Yes, Mr. Chair.
My motion is as follows:
That the committee invite the minister of Employment and Social Development Canada to appear before the committee before June 19th 2014 to explain why his department has refused to finance the project « Développer des pratiques innovantes en ACE pour la main-d'oeuvre qui vit en contexte linguistique minoritaire » which was developed by the Réseau pour le développement de l'alphabétisme et des compétences (RESDAC).
A letter from RESDAC President Isabelle Salesse was handed out. A copy of the letter was sent to me and to the following individuals: Minister Jason Kenney; Shelly Glover, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages; Graham Fraser, Commissioner of Official Languages; Jacques Gourde, Parliamentary Secretary for Official Languages; Jamie Nicholls, Member for Vaudreuil—Soulanges; Stéphane Dion, Member for Saint-Laurent—Cartierville; and Marie-France Kenny, President of the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne, or the FCFA.
I am going to take the time to read the letter because we need to understand how this decision could affect the communities. The subject of the letter is the timeline for the implementation of the official-language minority communities literacy and essential skills initiative under the Roadmap for Canada's Official Languages 2013-18.
Translated, the letter begins as follows:
In March 2013, the Canadian government announced the implementation and funding with respect to the Roadmap for Canada's Official Languages 2013-18. Since the announcement, we have not received any information or communication about the actual mechanisms to implement the official-language minority communities literacy and essential skills initiative.
It was May 12 and—