Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Distinguished committee members, it's an honour and pleasure for me to testify this morning on the work done by RésoSanté Colombie-Britannique over the past three years to support the development of health services for the Francophone population of British Columbia.
Our mission is to improve access to health services in French in British Columbia in an integrated manner within existing structures. First of all, I want to draw your attention to the notion of partnership that has led to the major successes that we've experienced over the past three years. RésoSanté Colombie-Britannique, like the 16 other member networks of Société Santé en français, aims to do business with five types of partners that are considered essential by the World Health Organization in order to take effective action on public health. Through the support of Health Canada's networking support program, our network, which has been in existence since 2003, now includes health professionals, representatives of the provincial health ministry, representatives of the institutional community—which includes health boards—the Foyer Maillard, Health Canada representatives, training institutions and, of course, a strong representation from the Francophone community.
The value of the partnership that we've established lies in the actions that we've already taken. From the outset, we managed to mobilize all the components of the health system to develop programs, starting with the BC Health Guide, or Guide-santé - Colombie-Britannique, in French. The provincial Health Department acted as RésoSanté's main partner for that project since it's a departmental program.
To date, we've distributed more than 13,000 copies of the guide to the public, and more than 150 health cards have been translated. We've conducted some 20 awareness workshops in order to reach the Francophone community and health professionals who will be providing health services in French.
Our greatest success is without a doubt related to the fact that, as a result of that project, the department completely took charge of the ongoing distribution of the Francophone components of its program, while asking RésoSanté to continue its advisory role. The provincial health board, which is responsible for specialized services, the children's hospital and the women's hospital, itself directed two projects under the transition fund through the Provincial Language Service, or PLS.
In the context of the first project, the board developed health education material in French, created tools to assist parents and the Francophone school board in better supporting children who have special needs, developed the Francophone capability of its interpretation service and took part in the identification of several hundreds of service beneficiaries who speak French.
Incidentally, a study was conducted of medical school graduates in British Columbia. Seventeen percent of graduates from Vancouver said they could provide health care in French. So we have a critical mass of health professionals who could eventually take part in a Francophone health system. In cooperation with all the projects that we've carried out through the transition fund, we're starting to identify and mobilize those resources in order to improve public health.
Another PLS pilot project led to the creation and adaptation of material in French on mental disorders and drug addicts, to assist individuals, families and caseworkers in exchanging crucial information in French. Like the ministry, the provincial board and the PLS are pursuing their work in French well beyond the project's limits. The board has obtained additional support from the province enabling it to maintain a Francophone liaison officer position and to ensure ongoing distribution of information and material in French.
The regional health authority Vancouver Coastal Health also piloted a transition project making it possible to develop health education material, identify more French-speaking professionals and improve the system's ability to match Francophone patients with specialists who speak their language.
We're proud to announce the opening of a clinic, the Pender Community Health Centre in the eastern section of downtown Vancouver, which will soon be providing dedicated French-language services, where Francophones will be able to make appointments with doctors and other health professionals who will provide them with health care in French.
All that's starting at RésoSanté, with the development of the Guide - santé Colombie-Britannique and the partnership with the health authorities. The purpose of that is to improve the health of the Francophone population and the population of British Columbia in general.
We're pleased to know that, in the very long term, the infrastructure of RésoSanté Colombie-Britannique will now be assured. It now remains to be determined whether the funding for the projects now guaranteed until March 2008 will be extended to enable us to continue building the Francophone health system that we all hope to see develop here in British Columbia.
Training is another important component, and we're beginning to develop it with Collège Éducacentre for the personal support services attendants, with Simon Fraser University and in cooperation with the University of British Columbia. I would add that all the work that we're doing in the health field is supported by all stakeholders in all parts of the Ministry of Health, and we hope to be able to continue working with the federal government to ensure that the services we've begun to develop continue to be provided.
Thank you.