Official Languages committee  Absolutely, and especially on a community like ours, in Nova Scotia, where 90% of our Francophone Acadians live in rural areas, not urban areas.

Official Languages committee  It's mainly been used in education.

Official Languages committee  For schools. I don't think the Doucet case is settled yet. Let's hope it will be before March 31, when funding will be terminated. The Court Challenges Program has been successful. As Ms. Thorne mentioned earlier, the idea isn't to challenge what the federal government does, but what's done by the provincial government, which doesn't meet its obligations.

Official Languages committee  The funding has to be used based on the needs determined by and for the community, and federal programs must respect those needs. That's what's being done in health. We're the ones who have decided how the funding will be used.

Official Languages committee  Yes, an effort is being made, not only with the people from Canadian Parents for French, but also with the immigrants association, because this concerns French speakers. I said earlier that there were immigrants for whom French is their mother tongue or second mother tongue. In the census, those people aren't counted as French speakers.

Official Languages committee  Many come from Lebanon. We received one who arrived as a doctor. After leaving his country, he went through France and then apparently worked in Denmark for a number of years. He wanted to come to Canada, and Nova Scotia was the most welcoming province for him in the entire process of immigrating to Canada.

Official Languages committee  Right now, it's the Lebanese community first, then the Arab community.

Official Languages committee  Ms. Saulnier talked about the Capital Health Authority of Greater Halifax. French speakers and Arabs are there now, on equal terms.

Official Languages committee  Before discussing the Fédération acadienne, I want to add to Ms. Saulnier's remarks.

Official Languages committee  Yes, it's very brief. She said we hadn't had any support for ad hoc projects since the end of the stage this past September. That's true. Although it's not official, since the minister hasn't yet announced it, we're preparing to carry out two projects until March 2007. After that, there's nothing tangible yet.

Official Languages committee  She told me yesterday that, if everything went well, she'd be here, but since she had a backache, she didn't know if she could make the trip today. However, she didn't send a message that she wouldn't be coming.