Official Languages committee  The situation is even worse for us because only five organizations are eligible for program funding. We receive our 25% allotment. Some 10 organizations operate on a project basis. If they don't receive a response by September, October or November, then they have already lost hal

Official Languages committee  In our view, it is just as important to have a basic per capita amount, as well as complementary funding for institutions in each of the provinces. In some provinces, there are many more francophones than in others, but there are more services as well. There are few francophones

Official Languages committee  I will give you an example of this. As far as we are concerned, the interdepartmental position has been vacant for two years. Furthermore, we've had experiences with other departments which, through the IPOLC or other programs at Canadian Heritage, could have provided greater sup

Official Languages committee  Firstly, we have no idea as to how this $1 billion will be distributed. Will a large portion remain within government administration to increase government services? We do not know where this $1 billion will go. When priorities are added, community agreements are only enhanced by

Official Languages committee  In PEI the situation depends on the area where people are located. People can receive French-language services mainly in community homes. It is quite sad because over 25% of francophones are over 65. So we are working very hard with the provincial government to improve services i

Official Languages committee  No, but the goal was nonetheless to train young men, and mainly to see to it that there were francophone priests. They would be sent to Quebec, on a scholarship, to study. At the time, religion was an integral part of the movement.

Official Languages committee  It made a difference for us. We witnessed a change in culture among our public servants. They now consult us more often to find out what is meant by positive measures or if they can do more. For example, we are currently negotiating with the Department of Veterans Affairs. Unfort

Official Languages committee  In Prince Edward Island, it is definitely better than before the agreements, but our fear is that we have now created a need and a demand. We're seeing extraordinary growth in the early childhood sector, among students of elementary school age, but on the other hand, we are losin

Official Languages committee  Thank you for having us here today and allowing us to present our viewpoints. I will begin by explaining the situation in Prince Edward Island. The Société Saint-Thomas-d'Aquin was founded in 1919. Its main mandate is to preserve the French Acadian culture and language in our pr

Official Languages committee  As regards the Court Challenges Program, our relations with our provincial government have been the most critical for us. As I said earlier, I don't think that there's a lack of will most of the time. Our provincial government lacks resources to meet its educational obligations

Official Languages committee  Absolutely. This isn't necessarily my field, but I know that the illiteracy rate among the Francophones of Prince Edward Island is much higher than among Anglophones. Many people 40 to 60 years of age were educated in a language that was not their own. They were forced to attend

Official Languages committee  Right now, our greatest challenge is to provide adequate support to our community school centres because they're really the developmental core of our communities. Our regions are so isolated and we don't have the critical mass, as a result of which it's impossible for these centr

Official Languages committee  We don't violate laws and we don't challenge them. The laws exist for our protection. We took the provincial government to court. The Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages offers us no protection from decisions made by our province. We had to take our province to court

Official Languages committee  I'll answer the question. Cultural development is done somewhat like the development of all our other organizational structures in Prince Edward Island. The funding envelope for the major part of the organization of cultural development comes from the cooperation agreement with

Official Languages committee  In addition, culture helps us make the other community aware of the value that our community adds in this province. Prince Edward Island relies a lot on tourism. Our Anglophone community increasingly recognizes the value our community adds and the need not only to promote folk cu