Thank you very much. Mr. Chair, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon.
Thank you for having us.
Thank you for inviting the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne today to testify on Bill C‑35 and to talk about the main issues linked to early childhood services in French. I am here with Jean‑Luc Racine, who is the Executive Director of the Commission nationale des parents francophones, one of our Federation's member organizations.
We are testifying today on behalf of the 2.8 million Canadians who belong to francophone minority communities in nine provinces and three territories. More specifically, we will be speaking on behalf of the 141,000 thousand children aged four years or less, according to the last census, whose right to an education in French in a minority setting is guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom.
We are here to speak on behalf of the parents of these children, who often have to make wrenching decisions because of a woeful lack of spaces in francophone daycares. In certain places, like Prince Edward Island, you have to wait upwards of three years to get a space.
For too many parents, there comes a time when they can no longer wait. They may decide that one parent stays at home, which makes the family poorer and furthers inequality between men and women. What happens most often is that the parents have to enrol their child in an English‑language daycare. They make that choice, which isn't exactly a choice, because they have no other options, and it is during the most crucial period for the development of their child, when they are acquiring a language and a sense of identity.
Even if both parents are francophones, there's a high likelihood that the child who goes to an English‑language daycare is more at ease speaking in English than in French when he or she starts school. In many cases, in order for that child to succeed at school, he or she will have to pursue their schooling in English. Imagine the feeling of failure that francophone parents feel because they haven't been able to ensure that their child will grow up in French.
The lack of early childhood services in French is therefore a barrier to the exercise of the constitutional right to education in French in a minority setting. It is a contributing factor to assimilation and by the same token, it constitutes a threat to the future vitality of francophone minority communities.
As I have stated, there are 141,635 children who are entitled to an education in French in a minority setting. However, the number of authorized spaces in francophone daycares means that only 20% of those children will receive a space. That also means that in 80% of cases, and this goes for thousands of households across the country, parents are having difficult conversations to try and find a solution to the dilemma that I have just described to you.
I will now turn over to my colleague, Mr. Racine.