Official Languages Committee on Nov. 7th, 2006

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Yvon Godin]

I am now going to call our meeting to order. First of all, I would like to welcome each and every one of you. As we said at the other meetings, this is the first time in 25 years that the Standing Committee on Official Languages has held a meeting in Moncton. This morning, we met people from Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia. We are very pleased to be here.

As time is short, we will need to be very strict about it. We ask that you make a three-minute presentation. I know that you will say that's not much, but as I said this morning, the committee is very much aware of the problems, the Action Plan for Official Languages, etc. What we would rather do is open a dialogue between you and the MPs, who may ask you questions. I therefore ask you to stick to the three minutes allocated to you.

When you speak, please hold the microphone and speak directly into it. As there are not many of them, don't hesitate to move closer to the one you will be using.

During the question period, each MP from each of the political parties will have five minutes. We will attempt to have a few rounds of questions.

I wish to inform the committee members that we will be leaving at 2:30 p.m. to go to the University of Moncton's Medical Training Centre at the J.-Raymond-Frenette Building. We will be there from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

I would now ask the representatives of the Société santé et mieux-être du Nouveau-Brunswick to begin.

As they are not here, we will move on to the Association francophone des municipalités du Nouveau-Brunswick first.

Good afternoon, Mr. Maillet.

[Achille Maillet, First Vice-President, Association francophone des municipalités du Nouveau-Brunswick]

Good afternoon to the members of Parliament on the committee. My name is Achille Maillet, the Vice-President of the Association francophone des municipalités du Nouveau-Brunswick.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Association francophone des municipalités du Nouveau-Brunswick would today like to concentrate on the issue of the federal government's policy for locating its services.

In recent years, the Acadian community in New Brunswick, and in the northern part of the province in particular, has noticed a shift and/or the elimination of positions within several federal departments and agencies. Some of these decisions gave rise to complaints from the Commissioner of Official Languages and to legal action. We listed a number of examples in the brief that we provided earlier.

The repetitive nature of the decisions that seem to us to have weakened the scope of, and even violated, Canada's Official Languages Act, led us to take action in June to carry out a more systematic and rigorous assessment of the impact of these decisions and of the federal provincial policies on the location of government services.

Our view is that the geographical location of government services is directly related to three important parts of the Act, in particular Part IV, on access to services in both official languages.

There is a risk that eliminating front-line positions will directly reduce the delivery of services in French to minority Acadian and francophone communities, as is the case in New Brunswick. Furthermore, the concentration of positions in a smaller number of service centres and the distance between these service delivery centres and the Acadian and francophone communities may well have a direct impact on access to services. It should therefore come as no surprise to frequently see in reports from the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages that government offices in regions where there is a strong anglophone majority are less able to serve francophone clients in their language.

Part V relates to language of work. The implementation of Part V of the Official Languages Act targets municipalities and regions in Canada where there is a significant minority language community or where a significant population is served in both official languages. New Brunswick is designated a "bilingual region" for the purposes of Part V, but many services provided in French in New Brunswick are from offices located outside the province, including Halifax. However, municipalities with large anglophone majorities are not targetted for language of work, even if they serve a large francophone minority, as is the case in the Atlantic region, where approximately 16% of the population have French as their mother tongue.

When services are located in municipalities with large anglophone majorities, it is more difficult to attract francophone employees. In addition, the workplace becomes a factor in assimilation. Locating federal offices in regions or municipalities with a heavy concentration of francophones or a majority of francophones, would contribute not only to strengthening the right of francophone public servants to work in French, but also contribute to the vitality of Acadian and francophone communities in New Brunswick and the Atlantic provinces.

Lastly, Part VII concerns community development. Locating government services in the regions is an important and highly effective measure for local and/or regional economic development, and for strengthening official language minority communities. New Brunswick is an excellent example of how the location of government services in the northern and eastern part of the province could have a significant impact on the region, and also on the whole of the province's Acadian and francophone community.

These communities are currently facing major economic challenges and suffering a marked population decline.

Let us now move on to the study begun by the Association francophone des municipalités on the government services location policy, on which we are currently working. We took steps to carry out a study on changing patterns of government employees in New Brunswick. Our office has already sent you a proposal on this matter. Discussions with various organizations, including the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages, have shown that it would be appropriate to extend the study to the country as a whole. We are receptive to this proposal. The challenge at the moment is to put together a financial package in order to be able to complete the study.

Lastly, we would like today to ask your committee to acknowledge the importance of the policy on the location of government services in implementing Canada's Official Languages Act, particularly Parts IV, V and VII.

We would very much appreciate a recommendation or support from your committee, in order to obtain the financial resources required freed up for this study.

Thank you.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Yvon Godin]

Thank you, Mr. Maillet. I remind you that you have three minutes. I would like you to keep to that time limit, because the members will ask you questions afterwards.

Mr. Thériault, you have the floor.

[Daniel Thériault, Director General, Société des Acadiens et Acadiennes du Nouveau-Brunswick]

Good afternoon.

Mr. Yvon Godin is the MP for my riding. I would like to extend my greetings to him.

I would like to thank you for giving us this opportunity to speak. I wish to point out that some organizations may not be here because we only found out very late that we were to appear before this committee. That is why I am going to speak from a brief that was submitted to Ms. Verner in May. This is intentional, however, because the core of what we wish to say is contained in it.

One-third of New Brunswick's population is francophone, but the legal context is rather special. New Brunswick is indeed officially bilingual, but there is more than one act on the equality of the two language communities. You will see and the end of my presentation why I mention this.

I am from the SANB, an organization that represents the Acadian community, and hence the francophone community in New Brunswick. In her presentation, the president was also addressing the minister as president of the Forum de concertation des organismes acadiens, which is a federation of 32 organizations, a few of which are here around the table today. That explains the community structure of Acadian society.

There are three points to be taken into consideration. We must always be watchful in order to maintain our position and to improve compliance with official languages legislation, both the New Brunswick act and Government of Canada act. Everyday life would definitely be easier if the federal government were to consistently apply the requirements of the Official Languages Act in the specific context of New Brunswick.

The Official Languages Act and the equality of the two language communities are enshrined in Canada's Constitution. The federal government needs to keep this legal framework in mind when it takes action in New Brunswick. It must also factor in the impacts on our community of any administrative changes, the relocation of jobs—I think that was well explained just now—and the planning of French-language services.

Strengthening the ability of communities to work together with the various levels of government and to play an active role in the development of public policies is also an issue. Staff resources and volunteers are the key to strengthening communities and their infrastructures. On the other hand, the depletion of volunteers and the difficulty in recruiting, retaining and developing human resources is harmful to engagement in the communities. Support for community engagement is a part of the Official Languages Act. I believe that the government should continue to work towards supporting our initiatives.

We wish primarily to draw your attention to the need for support from the federal government and the importance of realizing that administrative decisions can have an impact on the community, including the relocation of services. We complained about the Customs offices. There were three districts in New Brunswick, one of which was run from Edmundston. The only francophone Customs district in Eastern Quebec was merged with another district where the ability of employees to work in French or in both languages was reduced. That is one example.

One position was relocated from Tracadie to Amherst. That is another loss for the Acadian community in New Brunswick, as well as a probable loss in terms of the ability of government employees to provide bilingual support to the communities. At the same time, we lost public servants from the community.

As an example of an administrative decision, I would not want to forget the budget cuts, which have a major impact on our work in the communities. We think that it is a poor decision and that the government should change its mind, particularly but not only with respect to the Court Challenges Program.

With respect to the RCMP—and this will be my final comment—we appealed to the Supreme Court; our case is under review. The RCMP does not provide bilingual services everywhere in the province. That is a good example of why the federal government should adapt to the context. New Brunswick law requires that bilingual services be available to all of its citizens everywhere in New Brunswick. We think that the federal government regulations should take this into consideration in implementing the Official Languages Act.

Someone described New Brunswick as the zebra province: as you travel along the highway to Edmundston, you are entitled to services in French from the RCMP; if you are in Woodstock, it is not clear that this will be possible; in Sussex, there appears to be no need; in Moncton, there is a need; a little farther on, you don't know.

Why, in a bilingual province like New Brunswick, would the federal government not at the very least provide the minimum required under New Brunswick law?

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Yvon Godin]

Thank you very much.

I will return now to the Société santé et mieux-être du Nouveau-Brunswick.

Mr. Gionet, you have the floor.

[Norman Gionet, President, Société santé et mieux-être du Nouveau-Brunswick]

Good afternoon to you all.

I would like to begin by thanking all the members of the Standing Committee on Official Languages for having invited the Société santé et mieux-être en français du Nouveau-Brunswick to come and present a brief on the conditions under which our organization operates in New Brunswick.

In Acadia, we are always happy to receive important visitors, and we hope that our Acadian hospitality has met your expectations.

Our presentation will be brief, and will attempt to describe a number of French-language societal issues in New Brunswick, in addition to future prospects for the Réseau Santé en français.

Our society was founded just over three years ago. We are members of the Réseau Santé en français, which is our national counterpart. Our provincial organization has three action networks working in the field of wellness, service organization, and health training and research in French. More than 60 professionals in the province representing our partners in health are involved directly in our organization's activities. These partners include policy makers, training institutions and regional management institutions, professional associations and representatives of the Acadian and francophone community.

Our work consists of formulating and implementing strategies designed to improve access to primary health care services in French throughout the province.

We have just completed a provincial consultation entitled Préparer le terrain. This national initiative of the Société Santé en français was funded by Health Canada under the Primary Health Care Transition Fund. Its purpose was to develop a primary health care services plan that would provide health care system decision-makers with data to help them make well-informed decisions about the best ways of delivering primary health services to the francophone population in all regions of Canada. The project identified potential avenues for action in primary health care and services. Here are a few examples.

The communities of Fredericton, Miramichi and Saint John, which are mainly anglophone work together with the provincial government and the various regional health boards to identify and develop the optimal mode or modes of delivery to meet their specific needs and priorities.

Here is another example. Recognizing and making use of the skills available in the community health system lead to a wider range of services and to a more coordinated response to the needs of the Acadian and francophone population.

A strategy for gathering and managing information about the status of community health, which also covers all of the factors that influence health, has been developed by the provincial government in cooperation with Statistics Canada, the regional health board and the community.

We are now working to implement some of the actions identified in the course of the process. Needless to say, in Canada's only officially bilingual province, primary health issues vary considerably in terms of how they affect the Acadian and francophone population, depending on whether one is working in a region where the francophone population is predominantly francophone as opposed to a region where the population is predominantly anglophone.

This issue is what characterizes the work of our society. We all know that equitable access to health services in the language of your choice is a particular problem in a bilingual province like ours. Some regions have a very small Acadian population, but in principle, the Act guarantees access to all services in the language of your choice. One therefore needs to be highly innovative to find solutions.

We were innovative in the partnership model we used for our Société santé et mieux-être en français du Nouveau-Brunswick. We feel that a health planning process that involves the partners, including the community, allows for acceptable compromises. We further believe that planning a process like this can help avoid a number of situations like those that occurred recently in a number of Acadian and francophone regions.

In concluding, I would like to reiterate that our objective is to encourage conditions that will allow people receiving services from the health care system to be served at the appropriate time by the appropriate provider in the language of their choice.

Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Yvon Godin]

Thank you, Mr. Gionet.

We now move on to the Association francophone des parents du Nouveau-Brunswick. Ms. Josée Nadeau, the Director, has the floor.

[Josée Nadeau, Director, Association francophone des parents du Nouveau-Brunswick]

Good afternoon. Thank you very much for your invitation.

My name is Josée Nadeau and I am the Director of the Association francophone des parents du Nouveau-Brunswick. I am speaking to you on behalf of my President, Ms. Denyse LeBouthillier.

The Association francophone des parents du Nouveau-Brunswick, which has existed for 19 years now, has always lent its support to parents in education. Our mission is to encourage and strengthen the commitment and solidarity of francophone parents and the community in order to promote a school-community-family environment that is conducive to the development of children and their families.

Today, I will speak to you more specifically about early childhood, but we work in four areas: education, early childhood, culture and health.

We are also members of the Commission nationale des parents francophones and advocate the national vision of early childhood, so that francophone families in minority communities can have universal and affordable access to high-quality education services, in order to promote the overall development of early childhood within francophone institutional and community structures.

In order to achieve this vision, the AFPNB initially established the Réseau de la petite enfance francophone in 2004, and we now coordinate and manage this network. The network held its first symposium in March 2006 and, working together with the 180 or so people who attended the symposium, formulated several recommendations that were submitted to the government at the time. These recommendations included the establishment of early childhood centres that include integrated francophone services in every francophone region of the province. These services would be available in French to families from the moment a child is conceived.

As a francophone community, we need to make an effort to welcome families in order to prepare them and make them aware of their child's development, if we are to maximize our children's potential.

Research has shown that the most important interventions occur during early childhood. When we speak of early childhood here, we mean the period prior to birth until six years of age. For a long time, birth was considered the beginning. However, research into brain development has shown that before birth, the brain is already in full development. We now know that the brains of three-month old babies are already well enough organized to handle language.

We also recognize that coaching and enhancing the role of parents as the initial educators are essential to the optimization of child development.

Most people are aware of the importance of development when children are young. However, the issue is often to make it a priority and to start from the base. When the time comes to really make an investment in early childhood, there are often other priorities that bump it down the list of priorities. Intervention at the early childhood stage is all too often set aside. The most recent UNESCO report, moreover, noted that early childhood was the poor relative in education.

The challenge for the AFPNB is to work to ensure that communities can develop a package of coordinated services which are currently scattered, and which families in the greatest need often are unable to avail themselves of. We therefore need child care centres, family resource centres and schools, not only to accommodate our children, but especially to accommodate parents.

The elimination of the Court Challenges Program will affect all parent federations in Canada. The program made it possible for us, through Supreme Court decisions, to control the management of our schools and to open several French schools. We hope that the government will reverse its decision, on behalf of all children who are entitled to an education in French. Investing in early childhood is investing in our families, our schools and our communities.

To conclude, I would like to thank you for your invitation. We are prepared to meet you individually for further discussion.

Thank you.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Yvon Godin]

Thank you, Ms. Nadeau.

I now give the floor to the representative of the Conseil économique du Nouveau-Brunswick, Mr. Louis-Philippe Gauthier.

[Louis-Philippe Gauthier, President, Conseil économique du Nouveau-Brunswick, As an Individual]

Mr. Chairman, members of the Standing Committee on Official Languages, good afternoon.

My name is Louis-Philippe Gauthier and I am the President of the Conseil économique du Nouveau-Brunswick.

The Conseil économique du Nouveau-Brunswick represents approximately 1,000 members in or related to the francophone business community in our province. As a leader in this lively and dynamic community, the Conseil économique du Nouveau-Brunswick is very much interested in matters that reflect the vitality of official language minority communities. In addition to its role as a catalyst and promoter of the interests of the francophone business community in New Brunswick, the Conseil économique is also the organization delegated by the Réseau de développement économique et d'employabilité du Nouveau-Brunswick, which is usually called the New Brunswick RDÉE.

That said, you will therefore understand our deep concerns over the recent cuts and the disappearance of various government programs, which are necessary not only for the growth and development of minority official language communities, but also for the whole country.

We feel that decisions concerning these programs and initiatives should not be made on the basis of monetary calculations alone, but also factor in the outcomes and their effects on our communities. We believe that the savings made will never be able to offset the enormous social and economic costs that will result from these cuts to programs that have a major impact on the rights and the development of official language communities.

Today, I would like to draw your attention specifically to the elimination of the Court Challenges Program and the massive cuts to a number of literacy programs. I will then draw your attention to the renewal of the RDÉE financing agreement in order to ensure that it can continue. It is important to remmember that the RDÉE plays a very important role in the economic development of minority official language communities.

To begin with,the Conseil économique du Nouveau-Brunswick is very worried about the elimination of the Court Challenges Program. Indeed, the Conseil économique is worried about the government's interpretation of the program, as it seems to perceive these cuts as a way of implying that citizens are getting more for their money.

Our question is how the minority official language communities are going to get more for their money when the Court Challenges Program disappears. Since its establishment in 1978, the program has ensured that the rights of many official language communities in Canada have been able to enforce their rights, and we are very worried about future positions that the government will take further to this decision.

Given that the committee has decided to make the vitality of official language minority communities the topic of discussion for this meeting, we believe that it is useful to point out to committee members that this vitality cannot be assured without the tools, programs and initiatives needed to promote the vitality and development of these communities, as well as respect for their fundamental rights .

Although it is more difficult to estimate the social and economic costs of eliminating the Court Challenges Program, the same cannot be said about what will happen as a result of the cuts to literacy. The Fédération canadienne pour l'alphabétisation en français recently pointed out that these cuts would have a serious long-term impact on the development of francophone and Acadian communities in Canada:

The most recent International Adult Literacy and Skills Survey revealed that the average literacy rate among francophones was below that for anglophones in all regions of Canada. More than half the Canadian adult francophone population had serious trouble understanding what they were reading.

Illiteracy has a direct impact on our businesses and their development. The lower birth rate, together with the exodus and aging of our populations, have a direct impact on rural regions and on official language minority communities. These factors reduce access to qualified workers who have key skills, including reading, writing and understanding. It is therefore essential to maintain these literacy programs for the labour force for the good of our economy.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Yvon Godin]

Four minutes have already gone past.

[Louis-Philippe Gauthier]

I will continue quickly, if I may.

These examples of major cuts to programs deemed essential for the vitality of minority official language communities are causing considerable concern to the Conseil économique about the future of the RDÉE.

The objective of Service Canada's Enabling Fund, under which the RDÉE is financed, is to fund the development and growth of official language minority communities by capacity-building in human resources and community economic development.

To conclude, the vitality of minority official language communities requires programs that contribute to the growth and development of these communities. We are convinced that it is not too late for the government to change its mind, and to reverse its decision to cut and eliminate certain programs. We are equally convinced that we need to work even harder to protect these programs.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Yvon Godin]

Thank you, Mr. Gauthier.

We now give the floor to Mr. Lirette, of the Fédération des aînées et aînés francophones du Canada.

[Willie Lirette, President, Fédération des aînées et aînés francophones du Canada]

Mr. Chairman, asking Willie Lirette to give a three-minute summary is a bit of a stretch, but I will try to keep to the time I have been given.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Yvon Godin]

I have always believed in gymnastics, Mr. Lirette. You'll make it I'm sure.

[Willie Lirette]

The Fédération des aînées et aînés francophones du Canada is a non-profit organization that represents each of the provincial and territorial federations. We are the only national seniors organization to include all of the provinces and territories. We now have 303,000 members. We are thus the only francophone seniors organization in the country to be organized on this basis, and that includes anglophones.

To be sure, Bill S-3 would appear to provide the opportunity for more consultation of minorities, and seniors in particular. We are somewhat neglected at the Department of Human Resources and Social Development, and we are not always consulted. We suggested to the Hon. Ms. Finley that she strike a committee that would enable us to be consulted on official languages. The committee would consist of representatives from departments and our communities. We believe that this forum, or this committee, could be an opportunity for the federal government to ensure that it can effectively reach minority community francophone seniors and meet their needs.

The reason we would like to have this committee is that the department under which the New Horizons program operates has said that minority community francophone seniors very often do not receive their fair share of grants under the program. Thus, as a percentage of their demographic weight, francophone seniors receive much less than seniors from majority communities. A striking example of this is when it was decided to establish provincial committees to grant funds to organizations, very few francophones were appointed to these committees. Even in New Brunswick, we had to intervene to be represented on the committee. In Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan and Alberta, action had to be taken with the department to place francophones on the committees. There was even a committee requirement that francophone presentations had to be translated before sending them in. I believe that the question is now being debated at the department and that we can expect a favourable response, I hope, to this question.

The federation wants nothing more than to work with the department to ensure that such situations do not occur again and that francophones can receive equitable and fair treatment. That is only one example, but it shows just how important it is for the federal government to work together with our francophone communities.

The members of our federation would like to take this opportunity to underscore just how important it is to give greater consideration to our needs when the time comes to cut or eliminate certain programs. There is really no need to mention that the cuts being made will eliminate the structure for these programs. My impression is that the literacy program could perhaps continue, but that it would float along aimlessly. That, I believe, is where the cuts hurt.

In view of the little time available, we will only give the example of the literacy program. If seniors do not have access to appropriate programs in every area, how can they be expected to read prescriptions or even properly complete the forms they need to fill in to receive the Guaranteed Income Supplement? In this area, the government noted that over 200,000 Canadians were not receiving the supplement because they did not know they were entitled to it. Information about it had not reached seniors. And because seniors do not necessarily read well or perhaps have trouble reading, we made use of this program; we spoke about it a while ago. By making it impossible for them to complete such tasks, which are so familiar to us, are we not jeopardizing the independence and health of our francophone seniors in Canada? Francophone seniors in Canada need to be able to develop in their language, their culture and in the region in which they live. We believe strongly in this.

Lastly, on behalf of the members of the federation, I wish to thank you. I would add that I am accompanied by Mr. Jean-Luc Bélanger, who is not only a member of our federation, but also the President of the Association acadienne et francophone des aînées et aînés du Nouveau-Brunswick.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Yvon Godin]

Thank you Mr. Lirette, you did well. You managed the gymnastics nicely.

We are now giving the floor to Mr. Richard Caissier of the Association of French Speaking Teachers of New Brunswick.

[Richard Caissier, Director General, Association of French Speaking Teachers of New Brunswick]

Thank you, Mr. Godin.

I will begin by speaking about a paper that I submitted to the New Brunswick Minister and Department of Education , because it contains some things that could be useful to you.

The Association of French Speaking Teachers of New Brunswick is particularly concerned about issues that affect education, and also that affect the community in general. Programs for youth, seniors or any segment of our community have an impact, whether direct or indirect, on our community schools, particularly in minority communities.

We are especially concerned about the fact that there appears to have been a desire to cut programs which for us were closely tied to our youth education system, as well as by the effect this would have on parents or grandparents, and the direct impact this would have on the communities in which our schools are located.

Although these do not relate to all the programs, there are here in New Brunswick a number of federal programs that fall under the official languages programs. Grants made to the Department of Education, on a 50-50 basis of course, and that serve our schools and the education system in general under various initiatives or programs, all have a reasonably positive impact on our young people and on the system. These enable us to work on developing their pride in belonging to the francophonie and getting them interested in culture. As we know, schools are often rallying points for young people. They are in the majority as francophones at school, but outside of the school, they often become a minority or part of a basically anglophone community. These centres must therefore become centres for the promotion and dissemination of language and culture, a place where ties and their sense of belonging to a group can be strengthened so that they can continue into adulthood.

Yhere are two main challenges surrounding the whole issue of francophone schools in minority communities. The first has to do with academic performance or student success as young people, and later, success as adults. The other dimension is the whole issue of language and culture, which necessarily become part of the school's mission. We need additional allies and resources in order to attempt to meet all these challenges. In a school that is located in a predominantly anglophone community, people don't need to organize French pride weeks or activities like this, which are often found in francophone schools in minority settings, simply because the culture is part of their everyday lives. For our young people in a minority community, the fact of being francophone is something experienced at school and in the family, but in the community, the francophone fact often disappears.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Yvon Godin]

Thank you, Mr. Caissier.

We will now move on to the question period. The first person to speak will be the MP for the official opposition, Mr. Jean-Claude D'Amours. The MPs will have five minutes to speak. I will have to be very strict about this if we are to have enough time for two rounds of questions.

Mr. D'Amours.

[Jean-Claude D'Amours, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I want to thank all of you for having travelled here to make your presentation before the Official Languages Committee.

I will get straight to the point. I listened to what each of you said. You spoke of different things: literacy, youth, court challenges, volunteerism, organizations and municipalities. All of these factors affect some of you, whereas for others, they are somewhat more important.

The goal is for the Action Plan for Official Languages to deliver the goods and also ensure that you can be recognized as organizations. We also want to acknowledge the people on behalf of whom you work. We have heard that the government wants to cut the fat, that illiterate adults are a lost cause, that francophone minorities are looking to the past. In speaking of these subjects and the cuts that have been made, I would like to know whether you believe that the current federal government has understood your needs. Do you feel it has understood your needs as official language minority communities, and the needs of the various organizations you represent?

[Willie Lirette]

I have just spent three days in Ottawa, because the Fédération des aînées et aînés francophones du Canada is a member of the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada.

I must say that we are worried. The first waves of cuts hinted at what was coming. We of the francophone community—and Daniel can confirm this—are asking that Official Languages Support Programs be increased, something that has not happened in 10 years.

Last year, we received a small slice of 10%. That is not enough to deal with the problems. The status of the francophonie is not stable; it continues to progress, and each time we receive something, it increases. We informed people of this state of affairs.

It is worrisome for Canada's francophone communities. It is difficult to know exactly what is to be expected.

[Jean-Claude D'Amours, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

I am not sure if anyone else has comments to make. Has the government understood your needs?

[Daniel Thériault]

I was going to say that for the moment, the cuts are affecting us indirectly, but that's not entirely true. Some organizations, like the federation, are directly affected by the cuts.

In fact, many organizations no longer have access to a number of programs that were previously helping them. We believe that this is a backward step with respect to the Action Plan for Official Languages.

We are beginning to get worried about what will happen to us. Our organization is working for the development of our communities. Support from the Canadian government is essential, and it is not charity. It is a duty, because it is in Canada's Constitution and in Canada's statutes. The federal government must support the Official Languages Committee. There are historical and national reasons for this, reasons that go back to the founding of the country. If our communities lack vitality, the future of Canada as a whole will be jeopardized. We are worried about what is going to happen to the Action Plan for Official Languages.

[Jean-Claude D'Amours, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

What do you think about this, Ms. Nadeau?

[Josée Nadeau]

I was also thinking about the cancellation of the agreement with the provinces for child care centres. Creating new child care spaces for our francophones would have been a great help to them.

We are not going to hide the fact that we were rather relying on that to pursue our action in terms of early childhood development. This may be a provincial jurisdiction, but the federal government needs to help young families have more children. It needs sound family policies and it needs to create child care spaces.

Thank you.