That's a very important question. It's true that Quebec's presence in the embassies around the world is very important, at least in the Francophone countries. The brochures found there concern Quebec much more than the other provinces.
Our action plan provides a little more information to people through the Internet and overseas recruitment missions. Last year, the province took part in a mission to Paris and Nice, in France, in order to spread information on Francophones outside Quebec, particularly those in British Columbia. There's talk of conducting another mission this year, but we haven't yet determined where it will go.
We lost a little ground when the federal government signed an agreement with the province containing a Francophone clause. Everyone interprets that Francophone clause in his own way, which rekindles the debate over the number of Francophone immigrants arriving in Canada. We can't determine their numbers because we only count those who apply to settle in British Columbia, whereas all those arriving in other provinces and who wind up in British Columbia aren't counted.
We think that, if the Francophone communities offer French-language services, immigrants will go and settle there. If there's a French-language school, they'll attend it. Francophone immigrants will use those services, and then we'll be able to show the number of people using them.
However, before giving us money so that we can provide those services, the province is asking us how many people would use them. That's a problem. The province moreover is getting involved in this issue. The interpretation of official languages under the federal-provincial agreement is very important.
For our part, we think we should first create the services, which will then enable us to demonstrate the number of Francophone immigrants requesting them.