Hon. Julie Miville-Dechêne: Senator Moreau, I learned that, nine times out of ten, the Canadian Human Trafficking Hotline answers in English, even when the callers explicitly request service in French and even though this hotline claims to offer services in both official languages. This investigation was conducted by the Coalition québécoise contre la traite des personnes after a number of complaints. This is rather appalling considering that this federally funded hotline claims to be bilingual.

Hon. Pierre Moreau (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your excellent question, senator.

As you know, the hotline in question is not a federal organization, but it is funded by the federal government. The federal government expects the services to be provided in both official languages, French and English. The government certainly expects these services to be provided. I will raise the issue with the department. I assure you that I will personally insist that the department follow up on your question and I will inform you of the results.

Senator Miville-Dechêne: You answer is greatly appreciated, Senator Moreau, because this lack of services in French means that French-speaking trafficking victims cannot get immediate assistance in their own language when they are in desperate need of it. This also skews the data because the statistics do not include many distress calls from Quebec and French-speaking Canadians.

Senator Moreau: As a French speaker myself, I believe it is the federal government’s duty to ensure that the services are provided in French and English. This is a matter of principle for the government, and it is even more important in the case you raised, since we are talking about victims.

Thank you for bringing this up.