Standing Committee on Official Languages

Comité permanent des langues officielles

For immediate release

Ottawa, October 20, 2017 -

On 23–26 October 2017, seven members of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Official Languages will meet with the English-speaking community in the Brome—Missisquoi region in Quebec and with French-speaking communities in Nova Scotia.

These visits are part of the study entitled Review of the Status of Official Languages in Minority Settings Across Canada, which began in spring 2016.

The Committee hopes to improve its understanding of the various issues affecting the vitality of official language minority communities (OLMCs). Among other things, the Committee is interested in the development of OLMCs and the promotion of official languages, namely:

• funding and promoting community-based organizations, networks and institutions working in a minority setting;

• the number and quality of cultural, school and community spaces that allow the expression of French and English as public languages in minority communities; and

• the federal government’s ability to develop and harness the full potential of OLMCs to promote Canada’s linguistic duality.

The Committee also hopes to gather ideas from community leaders on the modernization of the Official Languages Act, specifically the legislative measures that could be implemented to promote the vitality of OLMCs and update Canada’s linguistic framework.

Committee Chair Honourable Denis Paradis will be joined by Committee Vice-Chairs, Mr. Alupa Clarke and Mr. François Choquette and the following members: Ms. Stephanie Kusie, Ms. Linda Lapointe, Mr. Paul Lefebvre, Mr. Darrell Samson and as well as Mr. Murray Rankin.

You can follow the Committee’s work on Twitter @HoCCommittees with #LANG