Official Languages Committee on Dec. 4th, 2006

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Yvon Godin]

I'd like to see you in New Brunswick, in Acadia.

[Alexandre Houle]

It's really easy to use culture to bring communities together. It acts like a bridge, both provincially and nationally.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Yvon Godin]

I mentioned that idea because I think it has value. When the French came last year, I have to admit they thought that all Francophones were in Quebec. They were really surprised when they arrived in British Columbia. It was simply incredible; they loved that.

They also went to Nova Scotia for the 400th anniversary of the French presence in Canada. As I often remind Mesdames Brunelle and Barbeau, we celebrated two years ago, whereas they're going to celebrate two years from now. We were the first to do it; you have to remember that.

This exchange is important, not only in order to prove a point to visitors from France. We could also prove to Canadians that French is everywhere.

[Alexandre Houle]

Absolutely. Various events play that role, such as Chant'Ouest. There's also an organization, an association of music competitions. Each province holds its own competition, then sends its winners to the Festival international de la chanson de Granby. I think that's a good idea. In fact, we should get the necessary resources to support that kind of project.

Earlier I was asked for examples of concrete avenues to explore for developing culture. In my presentation, I mentioned that there was no cultural axis in the action plan for the linguistic communities. Culture isn't considered either in the framework for education and community development. And yet there's no further need to prove the importance or role of the arts and culture in society.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Yvon Godin]

Thank you, Mr. Houle.

If you agree, I propose that we let the Conservative Party speaker use his five minutes to ask questions. In that way, everyone will have contributed, and we won't have come here for nothing. Then we'll continue the meeting in camera in order to resolve one or two matters.

Mr. Blaney.

[Steven Blaney, Conservative, Lévis—Bellechasse, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair; I appreciate that.

I come from an Irish family that let itself be seduced by the French language in Quebec. I'm happy to be here today, in Vancouver, to look at how we can promote that language, which comes along with all its cultural baggage.

I heard your remarks, Mr. Senay. Without being pessimistic, you nevertheless painted a troubling picture of the situation of the French language. In particular, you mentioned that it was important to develop sustainable infrastructure projects and to correct assimilation factors. You were quite clear on that point. You would like to create a Francophone space here in Vancouver which could be associated with the Olympic Games.

How can the basic official language programs and the action plan help you correct the problems involved in promoting the French language?

[Pierre Senay]

I see a difference between promotion and defence. When you defend, you're in reaction mode because you're facing a problem. When you promote, you are proactive and do things because that's good.

Infrastructure enables people to have a sense of belonging. That feeling is expressed toward individuals, that's true, but it's also expressed towards places and events. The representative from the Centre culturel francophone talked about the Festival d'été francophone de Vancouver. That centre is creating opportunities to get together, but it's not necessarily reaching everyone. For example, when Wilfred Le Bouthillier gives a show for young people at a high school, that's fantastic, and I'm not opposed to that kind of event. However, only part of the population was able to enjoy it.

Exogamous marriage, which we talked about earlier, consists of two persons. It's not necessarily the Francophone who's going to win out. Sometimes it's the other person. You say it's French that's won out where you're from. I almost fell on the other side, not because I had an Anglophone mother or father. I was living in suburban Montreal and, at the age of nine, I knew three English words: table, chair and ketchup. When the time came to start secondary school, I asked my father to send me to an English school because my friends were going there.

What happens in the street and the availability of means for disseminating culture don't work against the influence exercised by the family, because the family transmits solid values that must be defended. We agree on that. However, starting at a certain age, the family's influence is greatly affected by outside influences.

It takes resources to put infrastructures in place and to promote language. People have to be aware of what's going on in French. I know people who had been living in Vancouver for 25 years and didn't know there was a professional French-language theatre in their city. Exogamous marriages and English-language television and newspapers mean that information doesn't always get through. Ways have to be found to make that work.

Earlier I talked about a hotel in Whistler that receives the Montreal television signal, but not the British Columbia signal; that's also the case in a number of regions of the province. The same is true for radio: we get the Montreal signal, not the local signal. So people feel isolated. Proactive action has to be taken so that the community develops a sense of belonging and begins to resist linguistic drift.

You can view assimilation as a kind of attack, but linguistic drift is a boat that follows a current and calmly strikes an island and sinks.

We've taken a number of positive measures, particularly with regard to immigration. However, they say that 70% of the children of immigrants who represent the second generation will be assimilated. Measures have to be taken. Health care services in French are fundamentally important, but something else has to be done, or else it won't last.

Fourteen percent of the Francophone population of British Columbia was born in this province, and approximately 70% comes from Francophone provinces. So there is significant interprovincial migration. This is the Canadian reality that's on the altar. Are we going to sacrifice it or are we going to promote it?

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Yvon Godin]

Thank you, Mr. Blaney.

I'd like to thank the witnesses who have appeared before us this morning. I think this will help us draft our report to Parliament.

With that, I wish you a good day.

We'll suspend now and resume in camera in two minutes.

[The committee continued in camera]