Good afternoon and thank you, Mr. Chair.
Ladies and gentlemen, it is always a pleasure to be here. I feel as though I have been given a free pass to come and meet with you, like on Guy A. Lepage's program. Our organization appreciates that very much.
First of all, I want to thank you for inviting us to testify before you today about French immersion programs. From the outset, I will admit quite candidly that immersion is not one of the federation's areas of activity. Consequently, our expertise in the field is quite limited.
However, the advancement of French and linguistic duality is one of our fields of activity and part of our expertise. That is why we are interested in issues related to French immersion. We also maintain contact with organizations such as Canadian Parents for French, Canadian Youth for French and the Canadian Association of Immersion Teachers, and rightly so: I am fond of saying that a francophone is a person who has chosen to live part of his or her life in French. That obviously includes immersion students.
The issue for us at the FCFA is not just protecting French, but also sharing it with as many Canadians as possible. In my remarks, I would like to discuss some aspects of your study such as the relevance, added value and accessibility of immersion programs.
With regard to added value, first let us talk about the validity of learning French as a second language. In the excellent open letter that the Commissioner of Official Languages, Graham Fraser, issued to the media on April 8, he named all the people in the federal government who are fluently bilingual: the Prime Minister of Canada, the majority of provincial premiers, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages, the Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, the chair of this committee, most members of this committee, and others.
In other words, if we are looking for a tangible example of the added value of second language learning, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, as it were. Furthermore, as Mr. Fraser says, French in Canada is the language of ambition. It is a good bet that the future will feature a steadily growing cohort of bilingual young professionals prepared to take on key positions in the government, in our major businesses and in other organizations in Canadian society. I hope it does in any case.
The added value of immersion and second language learning programs does not stop there. You know as well as I do that we are living in an increasingly diverse and multicultural country. In the circumstances, our two official languages are becoming a tool that suits us, that enables us to understand more clearly what it is to be Canadian, because they are central to the Canadian experience. Many new Canadians know this, judging from the popularity of second language courses offered by the Alliance française in Vancouver, particularly to young Asian Canadians.
When the FCFA appeared before this committee as part of its study on the 150th anniversary of Confederation, I emphasized that we often feel that Canadian society consists of groups that, owing to distance or different backgrounds, do not have a chance to talk to each other and understand each other. Ensuring that all Canadians who wish to learn their second official language can have the opportunity to do so is an investment in the Canadian collective "we".
That leads me to talk to you about the accessibility of immersion and second language learning programs. Others will do a better job than I of telling you in detail about the issues and challenges involved. However, I would like to bring two points to your attention.
First of all, the capacity of immersion schools to meet ever-increasing demand remains limited. Allow me to cite a report by Canadian Parents for French of British Columbia and Yukon that was published last month:
Demand for French immersion programs continues to outstrip capacity in many communities. School districts continue to mitigate FSL program capping in a variety of ways including: enrolment lotteries and early morning registration that has forced some parents to camp overnight.
If my memory serves me, Minister Moore himself said he had camped out all night so that he could register his nephews and nieces at an immersion school.
In the Toronto area, waiting lines for available places often form up two days in advance. In February, The StarPhoenix of Saskatoon reported that two more schools would be offering immersion programs to relieve the pressure on other schools that, in some cases, were at 120% of capacity.
One of the solutions to this problem is greater accountability for federal government transfer payments to the provinces and territories for education. Currently, it is virtually impossible to determine with any precision how those funds are used. However, if we consider the example of Yukon, which invested in French immersion funding that was supposed to go to instruction in French as a first language, it is questionable whether the federal government contribution is universally being used for its intended purpose.
For that reason, we would like the committee to recommend in its report that the government include accountability mechanisms in the language clauses of those transfer agreements. After all, taxpayers' money is at stake.
Second, those who manage to secure a space often wind up at the end of their French immersion journey with few opportunities for postsecondary education in both official languages. By ensuring that there is a continuum, across the country, enabling young English Canadians to study in both languages at college and at university, we will guarantee our country a generation of bilingual young professionals capable of picking up the political, economic and social reins of our society.
Thank you. I am now ready to answer your questions.