Official Languages Committee on Dec. 5th, 2006

[Martin Blanchet]

No.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Yvon Godin]

So you wouldn't exist.

[Martin Blanchet]

We would have had a huge problem because every time we think about going to court to promote our cause, we have to think about the funding we would like to put towards our schools. If the Court Challenges Program is abolished, it would be impossible to do that, and we will make much slower progress.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Yvon Godin]

My next question is for Mr. Alary, who looks like he's getting bored, despite the fact that he was very happy to be with us.

As far as the magazine industry is concerned, we heard that Canada Post wanted to drop its contribution to a subsidy. Like it or not, Canada Post is attached to the federal Government of Canada, which controls that Crown corporation. However, when a member of Parliament asks a question about it in the House, the answer is that it's none of our business because it's not a federal government department. At the same time, we know that the dividends come back to the government.

You touched on this briefly, but I'd like to know how these cutbacks might affect the francophone community in this region? I don't think you have a lot of francophone newspapers in your region. You mentioned the Globe and Mail, the National Post and other English-language newspapers.

[Étienne Alary]

Clearly, when Canada Post announced that 25% cut, which is perhaps relatively normal, we all thought the big magazines like Macleans and L'Actualité could absorb it, because they have a certain number of subscribers and they can manage. However, the smaller French-language and English-language weeklies that normally have access to that funding will no longer have access to it.

If that program is not restored and not knowing how the Department of Canadian Heritage will allocate funding, that could mean a shortfall of $10,000 for Le Franco this year. These figures are published on the Canadian Heritage website. If the Department drops out in 2008 and if the program is not renewed, that represents a shortfall of $40,000. Can a newspaper survive under those circumstances? That's the question now being asked.

We are looking for alternatives, but that's a lot of money. That support is greatly appreciated and very important, but it will no longer be there starting March 31.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Yvon Godin]

It's true that there were problems with the Sponsorship Program, as you mentioned. The Auditor General said there may have been some administrative problems, but that didn't mean the programs had to be cancelled. She added that if there was an administrative problem, it had to be fixed, but it shouldn't be used as a pretext for cancelling all government programs.

Under a federal constitution, if the government doesn't play its role, do you think people should ask themselves why they belong to a federation, if they don't get any help from the government?

[Étienne Alary]

That's a fact.

You mentioned administrative problems. Processes have been established and may have fixed those problems, but it's now so cumbersome that in order to establish a campaign, you need six months to a year of lead time. And when you finally put everything in place with the departments, there's a general election. So the project gets put on ice.

Canadians have spoken and have elected minority governments, which may not be the best or the worst solution. But all the campaign projects have been put on ice, and there's a tendency not to want to start them up again.

For the sole French-language newspaper in the province, it's no secret, the money from the federal government is very important, essential even.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Yvon Godin]

Thank you.

Mr. Murphy.

[Brian Murphy, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

For once, we agree. Back home, L'Acadie nouvelle newspaper supports the Acadian cause. We agree that it's a very important tool for our community.

I'd like to know whether there's a way of mobilizing people who need health care in French? When I read this document, I learned that almost 80% of francophones in Alberta have very little or no access to health care in French, and almost the same percentage of francophones feel it's very important to have that.

Is there any way, apart from demonstrating, sending letters or raising awareness among politicians, to mobilize people? You might be able to do it through advertising. Has that already been done? Can you mobilize the 80% of francophones in Alberta around health care?

I'd like to hear Mr. Collette's and Mr. Alary's comments on this.

[Denis Collette]

It requires a sustained effort. What we're going through in health, we have already gone through in education.

First, you have to make people aware how important it is to demand service in French. The problem in Alberta is not like the problem in Manitoba. Since I'm a former Manitoban, I'm quite familiar with the situation. In Alberta, because we are very dispersed, we deal with nine different boards of health. So it's up to each community to stand up for its rights and needs with the regional board of health.

Earlier, I said that if these boards of health were funded to provide care and service, that would help us, particularly if that funding came from the Government of Canada. It would be important for part of that funding to be specifically earmarked to help the local population get more care and service in French.

It's not easy to mobilize people. As was mentioned earlier, there have been French-language schools in Alberta for around 20 years, and only 15% of eligible students attend those schools. We have some work to do to attract the remaining 85%.

So we need help to raise awareness, to get young people interested in working in the field of health and to create our treatment centres.

This afternoon, you will see a fledgling treatment centre. It's a temporary clinic set up with federal assistance. We have to admit we got $700,000 to establish this clinic. That signal was important in our negotiations with the board of health. They suddenly realized there were francophones in Edmonton and that they had needs. The federal government was aware of that too. So they've started providing us with tools. They started to react. The board of health and the public reacted. We began to examine those services. That's how we managed to mobilize people.

It's the chicken and the egg. We think we have the egg, and with it, we will have several chickens. The chickens are the centres we are going to create across the province. We're starting with one centre. It's the same phenomenon as with the schools. We started with one school and now there are over 20. In 10 years, maybe the province will have four or five health centres, where francophone communities are strong enough to assert their needs and demand health care.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Yvon Godin]

Mr. Blaney.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Good morning. I'm happy to be here with you today, in Alberta. I'd like to congratulate the volunteers who work in the fields of education and health.

I am a Quebecker, from Lévis. There are a lot of things we take for granted, whereas you have to decide every morning to speak, live and die in French. That's why I admire you so much for the work you do, both with the media and in the community.

I understand this is the first time the committee has travelled in 25 years. That shows how strongly the members of the committee and our government, it goes without saying, feel about supporting the communities. I think you can always rely on that. We are listening intently.

I was listening to what my colleague, Mr. Simard, said earlier. I wonder why it took him 13 years to realize that it might be a good idea for the committee to focus on the advisability of supporting infrastructure for francophone communities. As an engineer, infrastructure is a bit of a no-brainer to me. After this trip, that will be one of the recommendations we can make together. That will be a significant gain, particularly for schools.

Now for my question. According to the statistics you provided—perhaps Ms. Devaney could comment—only 15% of those eligible avail themselves of their right to send their children to French-language school. I'd like to hear what you have to say about this. I find that number somewhat intriguing. It seems quite low to me, given the structures you are creating. Is it a problem of quality of education, or a problem of demand?

[Paul Dumont]

Thank you for the question.

I believe we already gave a partial answer to that question. We did say that francophones in Alberta are dispersed. Clearly, it is easier to group people together in the Edmonton area and in other, similar centres. There are francophones all over the place. We are still looking for other schools. Even in the Edmonton area, we anticipate the need for a school in Sherwood Park. We may also need a school in southern Alberta and another one in the north.

There is also another thing: we have to get people to understand the difference between an education in immersion, which is basically designed for anglophones who have never known French, and a francophone education, which includes a whole cultural dimension. There are still francophones who don't understand that distinction. And for some students, whose parents or grand-parents were francophone, but who have lost their language to some extent, there is some francization to be done.

It is a bit of a shame that only 15% of eligible students use French-language schools. There is definitely some work to be done. That is also more or less included in the projects proposed by the Fédération nationale des conseils scolaires francophones. We are considering the need to set up an identification, information and outreach campaign for parents. So, clearly, there is work to be done in that area.

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

Those schools are funded by the provincial network, I imagine.

[Paul Dumont]

They are largely funded by the Alberta Ministry of Education. However, we recognize also that in a minority setting, we do not just want to be a school; we want full control. That means junior kindergarten, kindergarten and all of the cultural programs surrounding a school. Hence the importance of the official languages program, to help us to complete the system, to fully manage the school system.

[Josée Devaney]

Could I add a quick comment?

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Yvon Godin]

Yes, go ahead.

[Josée Devaney]

It comes back a bit to what the honourable Raymond Simard was saying earlier.

In terms of infrastructure, we have a huge deficit as compared to English-language school boards. A number of our schools are in temporary facilities. We have portable classrooms. There is no comparison to a real school with a gym, science lab and the like.

Also, in terms of infrastructure, until we have the equivalent of what the English-language schools have, we will have a deficit to make up for when it comes time for parents to choose which school their children will go to. If infrastructure agreements were signed, that would definitely help us a lot.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Yvon Godin]

Thank you.

There is one topic we have not dealt with much, but it occurs to me to raise it briefly, since there was some talk earlier about communications. Maybe it is because Mr. Colette said earlier that he had worked for Radio-Canada for 25 years. Nevertheless, it prompted a question.

Here, in Edmonton, Mr. Alary told us that Le Franco, which he heads, is the only French-language newspaper in the area. Maybe Mr. Rabinovitch will hear about what I am saying today and read it in the blues.

Why isn't Radio-Canada here today?

The Standing Committee on Official Languages hasn't travelled in its 25-year existence. This is the first time it has traveled, and French Canadian radio isn't here to cover the visit of the Standing Committee on Official Languages in your region. And yet you say that only 15% of francophones use your schools and that you have to try to communicate with those people, to talk to them.

So what is the mandate of our national public television in regions like this one?

Excuse me for saying so, but it's not just taxpayers in Quebec or in Montreal, where Radio-Canada has offices, who pay for Radio-Canada; it's all of Canada. Under its mandate, maybe Radio-Canada should have been here today to cover the visit of the Standing Committee on Official Languages, which, for the first time in 25 years, is travelling to meet with minority communities in Canada. I hate saying “minority communities” because we shouldn't define ourselves that way. Ms. Barbot said it quite well; we are a people recognized in the Official Languages Act.

Perhaps that will draw some comment.

[Denis Collette]

I don't want to defend my former colleagues, but I don't know whether they were invited to cover the event.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Yvon Godin]

We sent them a press release inviting them to a public meeting.

[Denis Collette]

So there was a press release. It did happen, back when I was running the station, that we weren't invited or only found out about an event at the last minute. But I am not here to defend those people. One would have expected them to be here. I was surprised that they were not here today, because we are appearing before the Standing Committee on Official Languages to express our concerns and expectations. We are expressing them. I thought it will be important for our community to be aware of what is being said, and they are not. People won't find out. Maybe they will find out through Le Franco newspaper, because its director is here. I hope so, anyway. It's unfortunate, I fully agree with you. In recent years, there have been major budget cuts to Radio-Canada, and I went through a similar situation when I was there. These days, they no longer have the funding to serve the province as they did before.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Yvon Godin]

Mr. Collette, where are Radio-Canada's offices located in Alberta?

[Denis Collette]

They are here, on the other side of the street.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Yvon Godin]

The funding has been cut so drastically that they can't make it here? I know you're not here to defend them, but we have tools, in the francophonie, that should be used. I say this—please excuse the way I'm saying it—because if the committee is here, if we have gone to the trouble of travelling, it seems to me our public broadcaster could do the same. In Atlantic Canada, when we had the television news program, L'Atlantique en direct, and a car ran over a cat on Sainte-Catherine Street in Montreal, they interrupted the Atlantic news to tell us. One day, a four-wheel drive plunged into the St. Lawrence River, and they interrupted the Atlantic news to talk about it. There was the Francophonie Summit in Moncton, with 52 French-speaking countries represented, and the television coverage was suspended to talk about a labour union woman who had stolen a pair of gloves and was acquitted.

Now that I've said what I had to say, let's talk about childcare. Did you have something to add, Mr. Dumont?