Mr. Chair, eminent colleagues and members of the committee, thank you for this opportunity to speak on behalf of the Communauté Atikamekw de Manawan, the residents of which have asked me to do everything in my power to challenge the redistribution proposed on February 26. Since time is limited, allow me right off the bat to summarize the reasons for this challenge.
First, the announcement that Manawan would be removed from the electoral district of Joliette, was a shock to the Atikamekw community. The council and residents immediately mobilized. We therefore have with us a unanimous resolution by the Conseil des Atikamekw de Manawan and a petition signed by 600 residents who want to keep Manawan in Joliette. Those 600 signatures represent more than 50% of adults on the Manawan electoral list. This petition makes ours the most significant challenge in Canada in 2013. Apart from this mobilization effort, however, there are good reasons to reject the proposed redistribution.
Joliette is the closest urban centre to Manawan and the location of the Centre d'amitié autochtone de Lanaudière, which serves some 50 aboriginal families living in an urban setting. Joliette is also where Manawan residents go to do most of their shopping, to go to school off reserve and so on. Highway 131, which crosses my riding from north to south, is the only link between Manawan and the Joliette urban area. It is also the road the Atikamekw must use to reach the electoral district of Saint-Maurice—Champlain, the urban centres of which are much farther away than Joliette.
If the proposed redistribution were implemented, the Atikamekw would definitely continue going to Joliette as they do now but would not have a federal political link with that territory, which is also their own. Furthermore, as a result of the challenge, we learned that community relations between Joliette and Manawan will grow in coming years. The Commission scolaire des Samares recently began a process of cooperation with Manawan's educational services to promote the inclusion of Atikamekw youth who go to school off reserve. There are currently 45 Atikamekw students at the primary level of the Commission scolaire des Samares and 15 at the secondary level. Logically, Atikamekw secondary enrolment will triple over the next few years.
In addition, among the some 50 Atikamekw families settled in Joliette, there is a majority of young people aged 20 to 29 and, even more so, a majority of women. The demographic changes and births that may be anticipated will only expand the Atikamekw presence to and in Joliette, since the Atikamekw are also settling in the countryside around the city. The confirmed demographic boom in all first nations is being observed in all areas in Manawan, and relations with Joliette will only increase.
This situation is developing together with an increasing openness by the Atikamekw toward non-aboriginals, as may be seen in the efforts of the school board and the development of Tourisme Manawan, for example.
Lastly, we would have liked to challenge this redistribution earlier, but the loss of Manawan was not made public until the commission members' report was tabled on February 26. Other parts of my riding were subject to changes, and residents were able to speak before the commission, which listened to them.
Today I am simply asking you to allow the commission members to review their decision based on the arguments compiled in our report, the people's will expressed in the petition and the resolution of the Conseil des Atikamekw de Manawan.
For that reason, I ask you as well to let the commission members analyze our request. I am convinced that they will accommodate the Atikamekw's wishes and accept the many reasons for leaving Manawan in Joliette.
Thank you.