. I set up meetings with the persons who are directly responsible for those issues within the francophone community. The Fondation dialogue and the Fédération des francophones attend those meetings; we come together to work on those files.
If I understood correctly, the discussions are held during regularly scheduled meetings. An agreement was signed, as you indicated, but is there a direct relationship? Is the francophone community directly integrated into the organization? And I mean in addition to quarterly meetings and the like or when you need their assistance. Is the francophone community engaged? It perhaps did not want to get involved; that might be what you will tell us. Is the community now directly engaged in the organization of the Olympic Games?
The francophone community is active in a number of areas. For example, a representative of the francophone community of British Columbia is participating directly in VANOC's educational sector committee. As well, francophone community representatives are working in close cooperation with the person responsible for the cultural component on the development of a specific project, i.e., the Place de la francophonie on Granville Island. They are not working within our building, but we have numerous discussions with them.
Recently, someone from the federation has been coming to work one day a week to better focus on the various files. Someone was made available for that purpose.
[English]
To fully answer the question, I think you almost have to ask both entities at the same time. If you were to speak directly to the francophone community about how they feel about the relationship, I think they would say that it's been carved out quite well to work in a very positive way, that it's a good one. They have no outstanding queries about it. I think they feel it's quite progressive and is working well. Part of the reason for having the relationship is to give them the opportunity to speak, in a way, for the way they would like this to work.
We told them, in our initial presentation, that this needs to be great for you and great for us, so let's work with each other to develop the perfect relationship for you to be able to achieve your goals and for you to be able to help us achieve our goals. And I would say that they feel it's quite positive.
[Translation]
[English]
The answer to that question is that there will be full consideration of the duality of Canada in the developing of this. The ceremony plan is not done yet, but it's part of the planning work that's going on today. They certainly have been involved in all of the work that has taken place up to today. There have been seminars and workshops for the last several months with all of these communities, including many from Quebec and many from New Brunswick. The whole country has come to Vancouver to collaborate with us on how that ceremony program is going to be put together.
[Translation]
I would ask you not to follow the example of the CBC, which stated that, because francophone artists weren't very well-known with anglophone audiences, it would not broadcast their performances.
TQS, the broadcaster which is under the protection of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, has just announced the complete dismantlement of its news service. TQS is one of the partners that will broadcast the Olympic Games to francophones. Things at TQS appear to be very unclear at the moment.
Do you have a plan B to ensure that the small francophone communities in Canada will be able to watch the Olympic Games in French?
[English]
First of all, they're not our partner, and neither is CTV our partner. CTV and the channel you speak of are partners with the IOC. For us, we're an advocate, and we want to achieve the same outcome as you want--that is, to make sure that Canadians get to watch the Olympic Games in their living room in the language of their choice.
We have no contractual arrangement with CTV other than that we've been working with them. We're working with the Government of Canada, with the official languages commissioner's office, and with the television companies trying to find a way to come up with a solution that can work. This is a complex situation, and we have influence but no power in this area.
Just prior to the last meeting before the Senate committee on languages, I gave Minister Emerson an undertaking--albeit this is not an area where we actually have any control--that we at Vancouver 2010 would be working to try to bring the various players together to have the dialogue that we need to have. After all, this is Canada, and we should be better than this, but it's complicated. We will be trying to bring as much influence to bear as we can to find a solution to the problem so that Canadians can watch the Olympic Games the way they want to watch it.
[Translation]
Thank you, Mr. Furlong.
Thank you, Mr. D'Amours.
We will move on to Mr. Nadeau. You have seven minutes.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I am extremely skeptical. Not so long ago, the newspapers indicated that VANOC wanted to recruit people who spoke Mandarin and English for the Beijing Games that will be held very shortly. A press release was distributed stating that that was not what was meant. And yet, that was what was written in the media. Unfortunately, the government never answered our question, and preferred speaking to us about the Vancouver Olympic Games.
That said, can you publicly state that the third parties with which you are now signing contracts will provide services in both official languages, in French and English, to all persons who will ask for services in French during the Olympic Games in Vancouver?
[English]
[Translation]
We will check up on that.
As Mr. D'Amours said, the official languages commissioner is very concerned by the fact that Quebeckers and francophone Canadians without cable access might not be able to watch the games in French if they so wish. We were talking about TQS and whether it would be possible to reach between 95% and 100% of audiences.
You referred to CTV, but did Radio-Canada, which is the state broadcaster, step in to ensure the broadcasting of the Olympic Games both in French and English?
[English]
I'm not sure exactly what I can add to what I've said, but let me just set this up for you so that you understand how this all came together and what we can do.
Vancouver 2010 has no role in negotiating television contracts with anyone. These are done exclusively by the IOC, and in the case of Canada, they had a competition between CTV and their group of companies and the CBC. Those negotiations were separate from Vancouver 2010. We had no role, no influence, and we weren't present for them. So when the IOC did its contract with CTV, that was a contract between the IOC and CTV, and whatever obligations to the IOC were contained in that contract, CTV has to live up to.
In Canada, of course, we have high expectations that the performance of the television companies will be the way you've just described. Our influences in this are really quite limited, other than the fact that we don't like being in this position where we have Canadians contacting us and saying, “We want to be able to watch the Olympic Games in French and English equally, whenever we like”--and we agree with that.
So the best that we have been able to do is to put our foot down and ask everybody who can play a role in this to get around the table and see if we can't find a solution.
Now, there have been some efforts made at this, and I think Heritage Canada--
[Translation]
Mr. Furlong, I understand what you are saying and it is all very interesting. Are you telling me that you do not have the mandate to ensure that the Olympic Games are broadcast equally in both official languages?
The television contracts are something else altogether. We make do with what is given to us. Does no one have the mandate to ensure that the Olympic Games are broadcast in both languages?
[English]
What I'm saying to you is that for television we do not have that mandate. We have the mandate to deliver in both languages in everything but that. This contract has got--
[Translation]
[English]
No. I report to the board of directors of Vancouver 2010. The situation you describe is a complex one, but the television contract that you speak of is a television contract that exists between the Canadian television company and the IOC. We are not a signatory to that.
The only way we benefit from that contract is that some funds from that are provided to the organizing committee to help stage the games. But in that contract, the IOC holds the television companies accountable for the services they provide--
[Translation]
I understand. Now if I am not mistaken, there might not have been an interested francophone broadcaster and no broadcasts in French. In any case, that is not part of your mandate. We will eventually hear from officials at Radio-Canada.
As for the contracts pertaining to services at the airport, Olympic Games and the services provided by sponsors, you have good hope, but they are not part of your mandate. That is very troubling. You and I know that if there are shortcomings in services offered in French at the start of the Olympic Games, that will make headlines faster than we can imagine.
On another note, the documents that were handed to us indicate that there will be twice the amount of broadcasting hours in English than there will be in French. If I understand correctly, that does not fall under your purview either. They are planning 550 hours in French and 1,117 hours in English.
[English]
No. The application from Canadian television to the IOC was made exclusive of Vancouver 2010.
Let me go back and be really clear. We have full obligations for absolutely everything to do with the delivery of these services except that contract you speak of. We have no role in television. The best we have is influence, and we are applying that influence vigorously. We have talked to CTV, we have talked to Heritage, we have talked to Official Languages, we've talked to everybody who may have some role to play in this to get those who have the ability to do it to find a way to do it.
[Translation]
Mr. Nadeau, thank you very much, that is very kind.
You may answer later on.
We will move on to Mr. Godin.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I wouldn't want the answer to use up my time. He might want to respond during the time allotted to the Bloc Québécois.
I would like to welcome you to this meeting. I would like to come back to the issue of CTV. Do you have any control over the contracts that are signed, as well as over the requests for proposals? For example, I have before me a contract entitled:
[English]
“Request for proposals, RFP No. 114, issued by Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, VANOC.”
Is that you?
On page 7, it states: “Proposals should be in English, or in French accompanied by a full English translation. The English language version of the Proposal governs, and the Contract will be in the English language.”
[Translation]
It is said that the requests can be in both English and French, but a francophone will have to draft it in English, and if he does so in French, he will have to have it translated, and the translated version will be the authoritative one, even though we are in a bilingual country.
After that request for proposal was drafted, we realized that a mistake had been made because, at the outset, we had asked that all proposals be drafted in English. We then found a way for people to submit their proposals in French. We will either have a team of people to assess proposals submitted in French, or have them translated before assessment.
Will proposals be assessed in French or in English? In the contract, it is written, and I quote:
[English]
“the Contract will be in the English language”.
[Translation]
We will be able to assess proposals, regardless of whether they are drafted in one of the two languages. But the signed contract will be drafted in English.
There might well be in Canada, but in British Columbia... That is not something we thought about. That might be something to reassess.
If I may, I think that there is really a problem here. We are talking about the Olympic Games that will take place in Canada and will be sponsored by the government. If a francophone company submits a proposal in English for a contract in Vancouver, it will be at a disadvantage. It will have to use English-speaking lawyers or French-speaking lawyers who understand English well enough. The interpretation will be done in English, and if there are mistakes, the company's representatives will be told that the interpretation is different in English than in French and, unfortunately, they will not be getting the contract.
Thank you.
With respect to CTV and TQS, you said that the IOC is responsible for television networks. What does IOC stand for?
[English]
[Translation]
Are you telling me that the Canadian government has handed over responsibility to a Swiss company that will be telling Canadians how to watch the Olympic Games?
[English]
Basically how it works is that when you apply for the Olympic Games, you have to meet certain criteria and obligations. One of the undertakings you agree to is that the IOC will negotiate two things on your behalf. One is television—
They'll do two things that, let's say, you don't do. Let me put it that way. You can apply whatever rationale you would want to it. I know it's complicated.
Let me finish.
They negotiate television contracts worldwide with every television company that wishes to cover the Olympic Games. Canada is kind of unique in that we have this particular situation that doesn't exist in most countries.
It's not a problem at all. I think it's extraordinarily positive for us to have it.
Anyway, they do that, and in addition to that, they negotiate contracts with international sponsors, companies such as McDonald's and Coca-Cola. Out of those contracts they allocate funding to organizing committees.
These contracts are done directly with the IOC. We do not get these contracts. They are done by them. We're allocated a certain amount of funding from the overall global television pot, if you like, and we are given those funds to execute the games. But the specific contracts between the television companies and the IOC are done by them in Switzerland. They're negotiated in Switzerland, not in Canada.
When this was done originally, it looked like it was possible that we could achieve everything we would have wanted, because CTV had the capacity to do this. Clearly, there's a challenge. The challenge was raised with CTV by everyone involved in this right away. Now, of course, we have a new situation with TQS, which has just evolved.
All I can tell you is that we have, as much as we are able to with the influence that we have, done everything we can to draw everyone's attention to the desire and the need for everybody to rise to the occasion and deliver these services the way Canadians would like them. As an organization, we have done everything we can to try to keep this on the front burner. We've talked to official languages about it, we've talked to Heritage Canada about it, and there have been a lot of other discussions going on.
I think people are hopeful that we can get to a good solution. It's not something that's just simmering on the back burner. People are talking about this every day. So we would like to achieve this, but my point is that what we have is influence; we do not have the ability to say to somebody, you're in violation of your contract. Their contract is not with Vancouver 2010. We are not a signatory to any television contract for the Olympic Games.
[Translation]
Thank you very much.
I want to thank you for being here today with us. I'm very pleased to see how seriously you take your commitment to make sure that both our official languages are present throughout the activities involved in the 2010 Olympic Games. I think it is very important to guarantee a place for both official languages and the involvement of francophones from across Canada.
Your commitment to the Fédération des francophones de la Colombie-Britannique and the Fondation canadienne pour le dialogue des cultures is a good thing. I also know that you have signed agreements with Quebec and New Brunswick. I would like to know if you can give us details about the responsibilities of each partner.
[English]
For example, you have these different partners, these different groups, that are offering you input. Are they all doing the same thing, or do they each have a different mandate? Do they each have their own area of responsibility? Could you explain that to us?
It's a great question, and it's actually a key question in terms of the overall philosophy of the organization. What we tried to do was give every province and territory a role in the Olympic Games, sort of on their own terms. When you look at our country, every part of the country is uniquely different from every other part. So what we wanted to try to do was embody the best of each region and the overall spirit of the games.
For example, our very first partner was the Province of Quebec. We thought at the time, in the early days, when we were still fairly naive and growing as an organization, that Quebec could do a lot to help us achieve our overall mission, and not just in the area of duality of language. It happens to be the number one province in Canada for athletes today for sport. They win the most medals at the games. We wanted to try to find a way to take the best of what Quebec could bring to the Olympics and bring that onside.
We signed a preliminary agreement with each province and territory, which was to be followed by a more detailed one that would focus very much on the things we would want to have from that region plus the things they would like to achieve for their own region. For example, it's not unreasonable to think that at the games there'd be a Quebec Day and an Ontario Day and a New Brunswick Day. There would be a lot of stuff that happens on those days that really features and profiles those areas of the country.
When we sat down to talk with New Brunswick, as an example, one of the things that struck them in our early discussions was that they might be able to help us with translation. It's a complex problem for us, because we don't have an oversupply in B.C. So we have to find creative ways to overcome that. Not everybody wants to come to Vancouver to work for two years and then not have a job. So we've been looking at ways we can take advantage of some of these services and opportunities that exist in some of these regions of the country. We want to bring them onside and allow each province and territory to be engaged in helping to deliver the Olympics on their own terms. Each one would look a little different. Newfoundland has a different reason for being there, say, than Alberta and the Yukon have.
As it's moving forward now--and we're not finished with this yet--there's a very good chance that this will be one of the very few events we've ever done at which every region of the country will have its own place. They'll have their own role, their own programs, their own investments in the teams, and so on. They'll be able to claim that this is as much theirs as it is ours. That was the goal behind this. It was a way to embellish this whole vision we had of making this about the whole country and not about a few elite organizers in Vancouver. It was bringing everybody onside.
Hopefully that gives you a sense of it. Many of these files are being worked through as we speak to try to make the best situation possible for us and for that particular region of the country.
[Translation]
Regarding the Fédération des francophones de la Colombie-Britannique and the Fondation canadienne pour le dialogue des cultures,
[English]
these two organizations, how do they interact with your committee?
We have a collaboration with them. So we look at what we can do and where we can work together on certain projects. It's mostly about bringing official languages alive, because there are a lot of projects that involve francophonie nationally. They have formed a coordination committee that includes people from each province to look at the aspects of education, cultural programming, volunteering, and all this. They have formed this committee. They are working on projects and they link with us. This is where, when we organize this quarterly meeting, they inform us of their progress and where we also inform them of our progress on the different functions that are linked to that.
So basically we work together. It's another way to engage each one of the provinces on the official languages aspect of organizing that part of the games.
[Translation]
Can you give us examples of concrete initiatives that have been recommended or proposed by those two organizations?
Yes. In the area of education, one of the projects is a virtual torch relay. When the torch relay actually begins in Canada, there will be a virtual relay in schools in the various francophone communities. The schools will be linked for this purpose. There will be festivities and celebrations organized.
On the cultural front, we have the Place de la francophonie which is a large-scale project. It will be located on Granville island. Francophones will gather there during the Olympic Games to enjoy a variety of francophone cultural programming at the national level. We are working together on those kinds of projects.
Yes. In British Columbia, there is only L'Express du Pacifique. When we need to advertise in English newspapers, it is sometimes impossible to do it simultaneously in L'Express du Pacifique because it is published only every two weeks. It is difficult. We cannot wait. When the francophone newspaper is not available, we make sure that the ads appear in both official languages in the anglophone paper.
[English]
Thank you, Mr. Lemieux.
We'll now start the second round. This time it's five minutes each.
[Translation]
Ms. Fry, it is your turn.
[English]
My question is for John.
You've signed an agreement with Quebec, and I understand you've been dealing with training for the athletes, employees, volunteers, etc. However, I want to ask specifically about the Cultural Olympiad, the cultural part of the games. I have been working very closely with the Fédération on what they plan to do culturally and, of course, with the whole coordinating group on the culture part.
You have had lots of sponsorship. You've been very successful with sponsorship. What percentage of your sponsorship are you putting into the Cultural Olympiad now? You said earlier that the Fédération say they have a great relationship with you. However, how much of the money are you putting into the Cultural Olympiad for the French language and culture or the francophonie across the country? Are they putting forward their cultural piece just like every other cultural piece, or is there a specific amount of money put aside just for the French culture? If so, how much is it?
Second, I know that the Fédération has asked for a francophone cultural village to be put on Granville Island so they can have this whole village and everyone can see all of the francophonie from Canada there. Is that going to happen? I think it's extremely important. I would like to see that fast-forwarded and you put your money into that.
Finally, what are you doing about bilingual signage? British Columbia doesn't have a lot of bilingual signage. Is there going to be bilingual signage everywhere when you come to the games?
Those are all good questions.
The signage is easy. It will all be bilingual. We are in the habit now of producing everything that way. The classic example, and hopefully one to follow in the future, will be the airport. I think you'll be quite impressed.
On the Cultural Olympiad and the ceremonies, I'm going to pull the two of them together. You have to keep in mind that the cultural program is one program, not two. So the program intends to celebrate what we should be celebrating: the full duality and cultural capacity of Canada. It's a significant investment of tens of millions of dollars and will go into a program that is supposed to live up to that expectation. It will include French, English, and other artists, and it will spread over three years. It has already started. I couldn't possibly give you the breakdown, but it's a significant amount of money.
Let me put it to you this way. I think the best way for me to describe how this is working is to just tell you how it's being set up. For the Cultural Olympiad and the ceremonies, we have engaged the full cultural community of Canada--Quebec, every province and territory, everybody is there. The plan is to put on the very best event we can. There are major influences from Quebec, eastern Canada, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, and all across the country to power that up.
I think you're going to be very proud of the outcome. We can get you an estimate, but I could not give you that number off the top of my head today. It's a considerable investment of dollars.
I really wanted to find out if the francophone cultural component of that is going to be treated just like any other culture--like music, dance, jazz, multiculturalism, etc.--or is it going to be given a specific recognition as a bilingual or bicultural component of Canada in terms of the linguistic duality of Canada? Is it going to be specifically represented? Is there going to be the village at Granville Island specifically to deal with everything to do with the culture--French culture, French food--but putting aside the games part of it?
I'll let my colleague deal with the village question, but the Cultural Olympiad is governed by the broad spirit of the country. It is the governing culture, and inside it you will have specific programs, but the program is French-English. It's both together. That's what we do. That's who we are.
La Maison de la francophonie is the village you are referring to. We are working very closely with the Fédération des francophones de la Colombie-Britannique and other organizations that will also have a part of Granville Island at games time. They are looking into that place to portray certain shows. We are wanting to work with them and associate with them because maybe we can leverage what they're doing or they can leverage what we are planning to do. We are working very closely with Granville Island, because we have a liaison with it through our cultural program director. Whether it's going to happen or not, the chance is that it will absolutely happen.
Right now we are looking into the funding. I know that FFCB has put in a request for dollars to Canadian Heritage. This has been looked at, and I think it's going to go through because we are truly supporting it. We are wanting to make this an important part of the cultural programming at games time.
As well, we want to put this as part of our cultural programming of the Olympics and not something isolated. We want to make sure it's all part of it. We're going to promote it to make sure it becomes a place where everybody wants to go because it's so culturally very well displayed and will showcase what we want to showcase.
[Translation]
[English]
I just want to make sure there's real clarity on what the overriding influence is in terms of how the Cultural Olympiad is being put together. If you had attended the opening night in Vancouver on February 12, you would have walked away with the impression that we had the cultural aspects of this down right. The entire show was in both languages; it was culturally diverse, but there was a very strong component from French Canada on stage performing. You would have walked away and concluded that we had tried to respect the major cultures of the country and some of the others. I think you would have said that, given all of what we have to do, we have our vision in the right place.
[Translation]
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I would like to thank Mr. Furlong and Ms. Bolduc for being here this morning.
In your introduction, you spoke about an important partnership with the Vancouver Airport. You seem to have placed a great deal of emphasis on this partnership. Of course, as you explained in your comments, this is where many people will arrive, including those who come from Quebec. Often, when people travel to B.C., they arrive by plane. I imagine that when I get off an Air Canada plane—on which I assume I will have received bilingual service—I will arrive at an airport where someone will greet me in French, if only to help me get to the city and to provide me with some information.
I am somewhat removed from this event, because it will not be happening in my province. Since you seem to be very proud of what the airport intends to do, I would like to know what leads you to say that the airport itself will become an ultra-bilingual centre, to use that expression. I have some doubts about that, and not as regards the airport. We have dealings with Air Canada, with the people at that company, and I swear that sometimes their vision is that everything is in English from coast to coast. They do not even know how to speak French. As a francophone, I need some reassurance when I reach the Vancouver Airport. You seem very enthusiastic about that. Do you have reasons to be so enthusiastic?
[English]
It's a good question. Let me just set it up this way. First of all, we always thought this was an ideal location to really drive home the message that you're in Canada and this is who we are. So we've always wanted that.
We also concluded, in some of our discussions with some of our partners, that airports are a concern. At best, the language services and welcoming services are sporadic in the area that you talked about and are not maybe as they necessarily should be. Our goal was to make sure the airport really performed at the highest level possible and that we could really showcase the duality of Canada at the airport.
But what makes it work is the passion of the airport for this. Since we first met with the airport and talked to them about what we wanted to try to achieve, their whole approach to this has been to completely support the vision that we have. They're completely onside with becoming the first airport in Olympic history to be a partner in delivering the games. They know exactly what our expectations of them are.
They have made it possible for us to fully set up at the airport, so that we can integrate into the airport ourselves. We can put our volunteers there. We can accredit people at the airport. So when you arrive, it'll be like arriving in an Olympic stadium in Canada, with the whole look and feel and sounds that the games suggest.
The airport is also a highly valued operation in Vancouver, and we believe that this relationship we have with them will best reflect what it is we're trying to achieve through the prism of the Olympics.
[Translation]
I have a very brief question. I would like to hear what you think. So once a person leaves the airport, there are restaurants and hotels in the city. There is not just the Olympic village. People like myself will want to go to Vancouver. What is the atmosphere like there? Will private businesses be involved in the bilingualism effort? Let us assume that I arrive in Vancouver as a unilingual francophone who likes sports. I get there, I get off the plane, I am greeted at the airport, but once I am out of the airport, what will it be like when I have to deal with private businesses?
[English]
That's a good question. I have to say that this came up at the last meeting of the Senate committee as well, and the question of what we are going to do. Let's separate them.
With the hotels, we gave an undertaking to try to make sure that, as much as we are able to, we will influence the hotels to deliver the signals in the hotels in both languages, so you'll be able to watch in the appropriate spirit and way that you would like.
Also, we gave an undertaking that we would try to influence the restaurants to do the same thing. You can expect, as you would in an Olympic city, that the restaurants will have televisions on. There'll be a lot of excitement. Each one will be full, and we will do what we can to do that.
But as you move around the city and we apply the look of the games, you'll have no doubt where you are and you'll have no doubt what country you're in. You'll have no doubt you're at the Olympics. All the signage will be the way you would want, and our team will be....
This is integrated into the operations of Vancouver 2010 today, as we go along. Notwithstanding the question from this member earlier about whether we will make mistakes here and there--we will--in general we are trying to get the highest performance that we can in this area. We want you to be proud of this. We will be looking for every way we can to really elevate this to the place it needs to be.
I think that so far I would give us, for some of our performances, a B, but we're moving this way. It's not perfect, but it's not bad, and it's far away from where we were at the beginning. I hope that by games time we can get a gold medal in this area.
[Translation]
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I would like to thank Ms. Bolduc and Mr. Furlong for being here today.
I too am skeptical, I have my doubts. It is all very well for me to be a believer, but I do have some major misgivings. I have problems with bilingualism in Canada. The best example is that people often say that bilingual service is available, but it is really limited to "bonjour" and "merci".
Take the example of the National Prayer Breakfast. I have been invited to the National Prayer Breakfast, which is in two weeks. I went last year as well; I had heard that it was supposed to be bilingual. The only words spoken by Mr. Anderson, the moderator of the event, were: "Bonjour, bienvenue". Everything else was in English. And this was supposed to be bilingual. If that is what you call bilingualism, we can do without it!
Your presentation this morning, Mr. Furlong, is another good illustration of what I mean. Your presentation lasted 10 minutes, and you spoke in English for 10 minutes. You did not say one word in French. You are the chief executive officer of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games. I do not think you would have got your position had you been a unilingual francophone. In my opinion, bilingualism means that French and English are equal. Often that is not what happens in organizations or in presentations.
I think the International Olympic Committee has a rule that French and English are the official languages of the Olympic Games. Earlier, you said that coverage by the French-language media was not your responsibility. I think that as the chief executive officer, it is up to you to ensure that French be given equal weight in presentations out of respect for the francophones of this country.
I do not know, but I think that if the official languages of the Olympic Games are French and English, you must have a mandate to ensure that French and English are equally represented in the coverage of the games throughout the country.
[English]
Thank you for your comments. We take them seriously. But I didn't say we were not responsible for media coverage. We are responsible for media coverage; it's television that we do not have a mandate in, regarding how that's done. But for media, we do.
For example, at Vancouver 2010, when we have a board meeting, the board meeting is followed by a fully bilingual press conference where we have a fully bilingual emcee. We have members of the board who are bilingual, members of the staff who are bilingual. We communicate the full findings of the meeting to the media, and we interview in both French and English following those meetings.
We issue all our press releases in French and English. We do radio and television interviews all the time in both languages, and we have the staff and a growing capacity to do that. As you can imagine, for an organization that started with one or two people, we've had to build this capacity. And as I said, today--
[Translation]
You said that earlier, but if there is no media coverage, even if everything is done bilingually at the games, if I am watching the Olympics in Quebec, I have no access to broadcasts in French. This is true of many people. Not everyone can actually go to Vancouver to see the games.
So will there be good coverage by both the French-language and English-language media?
[English]
I would say they are. The exception I have to give you...and I will answer the question.
For everybody except television, it will be fully bilingual, every service, and for television we will put every influence we have to bear to try to make sure the signals are distributed the way you would like. This is obviously in our interests as well. I would be extremely disappointed and feel like we have failed if Canadians didn't get to watch the Olympic Games on television in their own language. But we have some influences and some powers.
Everything that we have direct control over will be fully bilingual. That's a fact, and that's how it will be done. And that's how it is typically done at the Olympics.
[Translation]
You said earlier that you had entered into some agreements with Quebec, because you needed Quebec's help to train bilingual staff, volunteers and others.
Does that mean that the francophone communities elsewhere in Canada cannot do this work or provide service in French? Is Quebec's involvement absolutely required in this effort?
[English]
First of all, the 7,000 volunteer applications we have are not all from Quebec. Some are from Quebec, some are from Ontario, some are from B.C., and some are from different parts of the world. The capacity has come from everywhere, so we will certainly have influences from all over the country--some from New Brunswick, some from Newfoundland. We will have the capacity we need.
Quebec is a very important partner and player in the Olympic Games. It has enormous influences because there's huge capacity there culturally, athletically, in terms of facilities and otherwise. Also, many of our partners are in Quebec. Many of our major sponsors are headquartered in Quebec. So they're very involved in helping us do the job we have to do. I would say that the capacity we have in this area comes from many places; Quebec happens to be quite strong.
[Translation]
You have said several times, Mr. Furlong, that your organization is not responsible for broadcasting the games. You may exert some influence, but you are not responsible for the broadcasting contracts. However, as regards the areas that do come under your responsibility, you are quite sure that everything will be in both official languages. That is what I heard.
[English]
[Translation]
The IOC in Switzerland is an international organization, but who is responsible for the broadcasting contract in Canada? Is it Sport Canada, the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages, the Department of Canadian Heritage?
[English]
The IOC has a direct relationship with the television company. They negotiated the contract and made all the arrangements. They supervise all of what CTV can do or cannot do at the Olympics.
CTV cannot do anything in French, and RDS, RIS, and TQS are not broadcast by Rogers in Winnipeg, Cornwall, Toronto, Fredericton....
[Translation]
, to mention only a few.
[English]
[Translation]
The IOC is in Switzerland. Who in Canada is responsible for telling the IOC that we have two languages here, and that this is an advantage? It is more than an advantage, it is a must. Maybe you do not know that. We will save time if you tell me that you do not know the answer.
[English]
I do have an answer. We would be responsible for communicating with the IOC if a particular situation existed and they were aware of it.
[Translation]
All you can do is try to influence people. You do not have the authority to tell the IOC that Canada is a completely bilingual country, or is supposed to be. We could also say that Canada has an Official Languages Act, but that people fail to comply with it every day. Who has the responsibility to say to the IOC: "It's a must in Canada, that's what we need"? Who will tell the IOC that it is breaking the laws of Canada, because it has chosen television networks that are not broadcast throughout the country, and that this is simply not good enough? Is that one of your responsibilities?
[English]
A number of different sources could have been responsible. I'm not sure “responsible” is necessarily the word. I think we all are responsible for trying to get to a solution.
I'm not looking for a solution. The solution, that is something else. Who is responsible for saying to the IOC that when they come to Canada they need to broadcast in both official languages? If it is not done, who do they have to answer to? Who is responsible for ensuring that it is broadcast in both languages? Who is it in the government? When I say “who”, I am asking which department.
I wouldn't say that. That wouldn't be a fair assessment. There are many who have some influence or who would have something to say about this. It's a complicated matter. It's something that has come up time and time again. We're well aware of everybody's concern. We have tried and continue to try to get all capable parties to help to find a solution.
CTV is as interested in finding a solution to this as we are. So are many others. As far as we can tell, no one entity is able to solve this on its own.
The Government of Canada could do it. They could say that there are two public television broadcasters in our country, one of which is called Radio-Canada. We'll give it to the one paid for by the taxpayer. That should be easy. We went to the Winter Games in Bathurst, and we found out that the games were being broadcast in French at 3 a.m. and 2 a.m. I brought it to the House of Commons, and finally they found a solution.
As I understand it, there was a discussion between CTV and the CBC about the possibility of their working together to make sure we got the coverage. I don't think those discussions went as well as they could have. Perhaps we could look at those again. As I said, people are trying to find a solution that will work for everybody.
[Translation]
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Ms. Bolduc and Mr. Furlong.
Like Mr. Lemieux and Mr. Godin, I represent a large bilingual region, a riding in northern Ontario where the cities of Kapuskasing, Hearst, Smooth Rock Falls, and others, are located. I very much appreciate the fact that you entered into an agreement to ensure that some of the volunteers and employees will be francophones.
Are any efforts being made to invite francophones from outside Quebec and outside British Columbia to be involved as volunteers, employees, or in some other capacity?
[English]
I just want to find some assurance that with all your efforts, the people of the large French-speaking communities outside of Quebec--such as my area of northern Ontario, Pierre's area of eastern Ontario, Yvon's in Acadie in New Brunswick, and J.C. D'Amours' area--can be included as well.
What success have you had so far? What efforts are being made? Nothing is perfect, and I appreciate that, but what would you see as being the final rate of inclusion of francophones from those areas?
When we announced our volunteer program, I think on February 12, we had on the first day 1.3 million hits on our website. These came from everywhere.
The province of Ontario, next to British Columbia, is the biggest subscriber on the volunteer application list today. There are thousands of people from Ontario who have already applied. That could be largely because Ontario is a full partner. They have made an investment in the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, we're delighted to say. Although I don't have the specifics for your region, I suspect, sitting here, that there are people from your region who have applied. I would be very happy to go and have a look and see for you and give you a more specific answer.
We did a national campaign at the very beginning, and it took off. Within weeks, 40,000-plus people didn't just go onto the website but they also filled out a very complex application form. They've agreed to stop doing what they're doing for a month, come to British Columbia at their own cost, find a place to stay, train to be a volunteer at the Olympics, do the job that has to be done, and go home again, all because they want to serve their country.
So it is a very positive program. As I said, Ontario at this moment is the second biggest subscriber of individuals to support that program. And it's thousands of people, not tens or hundreds.
[Translation]
I would just like to know approximately how many francophones responded when you invited people to work as volunteers.
[English]
I'm not looking for any great research on this--your team is busy enough as it is--but I know that on the form you would tick off bilingual or English-speaking. I'd be happy to know just generally the response rate, among those tens of thousands of responses, maybe outside of Quebec to the call to volunteer. If it's a percentage that's relative to the total population, that would be satisfactory to me, but if it's small in relation to the total, I might suggest further efforts in those areas to promote one's ability to participate as a volunteer.
That's good advice. If there's an area where we can get an edge or find more, I would be very happy to take your lead on that.
As it stands today, approximately 7,000 of 40,000 in the system have declared themselves to be fluent and thus able to provide services to the level that we would require them to. I have to say, though, that we're just processing this now. We expect this number to grow from 40,000 to 60,000 before we start looking around for where we can find the most talented that we can find.
So we'll take a look. If there is merit in targeting some more areas, we will certainly see if we can do that. It certainly wouldn't hurt to look a little more and see if we can get those numbers up a bit higher.
One thing I can say is that although it's never enough, we were highly encouraged by the number. You know, in our province, where the percentage of francophones is quite small compared to the rest of the provinces--it is a large number, but small by comparison--this was a very large number for us on first go-round. So we're very encouraged by it, largely because we have obligations and we want to do a good job. But if we had more, that would be even better.
[Translation]
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Gravel raised an important issue just as I was finishing my questioning. We should not forget that the International Olympic Committee has two official languages—French and English—just as Canada does. I think this gives you a double obligation to ensure that everything is in French and in English. We know that Vancouver was competing with other cities for the Olympic Games a few years back. That means you are sort of a third party to the federal government in hosting the Olympic Games in Vancouver.
Is it correct to say that you are a third party of the federal government in hosting the Olympic Games?
[English]
I'm not sure. We were the bid committee, and the federal government and the Province of British Columbia were assigned partners in that endeavour. Yes, I think that would be fair.
[Translation]
[English]
[Translation]
Fine. As I understand it, when a third party represents the federal government, it must respect all of the laws of the federal government. One of the laws you must respect is the Official Languages Act, just as all departments must. You deal with subcontractors for sponsorships, advertisings and other matters, because that it how promotional work is done. The objective is also to ensure maximum efficiency.
Under their contracts, do subcontractors face the same requirements as you, namely to ensure that everything is in both languages?
[English]
It would be a stretch for me to say yes to that. I would say that many perform this way every day, especially the big companies we are affiliated with. But some of the smaller ones, no. As much as we're able to, we try to influence them. For example, when we sign a small partner in some area, they may be the only applicant to provide a particular service to the games that's critical for us. We would announce them in both languages, and we would do all of those things properly. But do they function fully bilingually? Most probably don't. Some do. With some, it's easy. In fact some prefer to perform in French only. But for most, I would say the answer is no. It would not be fair to say that the majority of them would have capacity in this area.
[Translation]
Will francophone athletes from Quebec or elsewhere in Canada be served in French at the Olympic Games at all of the activities—reception services, training, competition, post-competition, right up until the time they leave Vancouver? Will they be able to live as though they were in a francophone environment?
[English]
[Translation]
[English]
[Translation]
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, Mr. Furlong and Ms. Bolduc, for being here today.
This is very helpful, and I'm sensing that there are things you have some control over and some things you don't—the TV contract particularly—and I guess my sense of it is that you don't own the Olympic Games. The Olympic Games are an international organization. We've been blessed and have the honour in Canada of hosting the games. You are the hosts and doing a remarkable job, I think. But this is something that all countries, or many countries, want to bid on, to have the Olympic Games. But you don't own the games; you don't control the games. Although it's based in Switzerland, it really is without nationality. It's an international organization.
This became clearer with the questions from Monsieur Godin and Monsieur Nadeau. It seems that you're doing the best you can to have an influence on that. The Olympics have two official languages, French and English, which is convenient to us. But what you've done, what you've reported here today, would suggest to me that we've come a long way, even since the Olympic Games in Montreal. I think these are probably going to be more bilingual games in Canada than even Montreal was, certainly more than Calgary, although they did try considerably. I think we've moved a long way, and I congratulate you on the effort you're making to do that.
Could you just then clarify—the difference seems to be here in the broadcasting distribution—that all of the events, all of the organization, everything, the production that goes on, is essentially in both languages?
It is, and interestingly, although I am not the expert by any means, I would say that the city of Vancouver in general has quite embraced it. We've come a long way in this period of time from events that would be staged in one language to events that are staged in both languages, where we have capacity and proficiency, and it's expected and it's applauded. That's a giant leap from where we were in 1996 when we started out, but even with that, it's never going to be good enough. We have to not take our foot off the gas and apply as much pressure as we possibly can.
I have to say, I mean, that I'm a bit troubled that these gentlemen are troubled. We are too, and I just would want them to know that it's not something we're not paying attention to. We are talking to everybody we can, because I do not want to get to the finish of the games and have someone say, “Gosh, you know, this was a terrific performance, except that you let us down in this area.” But it's influences, and we have people's attention, but will we be able to get them there? With everybody working together, I think it's possible that we can achieve the result you're speaking about, but in all the other areas, I would say it's going quite well.
[Translation]
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I know I keep coming back to the television issue. Like others, Mr. Richardson asked what will happen at the Olympic Games. I must say that I am impressed. I am not looking for thanks, but what I hear about the airport, the greeting people will receive, bilingualism... We will be in a better position to pass judgment after the fact.
I come back to the fact that Canadians are entitled to feel that Canada, not just Vancouver, is hosting the Olympic Games. As a result, they must be able to watch the games in the language of their choice. You said that you can exert some influence, but I am not satisfied with that. You are the organization that has been in discussion with the IOC. I have still not heard whose responsibility it is to say that in Canada the Olympics must be broadcast in the two official languages. It is not complicated to say that you cannot answer that question.
[English]
Mr. Godin, unless I could see inside the contract that was written between CTV and the IOC, it's not possible for me to give you a clear answer to that question. But if there is--
But CTV is not the Government of Canada; it's a private broadcaster. CTV has no responsibility for it. When somebody says to the IOC that when you look at television you need to deal with it in the two languages, I cannot blame CTV. In my view, CTV doesn't have that responsibility. Somebody has the responsibility to say to the IOC that when they negotiate with a Canadian broadcaster they have to negotiate that, it has to be, it's a must. We are officially bilingual. We want Canadians across the country to get it in both languages, and they will not.
I think it's a little early to say they will not, because you'd have to have been present for some of the discussions. There is a desire to find a solution. There is no one saying this is not their problem. There is no one saying this is a bad idea. It's trying to get everybody who can possibly help--
The reason I say that, Mr. Furlong, is that I went through the Canada Games in Bathurst, and they did not.
No, but CTV is interested in helping to solve it. I've spoken to them directly. Everybody wants a solution. I think--
The other thing is that when you appeared at the Senate, they were talking about money or resources coming from the official languages office. And you said, “I do feel concerned at the level of resources available within that official languages office”. Do you feel like that today, or what did you mean by that?
The other one is this.
[Translation]
The Fédération des francophones de la Colombie-Britannique is supposed to get $160,000 from the federal government. The representatives of this group say that about half of this amount will be used for the Olympic Games, for national coordination activities. They think this will penalize them as regards future projects in their community. The impact will be dramatic.
Is the community required to spend the money it received from the government on the Olympic Games?
I think Ms. Bolduc would like to answer this question.
Yes. The federation gets funding from Heritage Canada for its annual projects. It applied specifically to hire and pay someone to be at the games and provide liaison with VANOC at the Olympics. This application was approved. This is the amount of $160,000 which you mentioned. These people understand that this amount came from—
Yes, that it came from the budget envelope they had already received for their projects generally. That is what they are referring to. They should discuss this with the people at Canadian Heritage. We cannot apply any pressure in this situation.
Thank you very much. This is our fourth and last round. You can take five minutes once more if you wish.
Ms. Fry.
[English]
I want to pursue this again. You've talked a lot about bilingualism, the language itself. I'm talking about the cultural component and I didn't really get an answer. You answered me about Granville Island, but I want to know if you've dedicated a percentage of your sponsorship money that VANOC got--not the government money, but the sponsorship money--toward a francophonie cultural sector for performance. And if not, why not? And secondly, is it a larger percentage than others? Because again we're back to the francophonie culture as well as the language. And I don't know if you've given that a lot of thought and if you have developed a substantial amount of money to make that happen.
The answer is that we haven't. I'm not sure, given the way we're structured, that it would be practical to say this much goes for this, but I will say that the program will be organized to fully respect the fact that this is a dominant culture in our country. It will look that way, and funds will be spent that way, and they are now. If you were to take a look at the last edition of the Cultural Olympiad this February, in which there were 300 performances, you would say it was the way I think you were hoping for.
Yes, but there is a substantial percentage dedicated to ensuring that the francophonie culture is represented in the Cultural Olympiad at the appropriate level, and I think that if you looked at it, you would get a sense of what that is. Breaking it out is not--
Well, it'll be different each year, because it depends on....
The way we're doing it right now and the kind of engagement we have going on is that we want the best program. We wanted to represent the country properly, so I would say that the commitment is at the right level; but when I say we haven't set aside a specific amount of money, don't take it to mean we haven't set aside a lot of money for this. It's a very significant endeavour of the organizing committee to do this properly. I would say that based on the feedback we had....
We just started this. Most of these Cultural Olympiads only take place in the year of the games; we're in a three-year buildup to ours. I would say it was a pretty good representation this time, and growing.
[Translation]
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you very much for your presentation, Mr. Furlong and Ms. Bolduc.
I'm going to try to describe a process, and I would like you to tell me whether I am right or wrong.
The International Olympic Committee issues a call for cities or countries to bid to hold the games. At that time, it describes the context in which these cities or countries will be required to host the games. The City of Vancouver submitted its bid, together with Canada, in the full knowledge that the IOC would be handling the call for tenders and managing the issue regarding broadcast rights.
In our country's bid, through the City of Vancouver, we state that Canada is the most beautiful country in the world, that it is a bilingual country whose two official languages are French and English, which is also the case for the IOC. The IOC is not a Swiss organization: it is an international organization that deals with all countries in the world. Even the United States did not manage to interfere in the bidding process.
Is my description of the process accurate?