Official Languages Committee on Nov. 9th, 2006

[Jean-Gilles Pelletier]

I would like to follow up on what David just said.

The federal government does not want to invest in important matters over which it has no jurisdiction, such as health. But there are many other fields. However, the federal government can reach agreements with a province in order to promote the development of its French-language minorities. Side deals have been concluded for decades.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Yvon Godin]

Mr. Pelletier, several persons are recommending five principles regarding the federal funding of health care. Should we add a sixth principle stating that federal health care funding is conditional on offering services in Canada's both official languages?

[Jean-Gilles Pelletier]

This is a point that Nicole and Jean-Marc stressed earlier, namely that funds should be granted conditionally. Of course, we entirely agree with this approach, even though there are not millions of ways to make this work in sectors that are strictly under provincial jurisdiction. Conditions can be included in agreements, but ultimately, funds are needed to get the services off the ground.

[Nicole Rauzon-Wright]

I would like the federal government to remember the following statement that almost made me lose control of my car on highway 400. It was made by Mr. Graham Fraser, the Official Languages Commissioner. He said that it is high time for Canadians to realize that French is not a foreign language but that it is the language of our country.

If we all followed this principle, there would not be any more problems. French is the language of our country; and consequently, any funds granted by the federal government must be accompanied with the obligation to provide services in both of Canada's official languages.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Yvon Godin]

Thank you.

On behalf of the committee, I would like to sincerely thank our witnesses. We are going to carry on with our work. If you want to stay here as observers, you are welcome.

The committee meeting is adjourned for five minutes.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Yvon Godin]

Good morning. Welcome to our committee.

I'd like to welcome you here.

Welcome to the Standing Committee of Official Languages. This parliamentary committee has been in existence for the last 25 years, and this is the first time that it is criss--crossing the country to meet people on the ground.

Our tour began on Monday in St. John's, Newfoundland; on Tuesday, we travelled to Moncton; and yesterday we were in Sherbrooke. Today we are in Toronto and tomorrow we will be in Sudbury.

Our tour will continue on in the month of December, when we will be travelling to Vancouver, Edmonton, Regina and Manitoba.

The goal of this tour is to meet with people and collect their thoughts on the Official Languages Action Plan for 2003. We want to know how the action plan is serving minority populations in Canada, francophones outside Quebec, and anglophones inside Quebec. Yesterday in Sherbrooke, we met precisely with anglophones.

I'm happy to welcome you here this morning.

Canadian Parents for French in Ontario. It's something that is very important to us. We have met in Ottawa before, but maybe it's not the same group. You're very welcome.

We have here today Sylvie Boucher from the Conservative Party--the government--Pierre Lemieux, and Daniel Petit.

Opposition members sitting on this committee are: Jean-Claude D'Amours, from the Liberal Party, the official opposition; Ms. Vivian Barbot, from the Bloc Québécois; and myself Yvon Godin, member for Acadie—Bathurst, NDP.

This tour was not launched because there's a new government in power. It was this parliamentary committee that asked for authorization from Parliament to travel to the regions and talk to Canadians about the action plan.

I would ask that you begin by introducing yourselves as well as the group and association you represent. You each have eight minutes for your presentation.

We will begin by hearing from Canadian Parents for French.

[Monika Ferenczy, President, Canadian Parents for French (Ontario)]

Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak to you today.

My name is Monika Ferenczy, and I'm the president of Canadian Parents for French, for the Ontario branch. With me is Betty Gormley. She is our executive director for the Ontario branch.

We would like to speak to you this morning about French second language instruction in Ontario.

Ontario currently lags behind other provinces and territories in initiatives to enhance French second language, FSL, instruction in Ontario schools. This delay is due to the lack of FSL policy and human resources at the Ministry of Education and a lack of consistency in program offerings and program delivery models in school districts.

Minimal direction and leadership from the ministry has made it necessary for Canadian Parents for French (Ontario) to rely on its volunteer membership to address shortcomings at the local school board level in FSL program delivery. CPF volunteers monitor FSL program access and program quality issues with 60 English language school boards in Ontario.

Cuts to FSL programs and initiatives at the Ministry of Education over the last 15 years have mobilized volunteers to support local school programs by organizing enhancement activities, including performances by French artists, French summer day camps, French public speaking events, French story time at local municipal libraries, rendezvous events to meet other FSL or francophone students, and many other initiatives to promote second official language learning. CPF (Ontario) greatly appreciates funding for these opportunities through the Department of Canadian Heritage.

With the signing of the Canada-Ontario agreement on minority language and second official language instruction in 2005-06 to 2008-09, unprecedented progress was made toward support and revitalization of core French and French immersion programs for Ontario schools. There are currently 968,000 students enrolled in FSL programs in Ontario, and close to 115,000 are enrolled in French immersion.

As a result of the agreement, an action plan was created by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities that outlined activity strategies, expected outcomes, performance indicators, and required accountability measures in order to reach the goal outlined in the Canada-Ontario agreement. For the first time in over 15 years, school boards received two additional memoranda from the Ministry of Education on how funding provided through the agreement was to be used at the local level to enhance FSL programs and how school boards were to report back on FSL expenditures.

A follow-up study by CPF (Ontario) of how the funding was spent at each school board indicated that funds went mostly to basic expenditures for these programs, such as the purchase of material resources and teacher professional development. In many school boards, this funding represented the first ever dedicated funds to actually be spent on FSL programs. The current reporting framework of the Ministry of Education does not require school board financial reports to reveal how annual second official language funding amounts are allocated or spent.

Currently, one individual is assigned at the Ministry of Education to the FSL portfolio, overseeing close to 970,000 students in 60 school boards across the huge geographical expanse of Ontario. Issues regarding equity of access to French immersion programs, such as through transportation or special education services, and program quality are inadequately addressed. With the additional responsibility of administering all aspects of the Ontario action plan, it is unrealistic to assume that Ontario will even approach the goal of Plan 2013 to achieve linguistic duality for the students in this province without additional human resources at the ministry level.

A key component of the Canada-Ontario agreement includes an ongoing consultative process to chart progress toward the goal of doubling the proportion of graduates functional in their second official language over the duration of the agreement. Currently, CPF (Ontario) is represented on the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities advisory committee on French language post-secondary education, whose mandate is to explore ways to improve student access to diverse programs of study in French after high school. CPF (Ontario) has requested the creation of an FSL advisory committee at the Ministry of Education, but one does not yet exist.

Regular communications, status reports, and recommendations continue to be forwarded to the attention of the Minister of Education. The issues presented--

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Yvon Godin]

I want to ask you if it would be possible for you to go a little bit slower, because of the translation, if you don't mind, please.

[Monika Ferenczy]

Okay.

CPF (Ontario) has requested the creation of an FSL advisory committee at the Ministry of Education, but one does not yet exist. Regular communication, status reports, and recommendations continue to be forwarded to the attention of the Minister of Education.

The issues presented in these reports have not been addressed in the Ontario action plan, and no responses to recommendations have yet been received by our office. However, CPF (Ontario) continues to work with parents, teachers, school boards, other parent groups, the francophone community, and FSL researchers to further enhance FSL programs in Ontario schools in 2006-07. Our expanding partnerships will benefit FSL students and contribute to their success as they use their second official language.

Canadian Parents for French (Ontario) would like to put forward the following recommendations to the Standing Committee on Official Languages.

Recommendation 1 is that the committee recommend that each provincial ministry of education create a department dedicated to the administration of French second language programs in the province to develop new policies and monitor FSL program access and implementation, and that this department be adequately staffed with personnel having French second language expertise in order to meet the objectives of the province's action plan.

Recommendation 2 is that the committee recommend that each provincial ministry of education establish a French second language advisory committee, comprising FSL education stakeholders, to adequately address the consultative process as articulated in the province's action plan and the Canada-Ontario agreement, a component that Canadian Parents for French (Ontario) deems necessary.

Recommendation 3 is that the committee recommend that each provincial ministry of education modify the reporting framework for school boards to include detailed and transparent accountability for all annual second official language/French second language funding in their annual financial reports, and that measures for compliance be clearly communicated to school boards as an expectation of the ministry.

Recommendation 4 is that the committee recommend the continued monitoring of provincial action plans to meet the objective of Plan 2013 and achieve linguistic duality for young Canadians, and that the committee recommend the renewal of federal-provincial agreements as an ongoing commitment of the Government of Canada towards linguistic duality.

Our final recommendation is that the committee recommend that Canadian Parents for French (Ontario) continue to receive funding from the Department of Canadian Heritage to further enhance opportunities created for students to learn and use their second official language in contexts outside of school programs.

Thank you. Merci.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Yvon Godin]

Thank you. I wish to remind the committee that we must adjourn at noon. We will leave at 1:30 p.m., and so I would like for everyone to be in the main lobby at 1:15 p.m.

You may check out of the hotel and settle the bill once we are finished at noon. Afterwards, you can return to this room for lunch.

I now hand the floor over to the Assistant Director of Glendon College, York University.

[Louise Lewin, Associate Principal, Glendon College - York University]

Good morning.

My name is Louise Lewin and I am the Associate Principal responsible for student affairs at Glendon College.

First of all, I would like to point out to you that Glendon College is the bilingual liberal arts faculty of York University.

From its beginnings, in 1966, the college has had a special mission. Its first Principal, Escott Reid, was convinced that a new generation of bilingual men and women had to be educated and committed to the public affairs of the country.

From that time on, Glendon would offer a complete range of liberal arts programs, both in English and in French. Thanks to Mr. Reid's commitment and that of his successors, Glendon has remained faithful to this vision.

Glendon has a very particular responsibility with regard to the Franco-Ontarian minority. The southern region of Ontario is now home to almost one-third of all Franco-Ontarians, and it is the only area of the province where the number of francophones continues to increase.

In order for this community to continue to develop, it is essential that the new generation have access to French-language post-secondary studies. This is the challenge we face daily, as Glendon College is the only establishment providing French-language university education in Southern Ontario.

To this day, undergraduate students must complete courses in both official languages. This distinguishes the college from all the other liberal arts institutions in Canada.

All our disciplinary programs are bilingual, with the exception of French, English and Hispanic studies of course, because they involve the study of the language. Also, all full-time professors must be able to teach in both languages. It goes without saying that Glendon's support staff is also bilingual.

Today, the college has 87 tenured professors as well as 2,400 students. It offers 21 undergraduate programs, 8 certificate programs and masters programs in French studies and in translation.

The college has 2 residences, and 400 students, that is to say 20% of the student population lives on-campus.

The Frost library houses more than 65,000 French documents.

The college has just launched a School of Public Affairs at Glendon. This is the first school of public affairs in Canada that is both bilingual and dedicated to graduate studies. When it is fully functional, the school will offer a Master's degree in public and international affairs, professional development programs for senior management, stays for mid-career officials, and finally, a research centre on public and international affairs.

Taking its mission to heart, the college has become a bastion of the Ontario francophonie. Our teaching staff is very involved in the community and has developed a relationship with the Agence universitaire de la francophonie, the Consortium des universités de la francophonie ontarienne, the ACFO, the Théâtre français de Toronto, the Salon du livre de Toronto and many other organizations.

On the national scene, Glendon has welcomed the Canada-Europe Parliamentary Association and the rally organized by Canadian Parents for French.

The French for the Future organization holds a one-day cross-country conference for which Glendon hosts the Toronto portion. Moreover, the campus will host a symposium on official bilingualism that will be held in the spring of 2007.

Glendon is home to a research chair on Quebec studies which is funded by the Quebec government, the only one of its kind in English Canada. The incumbents are well-known Québécois intellectuals such as Jean-Louis Roy, Bruno Ramirez, Daniel Salée and Simon Langlois.

The chair made it possible to hold annual symposiums on the Canadian and Quebec francophonie, on Quebec and americanization, on social changes in Quebec and on relations between Ontario and Quebec.

In the summer, Glendon welcomes hundred of young people from Quebec and English-speaking Canada, as part of the initiative Explore. This second language bursary program is funded by the government of Canada and is an opportunity for students to take intensive language training and immersion for five weeks.

Students come to Glendon from all over Canada and more than 50 other countries. They receive a Canadian education with international flavours. Our focus on bilingualism prepares our graduates to work in the public sector and abroad at all levels.

Life at Glendon is a fully bilingual experience. Services on campus are provided in both languages. As a result, the educational and cultural atmosphere is highly stimulating. We have a theatre, an art gallery and numerous other services for our students.

Francophone and anglophone students feel at home at Glendon. They share the same goal, which is to obtain solid liberal arts education and master both official languages and both cultures of our country. In the classrooms and during extracurricular activities on campus, francophones and anglophones from Canada and elsewhere meet in an atmosphere of understanding and respect in an environment that encourages the discovery of others and oneself.

I have three recommendations for the committee. Here is the first: in order to continue to create what we call the Centre for Excellence for Bilingual and Francophone Post-Secondary Studies in Southern Ontario, in order to be able to bring together institutions such as Boreal College, Glendon College, the New School of Public Affairs and, also, in order to be able to award teaching certificates to immersion and French as a second language teachers, we need more resources.

Glendon is a small university, and we are already operating at full capacity. In order to be able to take in more students and provide more services, we need more resources, we need new residences, we need to build buildings. I know that our principal is working on securing funding, but we also hope to obtain your assistance.

I have two other recommendations that relate directly to students. It is important—and the new commissioner on official languages said it very clearly—to help our students to study outside the country, outside their province. In order to do this, naturally, students need assistance particularly financial assistance. At the moment, our students receive minimal assistance and unfortunately at the university, we do not have the resources we need to help more students take part in this kind of project. So we would also like your help in this area.

The final recommendation concerns enrolling students from Quebec at the college. We recognize that there has been a significant drop in the number of Quebec students at Glendon and we want more Quebeckers, we want them there for a number of reasons including cultural reasons, social reasons and with regard to bilingualism. Changes to bursaries for Quebeckers studying outside Quebec has unfortunately led to this significant drop in students. So we would like your assistance in order to try to get these students back and provide an opportunity for students from Quebec to come and study at Glendon.

On that note, I want to thank you and I am prepared to respond to any questions you may wish to ask.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Yvon Godin]

Thank you.

We will now hear from Mr. Raymond Théberge, Director General of the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada.

[Raymond Théberge, Director General, Council of Ministers of Education, Canada]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

My name is Raymond Théberge and I am the director general of the Council of Ministers of Education. My presentation will be divided in four parts. First, I would like to give you an overview of—

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Yvon Godin]

Four parts, eight minutes.

[Raymond Théberge]

I will take less than eight minutes; the four parts are very short.

In the first part, I simply want to tell you about the CMEC. Then, I want to talk about the protocol on official languages in teaching, challenges of education in minority communities and, finally, give examples of projects or events taking place in the provinces where francophones in minority communities are trying to face theses challenges.

First, the Council of Ministers of Education of Canada, commonly called CMEC is an intergovernmental body founded in 1967 by ministers of education to serve as a forum to discuss policy issues, a mechanism through which to undertake activities, projects, and initiatives in areas of mutual interest; a means by which to consult and cooperate with national education organizations and the federal government; and, finally, an instrument to represent the education interests of the provinces and territories internationally.

For example, CMEC contributes to the fulfilment of Canada's international treaty obligations such as the Lisbon Convention; provides a national clearing house and referral service to support the recognition and portability of educational and occupational qualifications; develops and reports on education indicators; sponsors research in education-related statistics; administers Canada's national official-languages programs—the second language bursary program and the official language monitor program—and, finally, consults and acts on a variety of issues in elementary, secondary and post-secondary education.

In fact, CMEC is a forum for Canada's ministers of Education, who are responsible for primary, secondary and post-secondary systems. On November 3, 2005, the Chair of the Council of Ministers of Education and the minister of Canadian Heritage signed the Protocol for agreements for minority-language education and second-language instruction [2005-2006 to 2008-2009].

In its Action Plan for official languages, released on March 12, 2003, the government of Canada identifies education as one of its priorities to provide new ?impetus to linguistic duality in the country. Through the protocol and related bilateral agreements, Heritage Canada is contributing to the funding committed by provincial governments for minority language and second-language teachers. All the provincial and territorial governments are using this funding to help put in place projects to meet the specific needs of students, teachers and francophone school boards in minority communities across Canada.

Francophone school boards in minority communities throughout the country are facing similar challenges: difficulty recruiting students which leads to relatively low percentages of a potential pool of students with rights at their schools; difficulty retaining students which is expressed by a significant drop in staff, particularly at the secondary school level; mandatory provincial and territorial curriculums that are not always sensitive to the identity and community requirements of francophone schools and minority communities; the scattered nature of the francophone population particularly in rural regions; and, finally the high proportion of students with rights from exogamous families or families where French is not the language most used at home.

In order to respond to these challenges, I would like to tell you about various initiatives undertaken by francophone school boards in minority communities. These are only a few examples and not all of the activities undertaken.

The Francophone School Board of British Columbia implemented a program called SOS Devoirs, which is a hot line where a student can call in they need to speak directly to a teacher. A chat site accompanied by a virtual library is also accessible 24 hours a day. The students also have an e-mail service where any questions on the curriculum can be answered. Furthermore, the Francophone School board of British Columbia continues the implementation of a plan to integrate 800 new portable iBOOK computers to facilitate the use of new technologies.

In Alberta, the Conseil scolaire Centre-Nord established an ad hoc committee on the condition of francophones to implement initiatives promoting French language and culture in its schools. The Conseil scolaire Centre-Nord is also looking into the feasibility of implementing a model for the management and programing of junior kindergarten classes. Produce a three-year plan to help integrate preschool age children into the francophone community schools.

The Conseil scolaire du Sud de l'Alberta is currently implementing the international baccalaureate program in all its schools.

In Alberta and in Manitoba, the Education departments are currently implementing humanities programs that include a francophone perspective. In Alberta, the Education Department is supporting the implementation of curricula by producing manuals that are specifically designed for teachers of such programs and this is being done in French and in English.

In Saskatchewan, all the schools in the Division scolaire francophone has access to a distance education program by using videoconferences and multimedia tools over the Internet. In this way, the council is able to offer fair educational services to eligible persons in rural and urban areas.

In Ontario, since 2004, the Education Department adopted a language policy to ensure the vitality of that province's francophone community. This policy lays down guidelines that allow all the institutions involved in francophone education to ensure that French culture and language are transmitted and enhanced.

In Nova Scotia, within the framework of a pilot project, the Conseil scolaire acadien provincial is in charge of producing curricula. The council is currently planning the creation of working groups for devising, drafting or validating curricula. These documents will help teachers implement the programs.

The francophone school boards, the directorates in French education, departments of education and NGOs involved in francophone education are constantly seeking to identify possibilities of collaboration in view of formulating projects that will avoid redundancy in several key sectors.

In conclusion, the CMEC is currently working on two Canada-wide projects in the field of teaching French as a mother tongue in a minority environment. We are currently developing a tool for teaching oral communication; this project is led by Ontario. There is a second project, led by Prince Edward Island, which aims at producing a set of tools for teaching written communication.

Thank you.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Yvon Godin]

Thank you, Mr. Théberge.

Now, Mr. Jean-Claude D'Amours, you have five minutes to put your questions and hear the answers.

[Jean-Claude D'Amours, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to thank you all for having gone out of your way to testify before the Standing Committee on Official Languages.

First, I would like to thank the Canadian Parents for French for the dedication you've put into making sure your kids are able to speak and write in the other official language of this country.

I'm from New Brunswick, and I can tell you that I heard about your group in the last Parliament, when I was first elected. I was on this committee, and it was the first time I heard about the work you have done in the country.

I would like to say thank you very much.

Certainly, everyone is doing their share of the work to move Canada's bilingual issues ahead.

Ms. Lewin, you mentioned something that I cannot ignore. It involves giving our young people who want to study in French the opportunity of benefiting from other experiences. As you said, this means giving them an opportunity to travel to other provinces.

You also mentioned something else, namely, the possibility of travelling to other countries. If we want to give our youth a full opportunity to develop, we must give them as many different options as possible.

Since you opened the door on this issue, I would like to know what you think about the cuts amounting to more than $11 million in the funding of training programs for our students abroad. Basically, does this not go against what you are saying? In fact, you are asking for help, but a few weeks ago we learned that the conservative government had slashed a little more than $11 million from the funding of training courses for students abroad.

I thought that this was a marvellous experience for these young people! This allows them to acquire more learning for the benefit of our country as well as additional tools that may be more difficult to find here.

I would like to hear what you have to say about this. You are asking us for something, but basically, this is something that once was but is no more. What is your position regarding this?

Perhaps others could also answer this question.

[Louise Lewin]

This is my position, and this is why I mentioned it. I live this experience with my students. In fact, I have just come back from visiting universities with which we have exchange programs, and I see our students blossom when they go to other universities, and in other provinces or in other countries. I feel that this is such a wonderful experience that I find it hard to accept that the government is cutting these programs and not, on the contrary, offering more opportunities to students.

My position is that this is very regrettable. Can we do something about it?

[Jean-Claude D'Amours, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

You know, Ms. Lewin, when the cuts were made, we were told that the government was trimming the fat. Is it acceptable to talk about trimming the fat, when what these programs are trying to do is to give our young people, our students more experience and more training so that we can build a better Canada?

[Louise Lewin]

It is not acceptable. Is that what you are asking me? I find this very unacceptable.

People talk about globalization. As you say, there is a lot of talk about having our students go out and get the tools they need to help our country move forward, but they are not being given resources or help to do this. I find that unacceptable.

[Jean-Claude D'Amours, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Ms. Ferency or Ms. Gormley, you want your children to be able to learn our country's other language. Do you think that the possibility of studying abroad in francophone countries would help your children achieve their potential in the Canada of the future?

[Monika Ferenczy]

Yes, absolutely. We need to do that. Promoting or finding opportunities for our young people to go abroad in order to practice their French and understand its importance is something that we also do as parents.

[Jean-Claude D'Amours, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

That means that when we look at the reality—

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Yvon Godin]

Your five minutes are up, Mr. D'Amours.

Mr. Lemieux.

[Vivian Barbot, Bloc, Papineau, QC]

May I have a second turn, Mr. Chairman?