Official Languages committee  Yes, we are concerned by the Radio-Canada budget cuts because the corporation has an important community mandate to broadcast in regions where it is not economically viable. That is true in Acadia and in the four Atlantic provinces. There are also a lot of cuts in local productio

Official Languages committee  The Société nationale de l'Acadie represents Acadians from the four Atlantic provinces. So I will refer to Atlantic Acadia. We often hear about the country as a whole being made up of Quebec and English-speaking Canada. But nothing could be further from the truth than talking ab

Official Languages committee  I will let my executive director speak to that.

Official Languages committee  I will answer in English. In the document I gave you we have priorities. Those priorities will continue because they are deemed to be what is essential for the continuation of the Acadian people. Also, it would be untoward for an organization such as ours to change our minds on

Official Languages committee  I think the Canadian taxpayers, and that includes us, are also very aware that one of Canada's main criteria has always been the respect and treatment of its minorities. I would add that a country's greatness is measured by how it treats its minorities. On the francophone side,

Official Languages committee  Several organizations are funded from the national envelope. Personally, I have not managed to find out how it is funded since 2007. However, I know only too well that the SNA is on the bottom rung of the ladder. In 2006-2007, we were the organization receiving the least funding.

Official Languages committee  That's right. Since 2005, the Société nationale de l'Acadie has had a program that commemorates the Acadian odyssey through monuments throughout Canada, and also abroad. In October 2011, we inaugurated a monument in Houma, Louisiana. These are also interesting and important tools

Official Languages committee  I'm called all kinds of things: "Ms. En Guerre", "Ms. Enguhard", "Ms. En Garde".

Official Languages committee  We didn't need to. It's something we've been thinking about for a while now. It already exists in Acadia. Quite some time ago, the Government of New Brunswick created a trust fund for the L'Évangéline newspaper, which L'Acadie Nouvelle took over. As a result, the newspaper, as th

Official Languages committee  You would like me to add to what I've already said?

Official Languages committee  I think I have been specific. I said what I had to say. I'll be pleased to answer questions, but I don't think it's necessary to come back to the matter.

Official Languages committee  Representing the Acadian people comes with great responsibility both in terms of pride and identity. We are the bearers of history, responsible for the symbols of the Société nationale de l’Acadie. Let me give you an example of what the term “bearers of history” means. As you pr

Official Languages committee  We came up with the idea of a trust fund because, like all Canadians who pay taxes, we worry about financial difficulties and the ensuing burden. We were looking for new solutions to this problem. The first advantage of the trust fund, as we see it, is that the money would not

Official Languages committee  Mr. Chair, ladies and gentlemen, the Société Nationale de l'Acadie was born 131 years ago out of the Acadian renewal at the end of the 19th century, expressing the desire of our "stateless people" to develop its own distinctive voice. "Strength in Unity" is our motto: it attests