Official Languages Committee on Nov. 29th, 2012

[Guy Lauzon, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to all of our witnesses for being here this afternoon.

We have two good examples of young anglophones who made the decision, when they were young, to learn the other official language. Is that not so, Ms. Perkins and Mr. Cooke? I'm sure that you made that decision when you were young. They are both good examples of what we are trying to do here, in our country.

Do you have any ideas about what we could do, during the 150^th anniversary celebrations, to encourage young people to decide, as you did in the past, to learn the other official language? Be it French or English, there is no difference. Is there something that we could do during the celebrations to encourage young people to learn the other official language, to make them understand that it's cool, as you say?

We will start with Ms. Perkins.

[Lisa Marie Perkins]

Thank you.

Yes, that is accurate, although I'm going to say it was grâce à mes parents, thanks to my parents, that I am bilingual. Education decisions are made by parents, although the reason they continue to embrace their other official language or their bilingualism as adults is left to themselves. For someone like me, I decided when I started university. Parents make those decisions for their children à la maternelle, en première année, or even when we're lucky enough to have immersion tardive, late immersion, in some of our communities across the country.

I'm not going to say it's not important to be engaging youth, but it starts when people are little, before they are youth. It's about putting information into the hands of parents as to why being bilingual is such an asset, how it builds character in an individual, how it helps build a community, and helps build a country. It's a choice every parent should be able to make and have access to in their communities. That's critical. We would say to start there.

[Guy Lauzon, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

Thank you.

Mr. Cooke.

[Max Cooke]

I am thankful to my mother. In 1978 in Brantford, Ontario, the first French immersion class was instituted. In Brantford, you can't...

[Guy Lauzon, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

What can we do during the celebrations to encourage other young people to do what you did?

[Max Cooke]

As I said earlier, young people really have to realize that they can speak French outside the classroom and to people other than their teachers. Again, this is a question of communication.

Also, I want to hear fewer and fewer young people in schools ask why they need to learn French. In this case too, we have to make a connection...

[Guy Lauzon, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

I'm sorry to interrupt you, but I would like to ask you a second question to which I would like to get a quick answer.

I believe you both said that the celebrations should be held in both official languages. Do you think they should be completely bilingual, whether they are in Quebec or in Alberta?

[Lisa Marie Perkins]

I would say, why not? True. Coming from my province, it's go big or go home.

[Guy Lauzon, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

That's fine.

[Max Cooke]

In my opinion, as I said to Mr. Dion, this represents who we are. It should be part of the celebrations all across Canada, absolutely.

[Guy Lauzon, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thank you, Mr. Lauzon.

Ms. Michaud, you have the floor.

[Élaine Michaud, NDP, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Thank you.

Actually, Ms. Perkins, I will continue in the same vein. I personally really appreciated that you insisted on the importance of having bilingual celebrations, as Mr. Cooke did.

I quickly looked at the document you provided. You mention the show Bilingualism Rocks, which was performed even in remote areas in Canada. It garnered a lot of interest and was successful.

Could you give us concrete examples of ways to include francophone elements in small rural communities in Alberta, for example, or in other regions in Canada?

[Lisa Marie Perkins]

I can speak

for the city of Red Deer. In the city of Red Deer, we have a francophone carnival with lumberjacks

who seem to be everywhere in Alberta

to make toffee

and things like that.

In terms of CPF, I'm going to ask my executive director to give you a very brief example of, let's say, Bilingualism Rocks, and some of the success stories we've had.

[Robert Rothon, Executive Director, National Office, Canadian Parents for French]

Thank you.

Bilingualism Rocks was presented in a number of communities in British Columbia and Yukon, and during its second year, in Alberta. Thousands of school children in a number of communities saw the show.

One of the elements that made this project a success was the fact that the facilitators and artists were able to adapt to their audiences' level of language skills. When they had a francophone audience, they included more content and used references shared by the students. They were able to adapt their show when, at other times, they had a mainly anglophone audience, for example of grade 3 students learning basic French for the first time.

The key is to always present content in a way that the audience can easily understand and absorb. What's even better, during the second year we asked them to find content related to the local geography and culture.

When you think about it, we have a rich French language heritage across Canada. I am speaking as someone from British Columbia, and I can assure you that there is a lot of francophone history in British Columbia. It is not well or widely known, but it is there. These stories provide many opportunities to discover our linguistic heritage, which is really a shared heritage.

As my last point, I want to say that we always highlight the fact that heritage does not belong exclusively to one group of Canadians. Heritage can be shared by everyone and, with some nuances, enriches everyone's lives. That's what I have to say.

[Élaine Michaud, NDP, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

So this is really an integral part, an essential part of our identity. It should be included, in one form or another, in all the celebrations.

[Robert Rothon]

I agree with you.

[Élaine Michaud, NDP, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Mr. Cooke, do you have any suggestions?

[Max Cooke]

I would again say that we have to ask the young people. We also have to present real activities, creative activities that are innovative.

I had a bit of an experience in Thunder Bay. I was with a group of bilingual boys in grade 8. They did not want to go to high school. I did a little exercise with them in slang so that they could speak the language differently and learn Quebec's language and culture. It was a huge success. This may not be something we can do in schools, of course, but we have to think about how to provide young people with real experiences because students in French immersion do not speak French with each other.

Also, students in French immersion have to be able to speak to francophone students. It completely changes the atmosphere and the environment.

[Élaine Michaud, NDP, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Thank you.

Regarding young people and your youth council, if I remember correctly, you would like them to have real decision-making authority in planning and delivering the 150^th anniversary celebrations.

[Max Cooke]

Absolutely, because they are our future.

[Élaine Michaud, NDP, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Thank you.

Since I don't have a lot of time left, I will ask you a brief question.

Mr. Chartier and Mr. Fleury, how do you envision the 150^th anniversary celebrations of Canadian Confederation in small remote communities where people of Métis origin live?

[Norman Fleury]

Let me take a step back in time to tell you my story. I've never had the opportunity to talk about my people's place in Canada's history. We certainly didn't talk about it in classes at school.

My children live in an anglophone community so they don't have this opportunity either. There is no mention of the Michif language in the curriculum. There was no Michif in my day either when I was in Saint-Lazare, in Manitoba. Today everything is in French in Saint-Lazare, but when I was in school, we only had half an hour of French class and half an hour of catechism class. At the time, we were not afforded this opportunity, and my children won't be either.

We don't have the control. The government, the village, the city or major cities have control, but as for us, we are still not recognized and it is time for us to be given this recognition.

Our president, Mr. Chartier, mentioned that there used to be youth organizations at one point. When they got together, they would celebrate amongst themselves. We're talking about young people between the ages of 12 and 29, some of whom already had their own children. They did not have the chance to express themselves either. We tried hard to give them this opportunity by organizing celebrations with the Manitoba Métis Federation. Now they no longer have this opportunity because there is no more money to meet their needs, and that's that. It's a different story in the schools.

I would like to visit Batoche where there are special camps for Métis children that teach them the Michif language and French. There are only two languages. In Saint-Lazare and in Saint-Laurent, Manitoba, everything is in French. However, the other Métis communities don't have schools that teach the Michif language, the songs, the music, the legends, the mysteries and everything else that surrounds this language. It doesn't exist, so they can't learn it.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

All right, thank you Mr. Fleury.

Mr. Chisu, you have the floor.

[Corneliu Chisu, Conservative, Pickering—Scarborough East, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'd like to thank the witnesses for their presentations.

I will continue in English.

The 150th anniversary of Confederation is an important milestone in the history of our country. Our country is unique in the world, with many people of different origins contributing to make Canada the best place to live in the world today.

The importance of history and our linguistic duality is paramount, in my opinion. It is important for Canada to remain one of the leading countries in creativity in the world.

I can sympathize with Mr. Norm Fleury from the Métis nation, because my mother tongue is neither French nor English, and I speak several other languages.

How can your organization contribute to involve not only the federal government, but also the provincial and municipal governments, which I think should be part of this great celebration that we will have? The 150th anniversary is a milestone. It shows the beginnings of what we are today, a great country.

What can you contribute and how can you involve other levels of government? What do you recommend to us for this milestone in history to be successful and useful, and reflect our linguistic duality entirely? What themes would your organization or you like to propose and highlight during this celebration of our country?

I would like all of you to answer.