Thank you for the question.
There are consequences on student mobility. Because young people have few opportunities to continue their post-secondary education in French in most of these communities, they move towards large urban centres. We are looking for ways to have these young people come back.
People return to their regions for all sorts of reasons. Feeling like they belong is important, but jobs are really the main reason why people return to their communities. It is therefore very important to ensure that there are jobs in the regions. All young Canadians are very mobile, but this is particularly true of young francophones. Because the communities are already small, they are impacted by this mobility.
There was a program under the previous roadmap. Public Works and Government Services Canada provided funding for a youth employment program for students studying translation and interpretation. Unfortunately, cuts in the 2013 budget have meant that PWGSC's assistance program for the language sector was abolished.
Some programs aimed at the language sector, including Skills Link, were strengthened. However, translation and interpretation services were not. At the same time, we are hearing that there will not be enough workers in this sector over the next decade. In terms of official languages, it is important for communities to continue to have access to translation and interpretation services. It is unfortunate that they are no longer included in the roadmap.