Thank you for your question.
The cuts have had an impact, there's no doubt about it. A number of our members have not been able to provide or to continue to provide their services to learners. Above all, project approval has been delayed, which has also hurt. We are slightly more optimistic because it seems that projects will ultimately be assessed and approved.
Having the criteria change in mid-process hurt us a great deal. We had to re-submit or modify projects, which caused delays. The federation is still waiting for approval of various projects that we submitted based on the old criteria. We hope they will be approved.
Our challenge is to provide services in French to anyone who wants them throughout the country, in each province and territory. We have organizations and members who do so in all provinces where people have level 1 and level 2 literacy.
The gap between francophones and anglophones in Canada is significant, at 17%. The illiteracy rate for francophones is 56%—level 1 and level 2 literacy—and it is 39% for anglophones. The francophones need to catch up. There are many reasons for the gap, including history, but much work remains to be done here.
With regard to employment, many people who come to see us work, but they have limited knowledge and skills. So, they work in low-paying jobs, do not have access to promotions and so forth. These people come to see us, and we take care of them. Some of them lose their jobs and come to see us to learn the skills they need to return to the labour market. Furthermore, some people come to learn French or relearn French because they are losing their language in their minority community and they want to ensure that they can help their children who are learning French in school.
So, we are working with all these groups. Our work complements formal education because we provide an informal education. Adult literacy lasts a lifetime because we should be able to maintain these skills.