Good afternoon. Everyone is hungry and therefore you'll be pleased to hear that my presentation will be brief.
Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen members of the committee, thank you for inviting me here today. It is a great pleasure for me to speak on behalf of the Centre culturel francophone de Vancouver about the role for a public broadcaster in the XXIst century.
Allow me to begin by briefly describing the organization I represent, the artistic community in British Columbia, and the proportion of francophones and francophiles of metropolitan Vancouver.
Since 1975, the Centre culturel francophone de Vancouver has been programming annual French language cultural activities. These include activities such as the Coup de coeur francophone series, the Nouvelle Scène concerts, an art gallery, library and video library services, educational services and programs, children's day camps, integration and reception services for new arrivals, a community Internet access site, and the list goes on. The Centre culturel francophone de Vancouver therefore provides professionally crafted cultural activities and shows. We give the people of Vancouver access to francophone linguistic or cultural artistic products in the areas of visual arts, media arts and the performing arts.
At 24,100 artists, British Columbia is the province of the highest percentage of its population involved in artistic professions—1.1%. Artists make up 0.08% of the total active population in Canada. Out of all the major Canadian cities, Vancouver has the highest concentration of artists. Seven thousand two hundred and fifty artists live in Vancouver, that is 30% of British Columbia artists.
In the Vancouver region, francophones represent 2% of the population. That population is increasing. The francophone population in metropolitan Vancouver went from 27,245 people in 1996 to 29,795 people in 2001, that is an increase of 10%. That represents 50% of the francophone population in British Columbia. Furthermore, there were 133,525 individuals speaking French in metropolitan Vancouver in 1996, and 147,775 in 2001, that is an increase of 10.5%. That is equivalent to the size of the population in cities such as Abbottsford in British Columbia, Kingston in Ontario or Trois-Rivières in Quebec. The metropolitan Vancouver region therefore contains a sizable poll of francophones and francophiles searching for a cultural life that takes place in French.
For more than 30 years the Centre culturel francophone de Vancouver has been ensuring French language arts and culture broadcasting in its municipality. We are dedicated to the development and vitality of a francophone cultural space in Vancouver. Our initiatives frequently involve close collaboration with CBC/Radio-Canada. We think it is important to share with you our thoughts on how CBC/Radio-Canada fulfills the responsibilities under its legislative mandate, but also on our own involvement.
First, we are of the opinion that CBC/Radio-Canada is principally and typically Canadian by both the proportion of its programs with Canadian content and its ability to provide programing that reflects the interests and values of Canadians.We believe that Radio-Canada reflects Canada inclusively and we must acknowledge that it takes the country regional diversity into account, at both the national and regional level. We acknowledge that it attempts to meet specific regional needs. Including television and radio programs that cover the western regions provides us with an opportunity to appreciate regional diversity. On the other hand, providing greater coverage of the country can make it difficult to ensure listener loyalty and to achieve that critical level of local visibility that is necessary for insuring that local viewers relate to those programs.
I will come back to that aspect of Radio-Canada's mandate during my presentation when I talk about the relevant of regional programing.
We all agree that Radio-Canada actively contributes to cultural expression and exchanges in various ways. There are local programs such as Zigzag, which covers artistic activities in the four western provinces; Ceci est un TEST, which gives a platform to young musicians; ONVIVA, in which youth from western schools talk to us about their culture; the MUZIKLIPS competition, which gives a new artist an opportunity to record a sound tape and to produce a first videoclip; and the Arts et spectacles clips in the Téléjournal/Colombie-Britannique, which provide the Centre culturel francophone de Vancouver with an amount of visibility, which is never enough for a producer, but which is satisfactory.
Radio-Canada provides services in French and in English and we acknowledge that it attempts through these services to reflect the specific situations and needs of both official language communities. One of the immediate consequences of the draconian reduction in its budget in the mid-1990s was its inability to meet the specific needs of the minority francophone communities. Centralizing operations in large urban centres often involves budget cuts that affect its ability to provide adequate coverage to these communities.
We are of the opinion that Radio-Canada holds the same quality standards for its services in French and in English. Radio-Canada contributes to a shared-collective conscience through its historical programs as well as its news coverage in all its shapes. Providing visibility to individuals who embody our hopes, and to events that foster community relations and solidarity can only serve to inspire and stimulate our feeling of national identity.
In order to ensure the survival of minority communities Radio-Canada must maintain its services throughout Canada. That would be difficult if those services were no longer included in its basic services. Through the diversity of its programming, the active involvement of diversified cultural communities in its programming from its design to its broadcasting, Radio-Canada reflects the multicultural and multinational nature of Canada.
In conclusion, I would like to point out to committee members that it should no longer be necessary to prove that regional programming is relevant. It is obvious that ensuring Radio-Canada's active regional presence as well as significant visibility to those individuals contributing to the vitality of these communities can only foster their development.
Thank you.