Thank you. On behalf of the 25 member groups of the Quebec Community Groups Network, I wish to express our appreciation for the opportunity to put our reality on the record and to thank you specifically for coming to somewhere outside Montreal, although that is an important area too.
The federal action plan and the ongoing support delivered by the Department of Canadian Heritage and some of the other federal ministries provide desperately needed seed funds for important efforts being undertaken by the volunteers of the English community to attempt to rebuild or at least sustain the anglophone community in Quebec.
What are the results? Well, there are some good results. There are some great results that we should all celebrate, and I think we do celebrate them, and we'd like to share them with you.
You heard Jim Carter this morning talking about the field of access to public health care in English, in which Health Canada continues to support a significant program. That preliminary result suggests it's making worthwhile progress. The program is in the middle of a five-year term, and it's to be hoped that support will be continued beyond the first five years. Community development carried out by our member groups is funded by Canadian Heritage primarily, and it is a basic truth that these groups could not generally survive without that assistance. Most groups are making valiant efforts to do their best but with very limited resources and in difficult circumstances. The efforts are appreciated, but the results are not sufficient to conclude that the community enjoys a great deal of vitality, except for a few notable outstanding exceptions.
The recent injection of Canadian Heritage funding through Quebec's education ministry, which was actually quite an achievement given the history of that relationship, will allow for the creation of 15 community learning centres in the English sector. These learning centres are expected to strengthen both communities and their English schools by helping them to more effectively work together. Hopes are high that this model will be productive and that it may lead to replication in the future.
Sectoral groups, apart from the regional groups, are present in the areas of arts, drama, media, rural and agricultural heritage, adult and distance education, and other areas. They all benefit from essential support and buttress the community in useful ways.
I am very proud of the accomplishments of many of these groups who are working with actually very limited resources but are making a difference in their communities. All of this is much appreciated and provides much welcome support for the English community, but if we stand back and take a broader perspective, how is the English community in Quebec doing? I think we've already heard this morning a number of comments about how the English community is doing.
Let's just take a look back. Over the past three and a half decades, more than a quarter of a million English Canadians have left Quebec. The exodus continues. The remaining English population is older than its French cohort because many of those leaving have been the younger and the better educated and the more mobile. The remaining youth are less well-educated and consequently suffer a higher rate of unemployment and lower socio-economic success.
Infrastructure, such as schools, within the English community is aging. We have schools that are a hundred years old. There is no real source of replenishment for the community. Immigration is largely blocked by legislation. The birth rate for this demographic, of course, is very low due to the high mean age of the population.
It is a fact that a thriving English community in Quebec is a valuable asset to both the province and our great country. But realistically, if we stand back and look at what is happening and what the trends are, these trends do not bode well for the survival of this national asset if the present levels of support persist into the future.
The minority French and English populations in Canada are very similar in size, just short of a million each. The reports I get of the francophone minority outside of Quebec give me some encouragement that the support they are receiving is achieving positive results. I celebrate that. We all celebrate it. However, it is time to examine whether Canada wants to maintain a population of anglophones in Quebec or whether it might be more politically expedient to allow us all to emigrate or die out.
I ask you, what does Canada want?
The QCGN, and I and my colleagues, want to keep our great country bilingual and to ensure an ongoing and vital anglophone community in Quebec. Please ensure that we have the tools and the support for success.
Thank you.