Thank you, Mr. Chair.
The Association canadienne-française de l'Ontario, Temiskaming Region, would like to thank the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage for accepting our brief regarding CBC/Radio-Canada's mandate and funding.
The ACFO Temiskaming Region represents the 7,345 Francophones and many Francophiles in southern Temiskaming, in Northern Ontario.
The ACFO Temiskaming Region is a non-profit organization that encourages and promotes the development and vitality of Franco-Ontarians in Temiskaming in social, cultural, religious, and educational spheres
Let's talk about the CBC/Radio-Canada's Role in Ensuring the Survival of Francophone Communities. For Francophones in Temiskaming, CBC/Radio-Canada plays an essential role in guaranteeing our survival.
As the public broadcaster, it shares information about what is going on in other minority communities in Ontario and across the country.
It also broadcasts information about what is going on in Quebec. Without CBC/Radio-Canada, it would be impossible for Francophone communities in Canada to showcase their culture, diversity, dynamism and socio-economic development, as there would be nothing drawing these communities together.
CBC/Radio-Canada must be given enough funding to accomplish its role as a Canadian Crown corporation. We have an opportunity to identify as Canadians through access to media.
In the Ontarian Temiskaming region, there are no established Francophone radio stations or newspapers. Over the years, three different newspapers have been launched by ACFO-Temiskaming, but all of them have gone under because there is not a large enough population base to sustain a French-language newspaper.
Therefore, if we want to read news in French, our only option is the French-language newspaper called Le Reflet témiscamien, based in the Quebec Témiscamingue region. While this newspaper occasionally covers events that occur on the Ontario side, it understandably focuses on events and issues that affect its target audience, that is, Quebeckers in the Témiscamingue region.
Our region receives radio signals from the Quebec Ville-Marie station CKVM, an independent station that caters to its target audience, that is, local Quebeckers.
We also receive CBC/Radio-Canada's CBON station, which is based in Sudbury and covers all of Northern Ontario. While its mandate is to serve us, reception is very poor in certain areas of Temiskaming, which causes many Francophones to turn to the Quebec CKVM station or to English-language radio stations for their news.
One of the reasons that CBON reception is so poor is CBC/Radio-Canada's lack of funding. How can we create a sense of belonging among Francophones when we are beyond the reach of our media?
It is important for us to have access to CBC/Radio-Canada radio and television stations so that we can receive the news in our own language.
If CBON does not receive adequate funding, Temiskaming runs the risk of having even poorer French-language media coverage of local events.
Our only other alternative for local news is the English-language radio station CJIT, which is based in New Liskeard.
The same can be said of local television. If CBC/Radio-Canada received more funding, we could have a local journalist that would tell us about local activities in our own language.
Francophone and Anglophone media do not report on the same aspects of a situation or the same realities. Therefore, it is essential that we have access to media services that understand our issues, our challenges and our aspirations.
Franco-Ontarians are fiercely proud of their Francophone culture and language and they are fighting to protect them.
It is important that we have access to adequate and professional French-language news. This creates a sense of belonging and unites us with the larger Francophone family across the country.
CBC/Radio-Canada can be the one to spark this pride and ensure our vitality. We, as Francophones, represent one of the founding peoples of Canada, but we are living in a minority situation. If Franco-Ontarians do not have a model or something to rally around, it becomes nearly impossible to ensure our survival.
The Association canadienne-française de l'Ontario (ACFO), Temiskaming Region believes that CBC/Radio-Canada is an essential service for minority Francophone communities in Canada.
The government must provide adequate funding in order to ensure the long-term survival and financial security of the national public broadcaster.
It is wrong to believe that we can drain more and more funding from CBC/Radio-Canada and think that some other broadcaster will be able to unite Francophones established across our beautiful country.
Thank you.