Good morning, members of the committee, ladies and gentlemen.
The Association of West Quebecers is an organization whose mission is to serve and support the English-speaking population of the Outaouais by fostering an environment in which it can thrive. This means that the association is an information hub: we have an easily accessible website; we publish four newsletters a year; and we promote events of our partners and within the community at large through our website and our bi-weekly electronic bulletin. This keeps the English-speaking community current on events and issues.
The association undertakes a variety of projects to support youth and seniors to showcase outstanding volunteers through our annual awards banquet; to request that the City of Gatineau increase services in English; to develop activities for youth and assist them in developing confidence in the French language as they ready themselves for the workplace; and we have conducted a survey for seniors to hear what their needs are.
The association offers a new residents package. This package contains essential and valuable information for newcomers settling in the region or planning to move to the Outaouais. These are just some examples.
West Quebecers' territory is the entire Outaouais region, which covers a total of 33,000 square kilometres. This area includes an urban amalgamated City of Gatineau, smaller towns in the Pontiac and the Gatineau Valley, as well as more rural areas, such as Rapides-des-Joachims, L'Isle-aux-Allumettes, and Calumet Island.
According to the census of 2006, there are 55,235 anglophones in the English-speaking community in the Outaouais. This represents 16.3% of the region's total population of 338,190. In this instance, when we refer to anglophones we are talking about people who define themselves as speaking English most often at home.
In addition, approximately half the anglophones in the Outaouais are unilingual English speakers, which represents a special challenge for them.
Also, roughly half of the English-speaking population consists of seniors. This population in the Outaouais, with a central urban core and communities scattered over a wide territory, lives in an environment where French is the majority official language. As a result, the English-speaking community faces a diversity of challenges to maintain itself.
We are by no means the only organization that concerns itself with the needs of the English-speaking communities. Our partners include CEDEC, the Community Economic Development and Employability Corporation, which concerns itself with the economic and employability issues that result from the decline of industries—for example, the forestry industry.
The Western Quebec Literacy Council works diligently to improve functional literacy in the region.
The Outaouais Health and Social Services Network provides valuable support to the English-speaking community regarding healthy living and general health information.
It goes without saying that the Western Quebec School Board, the Western Quebec Career Centre, and the Heritage College CEGEP are focused on educating our youth to be equipped for further education and to enter the workforce.
More recently, West Quebecers finds itself focusing attention on the difficulties the English-speaking population may have in accessing information about public services in English.
The possibility of doing the kinds of things I have mentioned, whether through our organization or others, depends upon continued federal government support. Without core funding it is impossible to maintain a permanent organization that can be a source of initiatives, and without project funding it is unlikely that many projects will get off the ground.
Since 2007 the federal government has pursued the line of action known as the road map to linguistic duality. This includes assistance to community organizations of official language minorities granted by federal departments. This assistance enables these minorities to take action to strengthen the economic and social foundations of their communities.
For the anglophone minorities of Quebec—there are approximately 11 regional associations across the province of Quebec representing these minorities—such federal assistance is particularly significant. It is the conviction of anglophone community leaders that their communities have a role to play in Canada's French-speaking province, and federal assistance provided through the vehicle of the road map provides practical support for that conviction.
The continued existence of these communities is a contribution to that diversity of the region and the province, which we believe to be an essential characteristic of Canada.
I thank the members of the committee for giving West Quebecers this opportunity to speak on this matter.
Thank you.