Statement made on 02 February 2011 by Senator Claudette Tardif
Hon. Claudette Tardif (Deputy Leader of the Opposition):
Honourable senators, my question is for the Leader of the Government in the Senate. Yesterday, we learned that the Department of Canadian Heritage deprived linguistic minorities of much-needed funds because of a backlog of unprocessed funding requests.
The Commissioner of Official Languages has confirmed that these delays in renewing funding are having a negative impact on the development and vitality of a number of official language minority communities, which leads him to believe that the department has failed to meet its obligations under Part VII of the Official Languages Act.
These delays have had a severe impact on the operation and activities of many organizations that provide services to linguistic minorities. How does the Department of Canadian Heritage explain this unequal treatment of Canada's linguistic minorities?
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