Good evening.
Mr. Chair and members of the committee, my name is Sylviane Lanthier and I am the president of the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada, or FCFA. I'd like to thank you for the opportunity to appear before you this evening.
In 9 provinces and 3 territories, 2.6 million citizens have chosen to live in French. The dynamic and diverse francophone communities in every region of the country are the reason Canada can boast of genuine linguistic duality. They embody one of our fundamental Canadian values.
The FCFA is appearing before the committee today as the main voice of those communities and the people who belong to them, people who are determined to live their lives in French. Specifically, the FCFA is here on behalf of 42 organizations and institutions across the country committed to the development of our communities, and among them are 12 provincial and territorial francophone associations.
As the leader of this extensive joint action network, the FCFA is the federal government's primary partner when it comes to discussing official languages issues and support for minority francophone communities. At the helm of this network, the FCFA serves as the voice of hundreds of francophone local groups, cultural and community centres, health networks and settlement service organizations.
The reason for the long introduction is to give you a clear sense of the distinct manner in which we have equipped ourselves with services and places that allow us to lead our lives in French. These services and places exist only because community groups and institutions joined forces to build a network to overcome the isolation of minority communities in the interest of everyone's well-being.
The first piece of good news that we would like to share with you is that, never before, have there been so many people in the country wanting to lead their lives in French and that demand for French-language activities is ever-growing. The second piece of good news is that the extensive network of organizations and institutions I told you about is constantly on the lookout for innovative solutions to better serve French-speaking citizens.
Community building is part of our DNA: as members of minority language communities, we took our future into our own hands and built, on our own, the infrastructure we needed to live our lives in French.
The added value of our community and cultural centres, schools, settlement service groups, employment assistance organizations, community media and local francophone agencies is now undeniable. But today, these institutions have hit a ceiling in terms of what they can do with the resources they have. Many of them receive funding from the Department of Canadian Heritage through the official languages support program, but that funding has neither increased nor even been indexed for the past 11 years. Given how much the cost of living has gone up, that is equivalent to a 30% to 35% decline in the resources available to these organizations. As a result, in some places, such as the Northwest Territories, organizations have had to close their doors owing to a lack of funding, often despite being the only group providing French-language service to their community.
Other more specialized organizations are facing different, but equally concerning, circumstances. Despite the fact that the 2013-18 roadmap for Canada's official languages set out funding for targeted development initiatives, some of the roadmap money has yet to be released, today, in 2016.
Strengthening community capacity is crucial if communities are to continue championing and promoting French, as they are currently doing. We have to be able to modernize and upgrade our infrastructure in order to handle the growing demand for services, our media has to be able to shift to digital platforms, and our organizations and institutions have to be able to meet emerging needs in areas such as francophone immigration.
We know that the committee is hearing from a myriad of groups, all of whom have multiple priorities and high expectations. Since the 2016 budget will be this new government's first, the FCFA, for its part, would like, above all, for the government to send a clear message signalling its intention to take action, through the budget, in support of those who build and contribute to French life all over the country.
We therefore recommend that the federal budget include a statement of the government's intention to, at the very least, index the funding it invests in organizations and institutions throughout francophone and Acadian communities, beginning in the 2017-18 fiscal year.
We also recommend that, in the 2016-17 fiscal year, the Government of Canada release the roadmap funding that has yet to be made available and that the government commit to working with organizations and institutions in francophone and Acadian communities as key partners in identifying the requirements and solutions to strengthen community capacity and infrastructure.
On the eve of the year when we will celebrate the 150th anniversary of Confederation, the government has an opportunity to take decisive, even historic, action to strengthen Canada's linguistic duality. And all it has to do is support those who create places where people can live their lives in French all over the country.
Thank you.