Official Languages Committee on April 3rd, 2008

[Régis St-Pierre]

Turnover is normal. Having to deal with new faces is not necessarily the main issue here. What's important is the message Parliament sends out.

[Jean-Yves Roy, Bloc, Haute-Gaspésie—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

In short, if I understand correctly, the turnover itself is not the issue. Rather, the problem is that the new people are stuck with the existing culture of the department.

[Régis St-Pierre]

Exactly.

Sometimes, we deal with new consultants who talk about accountability. The objectives of a project must be met. We have to use certain keywords. We would like to stop dealing with the flavour of the day and agree on overarching issues. I believe that Parliament's message is clear, regardless of which party is in power. There has been a consensus in that regard for the last 25 years.

[Jean-Yves Roy, Bloc, Haute-Gaspésie—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

I would also like to talk about education. You said that things are going well now.

One of the main problems of isolated communities occurs when young people are ready for high school or university. You certainly do not have any francophone high schools in your region.

[Régis St-Pierre]

Yes, we do.

[Jean-Yves Roy, Bloc, Haute-Gaspésie—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

But you certainly do not have a university. Are there any colleges in the Yukon?

[Régis St-Pierre]

We don't have a French or English university in the Yukon.

[Jean-Yves Roy, Bloc, Haute-Gaspésie—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

Are there any college-level institutions?

[Régis St-Pierre]

Yukon College offers courses in English only. Our association is involved with issues surrounding post-secondary education. Some Canadian universities offer distance learning. There are also scholarships to study in francophone institutions.

[Jean-Yves Roy, Bloc, Haute-Gaspésie—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

So if the majority of your young people wish to pursue a post-secondary education, they would have to go to British Columbia or elsewhere.

[Régis St-Pierre]

Exactly. That is why we created a program called Place aux jeunes—Yukon. We want to stay in touch with them, to bring them back for their internships, and to encourage them to settle in the Yukon and have families there.

[Jean-Yves Roy, Bloc, Haute-Gaspésie—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

How many of them come back?

[Régis St-Pierre]

What's interesting is that today more young people between the ages of 19 and 25 come back to the Yukon than there are people of the same age group who are born here and who never left. Our programs do attract a good number of young people. It's not perfect, but one of the most important things for us to do is to stay in touch with our youth, the next generation, the people who will have their own families.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you.

[Jean-Yves Roy, Bloc, Haute-Gaspésie—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

I have a final question. The other services, for instance health care services, are they only provided in English?

[Régis St-Pierre]

Health services are the most important issue. We will invite you when we open our bilingual health care centre. It will be a success.

[Jean-Yves Roy, Bloc, Haute-Gaspésie—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

All right.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you, Mr. Roy.

Our witnesses are well prepared this morning.

We'll move on to Mr. Godin.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Perhaps we should prepare the committee to go to the Yukon. We haven't been there.

[Daniel Petit, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

They're nicer.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

It's simpler to have representatives from the Yukon come here.

[Jean-Yves Roy, Bloc, Haute-Gaspésie—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

We could meet only with those who were nice—

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Mr. Chairman, I'm almost led to believe that people in the Yukon have found the right formula, since they're really bilingual: a francophone guy marries an anglophone girl. I don't want to congratulate the government for that, I want to congratulate you personally.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

It's not easy and I'm being serious here. I'm from a francophone Acadian background. Some families left the province for northern Ontario. Continuing to speak French in an anglophone environment is not an easy thing. It's up to the parents to preserve the French language through incredible discipline at home. Outside the home, people speak English, and inside they speak French. That way, you learn both languages. Spouses learn each other's language. I see where you're coming from because I experienced the same thing, as did my family.

I know that you are proud of your school. There are 33,000 people; 28,000 in Whitehorse. They established a federal school and it was high time they did so. You don't have your own colleges and universities. So there's not much crow about. With the billions of dollars in surpluses, it seems to me that a college could be established. I don't want to sound negative, but I do understand there are still many things that remain to be done.

There is one positive aspect when you consider that if the infrastructure was in place, people could be given the tools to preserve their language and work. The Yukon can be taken as an example, as it is a small territory. It's possible to establish a school there because it's small. Many people in Whitehorse can attend that school. Look at the results today. If we extend this to Saskatchewan, Manitoba or Alberta, all the francophones who work in the oil fields could do the same thing.

How do you distribute a budget envelope among the various organizations in your territory? Who makes the decision to wait to fund the arts, for example? Is it individual, do you have to go to Heritage Canada, or do you participate according to your association?