Official Languages Committee on Nov. 17th, 2011

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Mauril Bélanger]

With your permission, colleagues, with your consent, I will chair the meeting. The witnesses are all present, and I would not want to make them wait unduly. As soon as Mr. Chong or Mr. Godin arrives, I will hand over to them.

Welcome to the 13th meeting of the Standing Committee on Official Languages on this day, November 17, 2011. Some time ago, we began the evaluation of the Roadmap to improve programs and service delivery.

You know the procedure. We allow each witness 10 minutes, and then we proceed with a series of questions and answers, alternating in a pre-established order.

Messrs. Vaillancourt, LeVasseur, Couture and Groulx, I don't know which of you wants to begin. Welcome to you on behalf of the committee.

[Alexis Couture, President, Fédération de la jeunesse canadienne-française]

Mr. Chairman, committee members, first I want to thank you for inviting us to appear before you this morning. I'm particularly pleased to be here because I should normally be attending my introductory law class at the University of Moncton. So I have an excellent excuse to miss a three-hour session. I'm happy about that.

I am president of the Fédération de la jeunesse canadienne-française and, of course, I am young. When our organization was established in 1974, young people had one clear wish, to establish an organization by and for young people. That's what we have been for all those years.

My colleagues on the board of directors are young francophones 14 to 25 years of age from across the country, like the youth they represent.

Our organization defines young French Canadians as persons between the ages of 14 and 25 whose spoken language is French, regardless whether it is their mother tongue. This open approach is very important in our minds, particularly since the 2006 census confirms that this clientele represents more than 1.6 million young Canadians.

What does "by and for young people" mean? For our organization, it means operating under a system of governance consisting entirely of young people in cooperation with a network that shares that same philosophy in order to equip youth in accordance with their actual needs. The added value of this operating method is that we are a reflection of young people.

Although this concept is ideal for our organization, it obviously isn't achievable in all aspects of society, and we are aware of that fact. However, we strongly encourage the concept of "by and for young people" in developing initiatives that target them in order to ensure their success.

With that mind, the FJCF and its members have taken care to develop genuine, productive partnerships with a broad range of partners, both governmental—

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Mauril Bélanger]

Mr. Couture, could you slow down a little? That would help with the simultaneous interpretation.

[Alexis Couture]

Of course. That isn't the first time someone's made that comment to me.

With that in mind, the FJCF and its members have taken care to develop genuine, productive partnerships with a broad range of—

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Mauril Bélanger]

Pardon me for interrupting you again.

Yes, Mr. Galipeau?

[Royal Galipeau, Conservative, Ottawa—Orléans, ON]

I wonder whether the interpreters have a copy of the text.

[Alexis Couture]

Yes, they have copies of it.

[Royal Galipeau, Conservative, Ottawa—Orléans, ON]

Thank you.

[Alexis Couture]

So we have genuine, productive partnerships with a range of government and community partners. Those partnerships help provide the youth perspective to those working in their interest.

Our federation represents the interests of young francophones across Canada and tries to enable them to achieve their full potential. To do so, it coordinates innovative activities and initiatives in cooperation with its member associations in nine provinces and two territories to enable youth to enjoy experiences in French outside the classroom.

Year after year, an average of 20,000 young people benefit directly from the initiatives of our pan-Canadian network. For a number of years now, our organization has emphasized the need to make youth a priority in Canada's efforts to promote the development of the official language minority communities. And that message has been conveyed to the federal government on a number of occasions and was reiterated in the context of the consultations were organized before the Roadmap was developed.

The FJCF is extremely enthusiastic about seeing that one of the five areas for action under the Roadmap for Canada's Linguistic Duality is building the future by investing in youth. For the FJCF, linguistic duality is of major importance for the vitality of the minority francophone communities because it is by making all Canadians aware of the fact that our country's two official languages are an asset that the French language will be more appreciated and valued by everyone.

This valuing of linguistic duality is one of the ways of stopping the assimilation and decline in the French-speaking population. So it's encouraging to see that the government understands the importance of linguistic duality, knowing that the objective is not to achieve a bilingual Canadian population, but rather to ensure respect for both official language cultures in Canada.

The youth network in Canada is pleased to see that many plans for the country's youth have been implemented with Roadmap funding. Significant amounts of money have been allocated at various levels for youth, including internship awards, employment internships for translation students, summer language bursaries and, in particular, the Youth Initiatives Fund.

However, the amounts allocated for youth initiatives have definitely not been invested in optimal fashion: first, because half of the budget set aside for the initiatives was invested in infrastructure; and second, because the youth initiatives amounts were to be spent in a single fiscal year.

It is obviously much too soon to evaluate and determine the considerable impact of these initiatives on the vitality of the minority language communities and on linguistic duality, since this type of effect is obviously not immediate. However, we know that premature initiatives that must be taken quickly and produce immediate results are not initiatives that will have permanent, strategic impact in our society.

That is why longer-term investments would have been preferable to ad hoc investment, over a single year, and why youth initiatives with demonstrated strategic impact should have been preferred.

We are nevertheless pleased to see a number of actual results that have come out of certain initiatives that we are very familiar with. Those initiatives have distinct objectives, but all have one thing in common, to which we referred earlier: each one has afforded young Canadians an experience of living in French. Those experiences are extremely important for young francophones as this is one of the main ways of forging a feeling of belonging to one's community and one's country.

Young Canadians today are living in a modern society, in a world of globalization, in which the main sources of entertainment, education and information are in English. What then is the purpose of these experiences of living in French if young people subsequently go back to their everyday lives in English? These experiences are crucially important. Among other things, they help build the identity of young francophones and reinforce their ability to achieve a praiseworthy objective through full participation as citizens.

Imagine the effect of a Roadmap if all collective efforts were concerted efforts directed toward the ultimate goal of offering young Canadians French-language living environments. That would mean that all young Canadians would have access to enriching ad hoc initiatives and to a living environment that would enable them to learn, work, be entertained and grow in their language.

Now imagine the effect of a Roadmap that builds the future with youth, by investing in youth.

We hope that the purpose of the effort you are currently making will be to improve the next Roadmap for Canada's Linguistic Duality by considering the comments of the community sector, which is constantly striving to ensure the continued existence of minority francophones across the country. One of our main recommendations concerning this Roadmap is that the government clarify its vision for young francophones.

With youth, the government must more clearly establish the role of this important segment of the population with a view to promoting the development of the official language minority communities and linguistic duality.

The FJCF recommends that the government invest in current community stakeholders to enable them to do a better job of working with youth.

We would also like a mechanism to be developed to introduce a form of funding management for and by youth, in partnership with the government. That would ensure that funding is allocated in accordance with young people's priorities for linguistic duality.

Lastly, the government must show greater recognition of young people's contributions to Canadian society by developing and implementing strategic programs to promote their engagement. We also ask that initiatives for young francophones outside the schools be developed further considering the enormous impact they have.

Lastly, it is necessary to invest in postsecondary education in French, in terms of both accessibility and quality.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thank you.

Now we'll hear from the representatives of the Assemblée de la francophonie de l'Ontario.

[Denis Vaillancourt, President, Assemblée de la francophonie de l'Ontario]

Mr. Chairman, committee members, it's a pleasure for us to be here before you this morning.

We have submitted a brief, but I'm going to paraphrase it because I would look like a parliamentarian if I read it all.

First of all, I am here with one of the vice-presidents of the Assemblée de la francophonie, Gilles LeVasseur, who will be here to support me in answering your questions.

I'd like to start my remarks this morning with a quotation that motivates and inspires me:

Our federation was born of a desire by English- and French-speaking Canadians to share a common future, and it was built on respect for the language and culture of all Canadians. Linguistic duality is a cornerstone of our national identity, and it is a source of immeasurable economic, social, and political benefits for all Canadians.

I'll come back to this quotation at the end of my remarks.

This morning I want to talk to you about five topics. First, I'll talk about who we are, what the Assemblée de la francophonie is; I'll also paint a brief picture of our Franco-Ontarian community; I'll discuss linguistic duality in Ontario; I'll briefly review the investments made in Ontario under the Roadmap for Canada's Linguistic Duality, the successful ones; and I'll perhaps make some suggestions and discuss some future courses of action.

The Assemblée de la francophonie is the result of a long 100-year history that started in 1910, when the Franco-Ontarians were defending their rights. It was originally called the ACFEO, which has since become the Assemblée de la francophonie. We represent people from the institutional association sector of our community and even from the business world. We have a board of directors of 24 members who come from 14 sectors and from the community.

You have to understand that the Franco-Ontarian community is the largest francophone community in our country outside Quebec. That's why we say that linguistic duality has to succeed in Ontario in order to contribute to the rest of the country.

In recent years, our community has grown in part thanks to francophone immigration. I'll talk about that a little later. We have 50,000 francophone immigrants. For the principle of linguistic duality to continue, both the anglophone and francophone components must be strong and dynamic. In Ontario, approximately 90% of our francophone community is bilingual, whereas 8% of the anglophone community is bilingual and 6% among allophones.

French-speaking Ontario is dealing with an Anglicization phenomenon. The purpose of all our action must be to reverse this trend and to enhance the vitality of our community. We have to work within families—especially in families where parents prefer to use English rather than French—to promote the language and ensure it develops. This trend is reflected in our French-language schools. With the schools, we have to provide support in order to offset it. It will be important in the next few years to ensure the linguistic and cultural vitality of our francophone community. That moreover is what we have incorporated in a strategic community plan that we developed with the greater community. We consulted virtually all the villages and towns in Ontario in order to be able to develop our potential and to determine major areas for action.

As you will see in the brief, we want to make our contribution and to work with the community as full-fledged francophone citizens of Ontario and citizens of Canada. We have developed a vision in order to do that. In the document—and I'll repeat them briefly—you'll find our five major areas for action on which our community has reached a consensus. Obviously, if we go back to the cornerstone of our Canadian identity, we want to make sure that the French language and culture of the Franco-Ontarian community are passed on to future generations. That is our first purpose. To do that, we have to expand the francophone community in all regions of Ontario. We have to raise the profile and promote the use of French across Ontario and Canada with the Roadmap for Canada's Linguistic Duality. That is what we hope.

We also want to contribute to the development of the Franco-Ontarian community and to the greater well-being of both Ontarian and Canadian society. As I always tell the people I speak to, when we demand rights and services in French, the idea is not to take them away from the majority, but to be able to contribute fully to the development of our province and that of our country. We want to do that as full-fledged citizens.

To do that, we want to be accountable. Our areas for action reflect that desire. The federal government and our governments have a role to play in preserving linguistic duality, but citizens have a role as well. Under our provincial action plan, the community's strategic plan, we want to have the means, as the Franco-Ontarian community, to act and operate in all areas of the development of our community and province.

Now let's move on to what we consider are the successes of the current Roadmap, in the five areas it proposes.

For French-speaking Ontario, the health investments have clearly been positive. The Consortium national de formation en santé, for example, makes it possible to train health workers in French and to expand the network. Through the Société Santé en français, health service networks have been established in Ontario, which has enabled francophones to participate fully in planning services. We don't want to deny that. We'll be coming back to the health issue, and we can tell you that it's an issue that should be monitored. When the francophone space is expanded, we have to continue investing.

In the area of justice, we have noted there have been significant gains through certain initiatives. My colleague can talk about that at greater length, since that's his field. The fact nevertheless remains that there have been developments in French-language justice services. However, the access issue is still a problem in our province, and that may also be the case elsewhere. These initiatives must continue.

Economic development was one of the areas for action under the Roadmap. In Ontario, we note the contributions by the RDEE, which has had access to the Enabling Fund for Official Language Minority Communities of the Department of Human Resources and Skills Development. That funding permits sustainable economic development and the full-fledged participation of our fellow francophone citizens.

In arts and culture, we were obviously very happy to see that area included in the 2008 Roadmap. In fact, this sector promotes the language to a greater degree, develops francophone artists and ensures that the community feels it is developing fully. Consequently, we believe it is important to enhance these programs under the current and future Roadmap.

Immigration definitely influences the growth of our population, as it does elsewhere in Canada. For the growth and vitality of the francophone community, immigration and the intake of francophone immigrants are important. We've noted some good initiatives, but the fact remains that we don't have enough resources to show francophone immigrants that there is room for them in our province or in our country.

As my colleague from the youth sector said, the investments in priority youth issues were well received in Ontario. The postsecondary network in our province is developing an energetic and dynamic generation of young people who, in every respect, are contributing to the growth of our Ontario community and the Canadian community as well. Moreover, young people are so successful that we have trouble keeping them in Ontario. Their contributions are reaching national and international levels. Some of our young Franco-Ontarians are operating at the national and international levels in a number of places, and in all sectors, labour, professional sectors such as health and others.

I will close by giving you our view on the federal government's role in linguistic duality.

It is clear to us that the federal government has an essential role to play in maintaining linguistic duality and, in the case of Canada, in maintaining the minority language. If we do nothing and are not proactive, the trend will not be in our favour. If we believe that linguistic duality is a cornerstone of our national identity, we must invest in it, failing which we will risk losing that rich heritage. The Assemblée de la francophonie de l'Ontario has celebrated its 100th anniversary, and we hope to celebrate the 200th, 300th and 400th anniversary of the francophone community in Ontario and Canada.

We would like the federal government to continue its proactive commitment to linguistic duality. We believe the next Roadmap should also include the priority sectors. Some investments should be increased because the francophone community has to network. Further support must be provided to the official language minority communities.

Multi-year planning and funding would be a great help for investment. A number of projects are currently annual. A lot of time is spent preparing applications and answering questions. If projects were spread over a number of years, more time would be spent producing more tangible results.

We also believe the Roadmap should be better known to the public, which should be more informed about funding sources. Sometimes it's very difficult to find information on the various initiatives of the departments and other organizations.

I want to close by saying two things. First, we are pleased to have spent some time with you. We repeat that we want to see Ontario's francophone community become a full-fledged partner and to collaborate on the vast plan for a Canadian society that draws on a rich heritage based on its official languages and its culture. The opening quotation that inspires us and which we fully support comes from our Prime Minister and appears at the start of the Roadmap.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thank you for your presentations, Mr. Vaillancourt and Mr. Couture.

Thanks to Mr. Bélanger for acting as chair.

We have an hour and a half to devote to questions and comments. Let's begin with Mr. Aubin.

[Robert Aubin, NDP, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I'd like to start with a side comment. I want to thank the clerk, who has sent us the Canadian Heritage evaluation documents that were available. We're nevertheless somewhat concerned to see that the document is incomplete as we are in the middle of the evaluation process. That's strange to say the least. Thank you nevertheless for the information we already have.

I would like to thank our guests for the quality and relevance of their presentations, which really contribute to our thinking and evaluation. Thank you for being here. I would also like to tip my hat to the new president of the AFO and to offer him my best wishes for success, even though he is not actually here this morning.

For my first round, I would like to put my questions to the people from the Fédération de la jeunesse canadienne-française.

I was particularly struck by one sentence in your presentation. You said you would like to see the full participation of young people as citizens. That is something we're particularly in favour of. We not only enable some people to miss a three-hour class, but we have also enabled some of these young people to leave university for four years. So stay involved; the future really is now.

My real question focuses more on this striving for full participation in civic life. Do you believe that a full financial contribution is provided for that purpose in the Roadmap? In fact, I noted in the details of the Roadmap that youth initiatives were included in the Canadian Heritage budget. That's as if youth were put in a separate class and it was considered that the program would be target for all your applications. However, that program, if I correctly examined it, makes $12.5 million available to Canada as a whole, 50% of which is reserved for infrastructure, which leaves very little money to develop your projects and ideas.

We also note that annual projects that do not receive recurring funding should be innovative. I would like to hear your comments on that point. It seems to me that staff is a special aspect of your group—you'll tell me whether I'm right or wrong. There must be greater turnover because as soon as young people finish their studies and are able to get a job, they leave the association for positions of responsibility and leave their positions for someone else.

Are you getting what you want under this Roadmap, and does the financial breakdown enable you to achieve your objectives?

[Alexis Couture]

Thank you for your question.

I'll provide an initial response and then hand over to Sylvain Groulx, our director general, so he can supplement it with more technical details.

First, young people spend about five or six years in the youth network, since most of them get involved around the age of 14. Then we start to see them drop out. Youths get involved in various ways, at the postsecondary level, in their workplace and in their community. So every four years, and even at every event, we see quite a significant turnover of young people.

The objective of each of the initiatives of the federation and its members is to have a considerable influence over young people to encourage them subsequently to get involved in their community. The best example of success is when a young person leaves the federation and joins the ranks of an adult organization such as the AFO or an organization in a particular sector.

Multi-year projects enable us to do that better. They enable us to extend the development of a project and to involve young people over the longer term. The need for innovation is felt to a lesser degree. If the initiative is good, concrete and yields good results, it will still be appropriate in four years. It will have to be updated based on new technologies and so on. It will still be relevant in four years because young people will be experiencing it for the first time. So that need is a bit different.

As for funding, I'm going to let Mr. Groulx answer.

[Sylvain Groulx, Director General, Fédération de la jeunesse canadienne-française]

In response to your question, I would say that an amount of $12.5 million was indeed allocated to the Youth Initiatives Fund under the Roadmap. However, allow me to make one comment. The youth theme appears in various places in the Roadmap. There is the Youth Initiatives Fund under Canadian Heritage, but youth in general has enjoyed a number of initiatives. If you focus particularly on youth initiatives, it is true that half of that money has been invested in infrastructure. That has made it possible to establish a community school centre and other facilities. So young people have benefited from that.

The major challenge we're facing is as follows: of the remaining $6 million, $4 million has been allocated to this minority youth component. Not only were these one-year projects, but all the money also had to be spent in one fiscal year, whereas the Roadmap is spread over a period of five years. That's when the issue of ongoing resources and the success of those sustainable projects became a challenge for us.

As regards to the need to innovate, as Mr. Couture mentioned, a project in the youth network can run for a number of years without being changed. I'm thinking of the youth parliaments that have been around for about 30 years now and for which 75% to 80% of the clientele is renewed every year. So the activities are innovative for youth organizations essentially as a result of the changing clientele. As Mr. Couture said, by working with young people, we have no choice but to be on top of what's being done today. We have to be innovative and do different things, whereas the project itself can remain the same. That's a situation that has been experienced across Canada.

[Robert Aubin, NDP, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Have you been consulted in the mid-term evaluation of the Roadmap currently underway? Have you been asked to suggest new criteria for evaluating the various projects that take that situation into account?

[Sylvain Groulx]

We took part in a consultation that was conducted by the Official Languages Secretariat in September. We were able to share our opinion on the positive points that we had noted. Our involvement was limited to that. We did not take part in a process to propose evaluation methods or anything else. But we are pleased to have the opportunity to be here today to determine methods and mechanisms that could be introduced.

[Robert Aubin, NDP, Trois-Rivières, QC]

The door is open, so go ahead: what would your main suggestions be?

How much time do I have left, Mr. Chairman?

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

You have one minute left.

[Sylvain Groulx]

In fact, Mr. Couture mentioned one. Essentially, we need a way or mechanism for ensuring, in partnership with the government, that youth has its place. I wouldn't go so far as to say it has to play a role in decision-making, but it should at least take part in developing the types of programs that could be funded. In the same way as is done in the health field, we should see whether organizations can play a role in decision-making regarding the types of projects funded.

So there are various ways of doing this, in particular working in collaboration with youth. The idea is to ensure youth are given the room to express themselves in a process in which they are directly involved.

[Robert Aubin, NDP, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thank you, Mr. Aubin.

Mr. Gourde, go ahead, please.

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thanks to the witnesses for being here this morning.

First of all, I would like to speak to you, Mr. Couture. I would like to congratulate you for the leadership you have shown in your federation. You can also pass that message on to all members from me. You are really having an interesting time at the federation. That reminds me of my youth as well. I liked to attend board meetings and state young people's positions. That's really very important. In addition, this morning you're proving to us that you do that well.

You talked to us about initiatives. Could you give us some examples of initiatives contained in the Roadmap that have done a good job of serving the interests of young Canadian francophones?

[Alexis Couture]

The youth network has developed a number of initiatives across the country that have been funded under the Roadmap.

In New Brunswick, for example, I can think of initiatives like Accros de la chanson, which is a development program for young artists. The involvement in that program has been absolutely phenomenal. Every year, the young people who come out of that project, as is the case with the Festival international de la chanson de Granby, form the next generation of Acadian artists.

As for examples of national initiatives, there is the Forum jeunesse pancanadien, the Parlement jeunesse pancanadien and the Stratégie d'intervention jeunesse as well. These are all events that we organize and that are designed to develop a greater civic commitment.

We're dealing with a nice problem at the national level because we have to turn young people down. Space is limited at our events, like our resources. A youth parliament can't have any more seats than there are in the Senate. Sometimes we have to tell young people that they can't come, and we're sorry about that.

It's an interesting problem that shows that the federation really resonates with young people in the communities. Our initiatives are a good fit with their needs.

[Sylvain Groulx]

I'd like to add one point. Some initiatives presented under the Roadmap are related to translation. They have been very well done. Public Works and Government Services Canada has played a role in managing a project that would grant translation internships to young translation students. The department has done that together with our federation to ensure that the program reflects what employers and students think and want.

It's an initiative that has been very successful. It's currently underway and is a tremendous success. For example, the data base contains the names of 300 students seeking an internship, whereas there are only 80 employers. We've reached the limit. We can't give out any more than what the money allows. It's a very big success.