I call the meeting to order.

Welcome to meeting number 99—we could call it the Gretzky meeting—of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Official Languages.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(3) and the motion adopted by the committee on Wednesday, September 20, 2023, the committee is resuming its study on federal funding for minority-language post-secondary institutions.

I will take the time to share with you the measures to prevent audio feedback incidents, following the latest recommendations.

Before we begin, I'd like to remind all the MPs and other participants in the room of the following important preventative measures.

In order to prevent disruptive and potentially dangerous audio feedback incidents that could cause injury to interpreters, I would like to remind all participants to always keep their earpieces away from microphones.

As indicated in the communiqué sent by the Speaker to all MPs on Monday, April 29, 2024, the following measures have been taken to help prevent audio feedback incidents.

All earpieces have been replaced with a model that significantly reduces the likelihood of an audio feedback incident. The new approved earpieces are black, while the old earpieces were grey. Please use only the black earpieces.

At the start of a meeting, all unused earpieces are unplugged. As you can see, the wire is not plugged into the microphone in front of you. When you are not using your earpiece, please place it face down in the middle of the sticker affixed to the table, as shown in the image on the table.

Please also refer to the card on the table for guidelines on preventing audio feedback incidents.

Finally, the room layout has been modified, as you can see, to increase the distance between microphones and reduce the risk of feedback caused by a nearby earpiece.

These measures are in place so that we can carry out our activities without interruption and to protect the health and safety of all participants, including interpreters.

I thank you all for your co-operation.

With that, I'd now like to welcome the Honourable Randy Boissonnault, Member of Parliament for Edmonton Centre and Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages.

I would also like to welcome the accompanying team from the Department of Canadian Heritage: Ms. Isabelle Mondou, deputy minister; Ms. Julie Boyer, assistant deputy minister, Official Languages, Heritage and Regions; and Mr. Timothée Labelle, director, Intergovernmental Policy and Programs. While Ms. Mondou and Ms. Boyer are committee regulars, this is Mr. Labelle's first appearance at our committee.

Witnesses have five minutes to make their opening remarks. Then we'll move on to the question and answer period.

Before we begin, I believe Mr. Drouin would like to speak.

René Arseneault

$523,838.00