Official Languages Committee on Nov. 29th, 2012

[Lisa Marie Perkins]

Canadian Parents for French is uniquely positioned to help work with all orders of government and, indeed, with folks right on the ground. As I said earlier on, we're a collection of parents from coast to coast to coast, primarily anglophone parents who have made a decision to put their children in French immersion or core French.

We have chapters across this country in almost every community in Canada. We work with municipalities in offering French camps. We have good relationships with our municipal governments. We have good relationships with school boards, francophone, public and private, depending on the jurisdiction. We have a branch in every province. Their mission and mandate is

to work closely with the provincial government.

They work a lot with education ministries and ensure that we're linked in there. Our job as a national board is to play the quarterback role and work with the federal government and our partners at a national level.

If I were to give a theme, I'd say that French is alive and well, and French is something we are to be very proud of.

Again, what's different from the 100th anniversary celebration, which I was not around for, is that it was a bricks-and-mortar legacy. I think this is an opportunity for us to have a people legacy in this 150th anniversary and build on the strengths of the people we have.

Again, we have an increasing number of Canadians who identify as being bilingual. If we were to give you a stretch goal, French language education across the country should be a right for every child.

[Max Cooke]

I think this is an opportunity for an awakening, not just among our youth but among Canadians in general, that there are two founding languages but there are also multiple languages from first nations communities. It is an awakening that francophone minority communities exist, not just in Quebec. It is an awakening that our first nations communities are alive and vibrant throughout the country. It is having average Canadians go beyond their own provincial milieu and think on a national level. I think there's a tremendous amount of work to do, which is why I call it an awakening.

With something like this, it's an opportunity to gather together all the people you have been speaking to, beyond our organizations, collectively. Too often it's the Canadian way to do the opposite. I think this could really be an opportunity.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Okay, thank you.

Mr. Dionne Labelle, you have the floor.

[Pierre Dionne Labelle, NDP, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

I'd like to thank you all for being with us today.

I am pleased with what I heard today. Since the beginning of our consultations on this subject, we met with many representatives from institutions such as museums, the NFB and others. Today we are meeting with two groups of people who love French and who like sharing their love of the language with young people. You are doing excellent work and I think it's wonderful that you are here.

When Statistics Canada published its recent data on bilingualism in Canada, I must admit that several of us were worried, particularly with respect to bilingualism among youth which fell from 15% to 11%. This is your target age group.

I personally think that the 150^th anniversary of Confederation will be a great opportunity to renew young people's interest in learning languages. It's unfortunate that you didn't participate in the hearings for the 150^th anniversary. After all, the future of this linguistic duality relies heavily on your organizations. The institutional sector can play a role, but there needs to be action taken at the grassroots level.

To date, I haven't heard about projects involving youth that would act as a game-changer and turn the tide. I think that the 150^th anniversary should give 150,000 young people the opportunity to travel all around Canada. I'd like to hear your comments. What are your projects that would inspire people to participate in these kinds of activities?

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Mr. Chartier, Mr. Fleury or Mr. Cooke, would you like to answer the question?

[Max Cooke]

Are we talking about a blue-sky idea?

[Pierre Dionne Labelle, NDP, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Yes, if that's possible. I am looking for ideas that will inspire people.

[Max Cooke]

Our National Ambassador Youth Forum is made up of 50% francophones and 50% anglophones. These kinds of exchanges are magic. How can we boost this from 30 students to hundreds or thousands of students? I think you're talking about something along those lines. We have to find a way to make these kinds of connections.

I've thought of trying virtual exchanges, but I'm not convinced that this would be as valuable as direct communication between youth. I don't have all the answers as to how we're going to accomplish this, but if we can leverage these kinds of connections, then things are really going to flourish.

[Pierre Dionne Labelle, NDP, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Indeed, this is a great opportunity, however we've been told that there aren't any funds for the time being. The future is uncertain and we still don't have a planning committee. It's now or never. We have to come up with projects that will get people excited so that in 25 or 30 years, linguistic duality will not be an intellectual or theoretical concept, but rather an everyday reality. This is the challenge we're faced with.

Take young allophones for example. Let's say I am Chinese and I arrive in British Columbia. My mother tongue is Mandarin and I will attend English school. What would motivate me to learn French?

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Go ahead Mr. Cooke.

[Max Cooke]

In my experience, if family members arrive here and see that in Canada their children can learn French, English and their mother tongue, they think: "Why not?". It's a major plus. This is a trend that we're seeing more and more. A number of young allophones have registered in immersion programs.

[Lisa Marie Perkins]

I'd like to reassure you that, from our perspective, French immersion and core French programming, and the demand for them, are alive and well across this country. There are lineups. There are caps on programs that parents are very frustrated with. School districts would love to have more classrooms and more qualified teachers to offer more of it.

In terms of the allophone population, CPF did commission a research study two years ago, headed by Callie Mady, who worked very specifically with the allophone population. One of the things we were very happy to learn, one of the statistics we received, was that 80% of allophone parents, if they were told their child could be in an immersion setting, would have signed them up to learn both official languages.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Okay, thank you.

Mr. Wilks.

[David Wilks, Conservative, Kootenay—Columbia, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank those who are here today.

My question is directed to the Métis National Council and specifically Elder Fleury.

I am a retired member of the RCMP. I am fascinated by the history, especially because of how our western history started with the North-West Mounted Police, specifically in Manitoba. There are some sad stories with regard to the Métis and the North-West Mounted Police.

To go beyond that and try to intertwine what we're speaking of here today, I wonder if you could speak to a couple of things. It seems to me the Métis have such a great story to tell because, in my opinion, they affected Confederation. The reason I say that is that the North-West Mounted Police were forged to ensure that all members at the time could speak both official languages. It wasn't because of what was occurring in eastern Canada. It was because of the recognition that they would need both languages in the west. As a result of that, when the North-West Mounted Police arrived in Dufferin, they recognized that they would need to be able to converse with the Métis. The Métis had their own language, Michif. They recognized they would be able to dialogue to some degree.

I think it is really important that we tell this story in both official languages, because that's really how it all started in western Canada. It's so important.

I wonder if you could expound on that. You talked about camps. I think it's a great idea. It seems to me we have a whole lead-up to this, and then we have a whole year in which the Métis can tell their story because it goes beyond 1867 until now. When I tell people that the Dominion of Canada purchased Rupert's Land for £300,000 pounds—you can't buy a house in Vancouver for £300,000. It's amazing. I'm just fascinated by it.

[Norman Fleury]

Thank you.

When I'm asked questions that are very open, my mind expands. When you're talking about the North-West Mounted Police, “simâkanis” is “police” in Cree. My great-grandfather, Edward "Maakun" Fleury, was in the North-West Mounted Police. It stayed in our family until my grandfather passed on, so we have a connection with that.

You were talking about our people being major interpreters, and the mediators and mediums in the making of this country. First and foremost, we are mixed heritage, so we had all the languages, all the diversity. We were needed in the opening of this country. When the Dakota people came to Cypress Hills, it was our people who took Sitting Bull back to his territory because they knew Lakota.

Even pre-Canada, we were involved in the opening of the country through the fur trade. We actually flew our first flag in this country prior to the country having a flag. When we're talking about the distinctness of our people as a Michif people, we had our language, our stories, our songs, our music, and we had all that together.

In order to identify what our youth need, we have to empower them by including them. We have to ask them what they want. They can ask me questions as an elder and I have to come up with an answer. It's the same as when I was about 13 years old and I asked my grandmother questions. I used to have breakfast at my grandmother's place. We had porridge every morning, and for one reason, I don't why—it was God who said to me that I should ask my grandma what Michif is and where it comes from. I asked her, and I said in my language:

[Witness speaks in his native language]

“Grandma, where did we get this language? Where does it come from?”

She looked at me with great awe, and she asked me why I was asking her this question, because nobody had ever asked that question before, where is this language from. She said that she couldn't think about it right then because I had caught her off guard, but that she should think about it. She said I should go there to eat every day anyway and that I'd probably go there again the next day for breakfast. I did go, and she said she had thought about it. For a lady who never went to school a day in her life, she was very much an academic in her culture, and in who she was as a Michif person.

She said that God created this world and the people overseas. She said that the French have the French language, the German have the German language. She said that everybody has a language, and in this country, the first nations have a language. She said that the Dakota have the Dakota language, that the Cree have the Cree language, and then it was our turn. She explained that our language is a God-given language, that it's a language of the land, that it's a spiritual language.

That's the answer my grandmother gave me. How else can you explain it? The linguists do all the research—and they're still doing research—and they want to know where this Michif is.

When our youth get themselves organized, they talk about the effects of Confederation. They talk about the effects of losing their history. They talk about empowerment and about healing. Those are the kinds of things that are important. I'm talking about the Métis specifically, because I'm at this table to speak on behalf of a particular nation, my nation. That's what we have to do. We have to sanction people to adjust our history. We have to follow protocols.

We have all the chance in the world. In Saskatchewan, there's a francophone community at the university. We've had round table discussions there, talking about the evolution of the language and how it's become the Michif language. We also have English, which I'm using today and which we use every day, but we don't use the Michif language every day, so we have to make sure that's included.

Thank you.

Merci.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thank you, Mr. Fleury.

Ms. Perreault, you have the floor.

[Manon Perreault, NDP, Montcalm, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to all the witnesses for being here.

My questions are for Mr. Chartier and Mr. Fleury.

That fact that you are here shows that you care about your culture and your language. I have two small questions which I will put one after the other, after which you can answer.

A little earlier, you shared with us certain things with regard to your language. You talked about stories, you talked about songs. Today, within your community, are there any concrete measures to encourage your young people to learn your language, so that they can pass it on to other generations?

Do you have any suggestions as to how the Government of Canada can include your language as it plans the celebrations of the 150^th anniversary?

[Clément Chartier]

Thank you for the question.

Before I get to that specifically, I wanted to say earlier that since 1967, we've had the patriation of the Constitution. We have the Constitution Act, 1982 and the recognition of the inherent right of the aboriginal peoples to self-government. That is a tremendous change. As we move forward, we must engage on a government-to-government, nation-to-nation basis, particularly in our case with the Métis nation. We do have things to contribute.

With regard to the specific questions, we have some support from the federal government for a pre-school. For example, in my home community, our Métis nation flag flies, so kids from three and four years old see the flag. The Michif language is being taught there and also in the grade school. We have a friendship centre, of course, where we engage and it's spread throughout. I travel throughout our Métis nation homeland and I see our flag flying a lot, so it's there. The people themselves want to get more engaged, but the capacity is not sufficient. I mentioned that earlier.

How we can be involved is, we need to move forward. This table is a good place, but we have two organizations and you have a Métis nation government. We should be talking on a government-to-government basis. We're one of the three orders of government in this country.

There is mention in the heritage report, and probably this one, of engaging the provincial government. We need to do that. The Métis nation has a tripartite mechanism that can engage both levels of government and ourselves at the table. We do have a lot to offer. We just need to be there. Our engagement is there, we have a lot to contribute, and we are willing to contribute.

[Manon Perreault, NDP, Montcalm, QC]

Would you like to add anything?

[Norman Fleury]

In fact, Canada's two official languages, the English language and the French language, are spoken in the communities where we teach them. Ninety-nine per cent of the time, my children speak English, which means that they speak French 1% of the time. It is because of assimilation that they speak the languages of our country.

My son and my daughter called their grandmother mémère; they did not call her koohkoum. I encouraged them to speak French at home, but because my wife is an anglophone, we speak English more than anything else at home.

When we celebrate, we encourage our young Canadians. I'm thinking of the Métis Federation and an event called Back to Batoche. Their music, their stories, their dances, their songs, everything is in English. There is also some French, but there is nothing in our tongue, Michif. Nevertheless, we are beginning to encourage our young people.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thank you.

Ms. Bateman, you have the floor.

[Joyce Bateman, Conservative, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to all of our witnesses for being here.

I'm from Manitoba, as well, and I am a member of your organization. I have two children. A few years ago, my son started in late immersion at the age of 12. He is doing extremely well today, as always, because he is my baby. However, my daughter followed the example of her older brother, and started classes in French from the outset.

In my riding, many parents, such as myself, care about French. Even though there are not a lot of francophones, we have a lot of francophiles. Many people who live in our community care about Canada's linguistic duality.

I am one of your members, but I would be very curious to know what your strategy is to get the attention of young people.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thank you, Ms. Bateman.

Could you please answer briefly, Ms. Perkins.

[Lisa Marie Perkins]

All right, I will respond briefly.

To bring them in, again, it's in making it a living language, whether that be through exchanges, through bringing cultural groups in or through modelling the behaviour, such as the people who graduate from immersion coming back and saying, “Look at me now. Please stay in. Please continue.”

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thank you.

Mr. Chartier, could you please respond briefly.