Thank you.
I am the Executive Director of the Société Maison de la francophonie de Vancouver, which manages the building known as Maison de la francophonie de Vancouver. The president of the corporation, Pierre Senay, is also President of the Chambre de commerce franco-colombienne. He'll be able to tell you more about the future development of the Maison de la francophonie.
I'm going to start by telling you a little about the history of the Maison de la francophonie.
The largest number of Francophones in British Columbia live in the Vancouver region. Some 20 years ago, we discussed the possibility of putting in place a Francophone community centre because a number of Francophone associations were scattered over the city of Vancouver. A community isn't visible when it's scattered all over.
We tried four or five times to create a community centre, but without success. We got a boost in 1988, when the Francophone communities, the various associations, the cultural centre, the Francophone federation and other organizations started talking about that kind of centre. The Francophone community wanted to be visible and have its own space, but we needed funding to buy a building or build one. Steps were taken in that direction, and the federal government, provincial government, the city of Vancouver and the Government of Quebec were approached.
It took two years to obtain funding and get the project going. As a Francophone centre, the Maison de la francophonie de Vancouver is unique in Canada, in that it was to house all the associations in the Vancouver region, not just one association. To all intents and purposes, it was the federal government that set that requirement before granting funding for the purchase or construction of a building.
That's what we did. We chose the legal structure of a limited partnership. We created a limited partnership consisting of 10 Francophone associations, which were established in Vancouver at the time. Today the limited partnership has 15 partners.
When we confirmed with the federal government that the building we wanted to construct or buy would house all the associations, it confirmed its funding. Lucien Bouchard, who was called the Secretary of State—the Department of Canadian Heritage did not exist at the time—told me at a meeting in Ottawa in December 1988, that I would be finding the Maison de la francophonie under my Christmas tree.
That confirmed the funding, and we went looking for a site. We found a building located at 1555 7th Avenue West in Vancouver, which is a very good and safe location with easy access by public transit. Our associations had space in the house when we bought the building. Those that didn't necessarily need offices nevertheless had a postal address at the Maison de la francophonie and the legal status of partner in the limited partnership.
We also managed to obtain charitable status, which gave us property tax exemptions based on the square footage occupied by the partner associations. We also have Anglophone tenants. The mix of Anglophone commercial tenants and Francophone association owner tenants has worked very well. The Anglophone commercial tenants have attracted visitors to the house who probably wouldn't have come if the building had housed only Francophone occupants. This situation has raised interest in linguistic duality and bilingualism. People wanted to take French courses, among other things.
We have a café that attracts a very large clientele, and you can see that for yourselves when you visit the Maison de la francophonie today. Last year, we celebrated our fifteenth anniversary; the success of the Maison de la francophonie is a model for a number of other centres in Canada.
You talked about the centre in the Yukon earlier. Before building that centre, they consulted the Maison de la francophonie to obtain information. We're collaborating with an organization at Collège Boréal in Toronto because it wants to establish a Maison de la francophonie in that city.
There was a Maison de la francophonie in Quebec City, funded by the City of Quebec. However, the city withdrew its funding for the space, but the association wants to take it back.
This is a model that we've created. The Maritime provinces also wanted to use the model of the Maison de la francophonie; it can bring everyone together, but not be an exclusively Francophone space.