Good morning.
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Robert Donnely.
I'm president of the Voice of English-Speaking Québec, which is based in Quebec City.
This morning you had some organizations presenting some ideas. In the second half this morning you're going to get a presentation from me, representing one of the 25 organizations within the QCGN, the Quebec Community Groups Network.
I'm also a member of the executive of the QCGN, and when I'm done you'll be hearing from Mr. Riordon. He's the treasurer and will be speaking on behalf of the QCGN. So you're going to hear from one of the organizations, and following that you'll hear from the umbrella group, which is the QCGN. Mr. Riordon will have some interesting things to say about budgets and support for the communities.
I think I should come to Sherbrooke more often. I didn't know that highway 55 was finished and that it had four, sometimes five, lanes. It is very impressive.
The Voice from English-Speaking Quebec, the VEQ, is an association with 1,100 members from the Quebec community. This morning, the representative from Bishop's University said that he was part of the main English-language institution outside Montreal. The VEQ may not be as large an organization, we are one of the most dynamic. I will try to explain why.
In a regional community of some 700,000 inhabitants, 1,100 members is not a very significant percentage.
I didn't know what type of consultation process that's happening today. Perhaps I should have brought more documents with me, rather than just two photocopied pages, but the ideas will come nevertheless.
I will start by explaining what the VEQ is and talk about the Vitality Logic Model concept. I will conclude by making a few comments about the VEQ as a regional association, our objectives and our projects over the next three years.
I will read the first three paragraphs of our paper in English to tell you a little about what we do. The French version of the paper is very similar to the one in English.
VEQ is an autonomous, non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and promotion of a dynamic English-speaking community in the greater Quebec City and Chaudière–Appalaches regions. Anybody who is interested in having that healthy community is obviously welcome in VEQ. VEQ believes in an all-inclusive form of community building that includes individuals, citizen groups, and structured institutions, which are all considered to play an important part in the building of a strong, dynamic local social fabric
As a result of its policy of inclusiveness, VEQ has seen its network of contacts grow steadily since 1982. We will have our 25th anniversary celebrations of the year the organization was founded next spring. Currently, VEQ maintains active partnerships with approximately 60 community groups and has a membership that is now around 1,100. VEQ's internal administration structure represents a cross-section of local anglophone and even francophone community members.
The organization is overseen by a board of directors that is made up of 21 volunteers. The board is comprised of individuals who are active in the local English-speaking community. Currently representatives from the English school board, the business community, churches, and health and social services serve on the VEQ board.
Day-to-day operations are managed by VEQ's executive director, with the help of a contingent of subcommittees and project coordinators. The VEQ central office in Quebec is staffed by two full-time people and sometimes a third person on individual projects.
VEQ's employees and executive director refer all significant issues to the appropriate subcommittees for guidance and direction. Subsequently, the chair of the subcommittee reports all progress back to the board of directors.
We're proud to say that we have an active board of 21 members, with 19 in position now. We have our six meetings a year. The vast majority show up, and they are involved in what we're doing and in giving us feedback.
VEQ's participation in the local English community can be summarized in several ways. First, VEQ provides information referrals to individuals requiring services in English. You've heard a lot this morning from Jim Carter about health and social services. Before that whole area was in place, in the last five years, VEQ has been the starting point for people to ask where they could get English services and how they could be helped.
The referral service attracts a wide clientele, from community groups looking to advertise their services, to anglophone residents looking for specific services in English, to newcomers in the community who require a complete overview of what is offered and where such services are located. One of VEQ's widely used services is our job bank, which lists available jobs in the region that require English language skills.
VEQ is also actively participating in the English-speaking community by organizing social and community events and by serving as a key stakeholder in advocacy concerns. In this regard, VEQ's primary interest is to support the various English institutions that make up the local anglophone community.
The vitality of small communities is directly influenced by the degree to which institutions cater to local needs. Cultural organizations, schools, hospitals, seniors' residences, media outlets, and other social services are all important when considering the role of institutions toward the well-being of a community and, I might add, in helping to create a sense of belonging.
This sense of belonging is what leads me to a second document, what we're calling a conceptual vitality logic model. You will see that it's listed as a QCGN conceptual model. In fact, as a member of the executive, I'm also chair of the community development committee, an initiative within the QCGN. We've been active, and we are working toward answers for the communities in guidance and in help in community development.
The important thing to note is that community development is not an end in itself. Community development is a means to an end. It's one of the pieces of the puzzle. People sometimes think community development is everything. Well, it's part of it, but it's not all in terms of that. So this little grid, of which you should have a copy in English or in French, apart from all the different colours, is just to show you that there are different things.
The situation box on the left shows the decline in vitality in the minority English-speaking communities in the province of Quebec. That is the situation. I think you heard of it this morning. If you look at the two-page handout, you'll see a couple of grids that look at the decrease in the anglophone population in the census from 1991 to 2001. We're pretty sure that the 2005 census is not going to change. On the last page you have some straightforward numbers, anglos leaving the Quebec region, for example. We've been working on that problem, as have most of the organizations within the QCGN.
As you go across the page you'll see the way different aspects will work on the problem. The first blue box is the indication of vitality in all the various areas. You will see that health and social services, in the middle, is only one of the five listed there. Although you've heard a lot about that this morning, there are other areas that are also of great importance.
The big blue box shows QCGN levels of influence--societal, sectoral, community, family, and individual--as you work your way down.
What are the vitality investments? We work through policy development, research, community development, representation, and networking. That's what I meant before about community development being part of the picture; it's not the whole answer.
Who are the beneficiaries? Canadian society, all the way down to individuals in the communities.
The last two boxes show what we are working towards in the short term and long term. In the short term, there's strengthening community participation, developing regional and government participation, increasing sectoral participation, increasing the sense of improvement and sense of belonging, and support for the needs identified by the English-speaking community.
In the long term, some of them continue, of course, this increased sense of community and belonging--this whole concept of vitality, which is in the title of this logic model; increased security, health, and well-being; increased services in English; increased education services; increased employment; and increased levels of cultural activity. I'm sure everybody can agree these are all wonderful things, but they're always spoken of in the sense of making them better, making progress, and that's where we think the vitality can be acted on.
The QCGN works primarily through funding by PCH/Heritage Canada, and that is one of those 25 organizations. We get approximately $150,000 of core funding through that organization. We sometimes get grants of $30,000 or $40,000 for individual projects. We are not limited, as an organization, to only federal funding. We apply for provincial grants from Fonds Jeunesse Québec and other areas as well, because that's just as important for the dossiers we're working on. The key is community vitality, and community development is an important aspect of that in terms of where we're heading.
As one of the typical organizations of the maybe 25 within the QCGN, we're not different from many of the others. We have to give our action plan, strategic plan, a year ahead of time to PCH before it's approved. We're now working on a two-year strategic plan just for our organization. We had meetings with our board. We communicated with our members. We've spent the last two months going out and meeting 200 members of our community in groups of one, two, five, and ten--church groups, social groups, etc.--to get their feedback on their perceptions of VEQ, what they think VEQ should be doing, whether we're on the right track. We bring the results of that to our board and we say this is what we'll be working on next year and the year after--and it's still vitality. The three things in VEQ, as you'll see, are directly tied to stopping the downsizing.
How do we work on that in Quebec? In two ways. We work with newcomers coming into Quebec, especially anglophone newcomers, with Laval University, and a lot of business bringing in people. It's very important to make sure that after two, three, or four years, when they decide if they're going to stay here or go back to Toronto, Calgary, Detroit, Los Angeles.... We need them to want to stay.
The second thing is our youth initiative, working with youth to encourage them in terms of job possibilities. If they go to university, there has to be a desire to want to come back to Quebec because there is something to offer.
The second key element is going to be maintaining and controlling our institutions. I just heard on the radio coming here today that in the Châteauguay area they are talking about closing three English schools. This is the reality all the time in Quebec. Last year in Quebec City, on Base Valcartier, there was a move to close the school and send the kids to the two English schools in the centre of the city. Vets got involved and lobbied because they thought this was important as an institution.
The last thing is simply creating a sense of belonging. Why? Because if you feel that there is a community, and you're part of it, then you think it's important.
Thank you.
