November 16, 2022 Mr. Vincent Labrosse Standing Senate Committee on Transport and Communications The Senate of Canada Ottawa, Ontario Canada, K1A 0A4 BRIEF – CRTC POSITION ON SUBSECTION 5.2(2) OF BILL C-11 INTRODUCTION The CRTC is strongly committed to the principles of the Official Languages Act and to having meaningful and ongoing consultations with groups that represent official language minority communities (OLMCs). That said, the CRTC seeks to address certain misconceptions about how we view our role in respect of OLMCs and to explain in more detail why the current subsection 5.2(2) has unintended consequences for the CRTC in practice. We propose a modified version of

section 5.2 that in our view, would better balance the CRTC’s responsibility as an administrative tribunal and the rights of OLMCs, while respecting what we understand to be the intent of the subsection. I. THE CRTC’S COMMITMENT TO OFFICIAL LANGUAGES Official Languages Act The CRTC takes our obligations under the Official Languages Act very seriously. This quasi-constitutional law ensures that federal institutions like the CRTC do their part to ensure respect for the fundamental value of protection of minorities in our society.

The Broadcasting Act also provides the CRTC with a specific regulatory mandate in respect of the OLMCs within the Canadian broadcasting system. The CRTC continuously demonstrates the commitment to OLMCs, including by consulting them frequently and taking many other positive measures to enhance the vitality and development of these communities.

For example, the CRTC: • Created a standing Official Languages Discussion Group through which we regularly meet with OLMC groups to discuss CRTC matters and activities and hear their concerns; • CRTC staff conduct regular outreach to members of the Official Languages Discussion Group to alert them when an open public process may be of interest to them; • Implemented a systemic practice by which staff identify, analyse and address matters of concern to OLMCs on the record of proceedings, and such analysis forms part of the Commission’s deliberations and assists in the achievement of the policy commitments in

section 41 of the Official Languages Act; • Created an internal Official Languages Committee, comprised of two co-champions, a national coordinator for the implementation of

section 41 of the Official Languages Act, a manager responsible for official languages matters, legal counsel and other volunteer members;

• Continuously rethinking and innovating our platforms by which we do consultations in association with proceedings to carry out our mandate under the Broadcasting Act. The CRTC was the recipient of two Awards of Excellence and Leadership in Official Languages Committee as part of the 50th anniversary of the Official Languages Act. The Commissioner of Official Languages has found in a report that through several of these measures, the CRTC fulfills its duty to take positive measures to enhance the vitality and development of OLMCs.

Section 5.1 and subsection 5.2(1) of Bill C-11 Given the background above, we want to reassure the Committee that the CRTC has no issue with the requirement to consult OLMCs, in principle. To this end, the CRTC does not take issue with

section 5.1 or subsection 5.2(1) of Bill C-11. They reflect our commitment to consulting with OLMCs in the carrying out of our regulatory responsibilities. It is subsection 5.2(2) that would have unintended consequences, in practice, in our view, and we raised our concerns about it at the first opportunity we had to share with this Committee. II.

CONCERNS WITH THE CURRENT SUBSECTION 5.2(2) In short, subsection 5.2(2) would undercut the CRTC’s procedural fairness obligations and deliberative secrecy and remove the CRTC’s ability to determine which measures are required to ensure meaningful consultations in the specific circumstances of each case arising in the broadcasting regulatory context.

When taking regulatory measures under the Broadcasting Act, the CRTC owes a duty of fairness to provide notice to interested persons of these potential determinations, an opportunity to provide meaningful submissions, to take these submissions into account in its deliberations, and explain its determinations. The duty of fairness owed to any given person varies based on the context and affected interests, rights and privileges. An OLMC’s interests, for instance, likely vary from the licensee in a broadcasting licence renewal proceeding. As an administrative tribunal, consultation is part of our DNA.

We currently provide OLMCs ample opportunity to be heard in our proceedings and we take into account their interests, without the Broadcasting Act having a subsection 5.2(2). The CRTC undertakes extensive and meaningful public consultations in order to build a robust public record on which to make its determinations. Notice of the subject matter of the consultations, as well as the methods of and deadlines for participation is provided to the public and the CRTC does specific outreach to OLMC groups to ensure they are aware of the proceedings.

Any interested person can participate whether in writing or in person if there is an appearing hearing. If a record is determined to be insufficient, the CRTC conducts additional rounds of consultation, such as through requests for information. But subsection 5.2(2) does not take into account the CRTC’s legal obligations arising out of the duty of fairness. It would require that we rigidly apply numerous additional consultation procedures with OLMCs, without regard for the interests of other stakeholders whose needs and rights are affected, and without regard to the nature of the determination.

Once the record is closed, the Commission’s deliberative privilege is engaged which protects the integrity of the decision-making process. Subsection 5.2(2) would interfere with that deliberative privilege by appearing to require consultation with OLMCs beyond the scope of the public process on which determinations are based and throughout the Commission’s deliberations. The language of subsection 5.2(2) comes word for word from one case regarding the Crown’s duty to consult Indigenous persons in respect of Crown action. But these consultation procedures are not owed to Indigenous persons in every case.

The duty to consult exists on a spectrum with the consultation requirements set out in subsection 5.2(2) being the high end of that spectrum. Not allowing the CRTC any flexibility that the Crown has to determine what procedures are appropriate for consultations in any given case, would mire the CRTC’s process unduly. The resources required to implement subsection 5.2(2) for the CRTC and participants would be intensive.

Without going into detail on ongoing litigation, it is important to note that the Federal Court has rejected submissions that sought to import these duty to consult principles from Indigenous law in assessing the CRTC’s obligations under the Official Languages Act and Broadcasting Act. III. BILL C-11 AND BILL C-13 ADOPT INCONSISTENT APPROACHES TO CONSULTATION It is also important to consider the proposed amendments in Bill C-11 in the context of Bill C-13, which proposes substantive amendments to

Part VII of the Official Languages Act. Bill C-13 strikes a far better balance by providing federal institutions with the discretion to determine how best to undertake consultations with OLMCs. If subsection 5.2(2) were adopted in its current form, the CRTC would not be accorded the same level of discretion as Bill C-13 would provide to other federal institutions that play a key role in the development and vitality of OLMCs, such as Canadian Heritage, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada or Employment and Social Development Canada. Removing subsection 5.2(2) from Bill C-11 would ensure a more cohesive approach to the consultations of OLMCs. IV. PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO

SECTION 5.2 AS A WAY FORWARD It bears repeating that the CRTC recognizes that OLMCs have a special place in the broadcasting landscape, and that is why we take proactive measures to consult them. We have listened to the testimonies before this Committee regarding subsection 5.2(2) and have engaged in conversations with OLMC groups to hear more about their concerns. We respect the concerns expressed by OLMC groups. In our view, the inclusion of subsection 5.2(1) suffices to address their concerns and the CRTC’s track record supports this. Nevertheless, we also propose a modified version of

section 5.2 that will be responsive to our concerns and balance the realities of the CRTC’s responsibilities as an administrative tribunal with the goal of ensuring that the voices of OLMCs are heard. We trust that this better explains our concerns with subsection 5.2(2), and we hope provides a productive proposal to move forward in a way that recognizes the importance of OLMCs without causing issues around procedural fairness, impacting our deliberative secrecy, or causing undue delays in our regulatory processes.

Proposed amendments to

section 5.2 English version (annotated) Version française (annoté

e) Consultation 5.2

(1) The Commission shall consult with official language minority communities in Canada prior to when m taking regulatory measures decisions that could adversely affect them. Objectives of consultations

(2) When engaging in consultations required by subsection ( 1), the Commission shall take such measures that it considers appropriate, including: (

a) gather information to test its policies, decisions and initiatives; (a)(

b) proposinge policies, decisions and initiatives regulatory measures that have not yet been finalized; (

b) gathering and making information available to official language minority communities relevant to the proposed regulatory measures; (

c) seeking the communities’ opinions of official language minority communities with regard to those proposed regulatory measuresthe policies, decisions or initiatives that are the subject of the consultations; (

d) provide them with all relevant information on which those policies, decisions or initiatives are based; (

e) openly and meaningfully consider ing theose opinions of official language minority communities; and (

f) being prepared to alter proposed regulatory mesures. those policies, decisions or initiatives. and Consultation 5.2

(1) Le Conseil consulte les communautés de langue officielle en situation minoritaire du Canada lorsqu’il prend avant de prendre toute mesure réglementairedécision susceptible d’avoir sur elles un effet préjudiciable. Objectifs des consultations

(2) Dans le cadre de ses consultations, le Conseil doit prendre les mesures qu’il estime indiquées, notammentà la fois :

a) recueillir des renseignements pour vérifier ses politiques, décisions et initiatives;

b) a) proposer des mesures réglementairespolitiques, décisions et initiatives qui n’ont pas encore éténe sont pas encore finalisées arrêtées définitivement;

b) recueillir des renseignements pertinents aux mesures réglementaires proposées et les mettre à la disposition des communautés de langue officielle en situation minoritaire;

c) obtenir l’opinion des communautés de langue officielle en situation minoritaire concernant les mesures réglementaires proposéespolitiques, décisions et initiatives faisant l’objet des consultations;

d) fournir tous les renseignements pertinents sur lesquels reposent ces politiques, décisions et initiatives;

e) considérer leur l’opinion des communautés de langue officielle en situation minoritaire avec ouverture et sérieux;

(

g) provide the communities with feedback, both during the consultation process and aft er a decision has been made. Definition

(3) In this section, Regulatory measure means a regulation, order, licence or policy guideline made, rendered or issued under

Part II of this Act.

f) être disposé à modifier les mesures réglementaires proposées ces politiques, décisions ou initiatives;

g) fournir une rétroaction, tant au cours du processus de consultation qu’après la prise d’une décision. Définition

(3) La définition qui suit s’applique au présent article. Mesure réglementaire un règlement, une ordonnance, une licence ou une directive pris, rendue, attribuée ou formulée au

titre de la

partie II de la présente loi. English version (clean) Version française (propre) Consultation 5.2

(1) The Commission shall consult with official language minority communities in Canada prior to taking regulatory measures that could adversely affect them. Objectives of consultations

(2) When engaging in consultations required by subsection (1), the Commission shall take such measures that it considers appropriate, including: (

a) proposing regulatory measures that have not yet been finalized; (

b) gathering and making information available to official language minority communities relevant to the proposed regulatory measures; (

c) seeking the opinions of official language minority communities with regard to those proposed regulatory measures; (

d) openly and meaningfully considering the opinions of official language minority communities; and Consultation 5.2

(1) Le Conseil consulte les communautés de langue officielle en situation minoritaire du Canada avant de prendre toute mesure réglementaire susceptible d’avoir sur elles un effet préjudiciable. Objectifs des consultations

(2) Dans le cadre de ses consultations, le Conseil doit prendre les mesures qu’il estime indiquées, notamment :

a) proposer des mesures réglementaires qui n’ont pas encore été finalisées;

b) recueillir des renseignements pertinents aux mesures réglementaires proposées et les mettre à la disposition des communautés de langue officielle en situation minoritaire;

c) obtenir l’opinion des communautés de langue officielle en situation minoritaire concernant les mesures réglementaires proposées;

d) considérer l’opinion des communautés

(

e) being prepared to alter proposed regulatory measures. Definition

(3) In this section, Regulatory measure means a regulation, order, licence or policy guideline made, rendered or issued under

Part II of this Act. de langue officielle en situation minoritaire avec ouverture et sérieux;

e) être disposé à modifier les mesures réglementaires proposées. Définition

(3) La définition qui suit s’applique au présent article. Mesure réglementaire un règlement, une ordonnance, une licence ou une directive pris, rendue, attribuée ou formulée au

titre de la

partie II de la présente loi.