LANG Committee Report

In December 2007, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Official Languages made the decision to conduct a study on the renewal of the Action Plan for Official Languages, which will expire on March 31, 2008. That five‑year plan will have made possible investments of more than $800 million in a broad variety of programs divided into five components: education, community development, the public service, the language industry and governance.

The largest investments were made under the education and community development components, which were examined in detail in an extensive study, the report of which was tabled by the Committee in May 2007.¹ The Committee has therefore chosen, in this study, to focus on the public service, the language industry and access to justice which were not directly addressed in the May 2007 report.

As the Action Plan expires in March 2008, the Committee felt it was important to make its position known before the government announced any new measures. At the same time, the government conducted its own consultations headed up by the former Premier of New Brunswick, Mr. Bernard Lord. Recommendations will be made to the Minister of Canadian Heritage in preparation for the renewal of the Action Plan.

As a result of these tight deadlines, the Committee was able to hold only four meetings. Consequently, this study is unfortunately not of the same scope as the one the Committee tabled last year. Section 1 outlines the initial commitments of the Action Plan for Official Languages, identifying, as necessary, the changes that occurred along the way. So as to present all the Committee’s thoughts on the Action Plan’s renewal in a single report, the principal findings of the May 2007 report are set out in Part II. Part III describes the results of the meetings the Committee held on the themes of the public service, the language industry, access to justice and governance.