Official Languages committee  We have established forums for new teachers. These are professional development opportunities for teachers who have recently started working. We held one in Newfoundland and Labrador in 2010, I believe, and another one in the Moncton area. We offer professional development opportunities to new teachers to meet some of their needs in managing the challenges they face in immersion classes.

Official Languages committee  Yes, we have that support.

Official Languages committee  Certainly ACPI promotes immersion for all learners. We get the message out that teachers need to be inclusive and to recognize that decisions either to stay in the program or to leave it belong strictly to families and not to anybody else. Those put teachers in a position of conflict of interest, which is something they should never put themselves in.

Official Languages committee  Yes, that is done. On February 3, 2014, the Éducateurs et éducatrices francophones du Manitoba, the EFM, and an agency of the Manitoba Teachers' Association are organizing a training day on the theme of French-language instruction. All teachers in the province in immersion and French as a first language are invited.

Official Languages committee  With your permission, I can answer your question, Mr. Dionne Labelle.

Official Languages committee  The drop-out rates are typically the same for all programs. This is a phenomenon among new teachers. It affects both new immersion teachers and those in the French-language and English-language programs. The statistics often vary from region to region. We know, for example, that the drop-out rate does not reach these thresholds among graduates from the Université de Saint-Boniface.

Official Languages committee  Absolutely.

Official Languages committee  We could advertise the wonderful teaching profession and talk, for example, about the opportunities available to high school students and much more quickly identify those who might be interested in that profession. The sooner they know it, the sooner they will make an effort to develop their skills and the more qualified people we will have who intend to enter that noble profession.

Official Languages committee  First of all, Ms. Michaud, it is up to the provinces to define immersion programs. At the national level, we can definitely propose best practices for immersion programs from kindergarten to grade 12. It would be up to the provinces to implement them and to show leadership in that area rather than show tolerance toward school boards that want to create French immersion programs.

Official Languages committee  I certainly agree with Mr. Benskin, who just mentioned the possibility of increasing support for exchange programs. Several programs are already in existence. Organizations are working toward this. Increasing opportunities for young anglophones to experience French culture in Quebec has an extraordinary impact.

Official Languages committee  It is increasingly a problem. We have heard about it in British Columbia, where French-language school systems were accepting virtually anybody. I also know that, in Manitoba, more than half of students starting kindergarten in the Division scolaire franco-manitobaine do not speak French.

Official Languages committee  Manitoba's immersion situation is currently different from that of Ontario. In most cases, immersion is a creature of the school divisions. Consequently, what is called immersion in one school division may correspond to a 50% program starting in grade 4. The skills that students acquire will be related to the intensity and quantity of French and to the number of years spent learning it.

Official Languages committee  I think that valuing the second languages and promoting access to immersion across the country would be a step in the right direction. That is not yet the case. Making immersion programs accessible across the country would be consistent with the remarks that my two Quebec colleagues just made.

Official Languages committee  Thank you. In Manitoba, the Université de Saint-Boniface trains teachers who will work in the French-as-a-first-language education systems and in immersion programs. The number of immersion students is four times greater than the number of students in the French-language schools.

Official Languages committee  That is where we stand at the present time. It is still possible to increase the number of spaces in the faculties of education for students training to teach French. The federal government will probably have an important role to play by continuing to make a significant effort to promote Canada's official languages in all areas.