Official Languages Committee on Dec. 12th, 2006

[The Chair, Conservative, Guy Lauzon]

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Standing Committee on Official Languages. We have a very full agenda this morning: we will be receiving approximately eight witnesses. We will therefore begin by giving the floor to Ms. Marielle Beaulieu, the Executive Director of the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada.

We will begin by hearing from all of the witnesses. The members will then ask questions.

Ms. Beaulieu.

[Marielle Beaulieu, Executive Director, Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Good morning everyone. I would like to begin by thanking you for having invited us to appear today in connection with your study on the vitality of official language minority communities. I would also like to congratulate you and thank you for having taken the time to go and meet francophone and Acadian communities to hear what they had to say about issues of vitality, the action plan, etc.

As most of you know, the Summit of Francophone and Acadian Communities to be held in June 2007 will give francophones from across the country the opportunity to think about key issues and to work together to define their vision of the future. The vitality that is under discussion today will be among the issues to be discussed at the summit. Among other things, it will be an opportunity to take stock of our strengths and accomplishments and to identify strategies to address existing shortcomings.

Today, however, what we want to do is explore with you a number of ideas about what is meant by community vitality what the ingredients of this vitality are. There is often a tendency to define the vitality of francophone and Acadian communities in terms of numbers. However, this definition does not always give enough consideration to the dynamism of communities, whether at the social, cultural, economic or other levels.

We feel that there is a very important link between a community's ability to live and develop in French and the vitality of that community. That is why what is often called institutional completeness is for us a very important ingredient. By institutional completeness is meant the ability of a community to have a complete infrastructure of services in every sector of activity that affects its development, whether in health, education, culture, the media, immigration or elsewhere. Even communities in which the population of francophones is small can demonstrate a high level of vitality if they are provided with a range of services that allows them to live in French. This direct connection between completeness and vitality in communities becomes the key to successful community development efforts.

That leads us to discuss the government's strategy for supporting francophone and Acadian communities. The Action Plan for Official Languages introduced, as part of the government's strategy, a comprehensive approach based on close interdepartmental cooperation, for the development of these communities in a number of priority areas. Several strategic initiatives were implemented in various sectors, including immigration and health.

Generally speaking, I believe that the people you met on your visit to the West and in Moncton mentioned health and immigration as major successes.

With the Action Plan for Official Languages coming to the end of its term in 2008, the question that comes to mind is what comes afterwards? For a year now, the new Part VII of the Official Languages Act has required all federal institutions to adopt positive measures to support the development of the communities. This alone would require a government strategy to continue beyond 2008.

One of the goals that this new strategy will have to focus on is searching for a way to lessen the impact of the government budget cuts announced in September on the vitality of the communities. The cuts to literacy, the elimination of funding for the Canadian Volunteerism Initiative, the closing of several Status of Women Canada regional offices and of course the elimination of the Court Challenges Program show clearly that there will be a real impact on the communities.

Corrective action is required. The renewal of the government strategy should make it possible to capitalize on the momentum that we have at the moment with respect to the development of these communities in key sectors, among other things by ensuring that the action plans that have been developed thus far, whether for immigration, health, literacy, education or other areas, can be implemented.

But this strategy will also have to address other issues. We need to make sure that francophones everywhere in Canada have facilities where they can become educated, play, and obtain information, in short, live in French.

I will be finished in a minute, Mr. Chairman.

[The Chair, Conservative, Guy Lauzon]

The time allotted to you has elapsed, Ms. Beaulieu.

[Marielle Beaulieu]

Okay.

That is why we feel that it is a priority to create an infrastructure fund. This fund would support things like school-community centres, schools, child care, arts and culture and community media.

All of which is to say that renewing the strategy at this point is extremely important, and that we need to build on what exists, and also focus on other sectors, but that an infrastructure fund like the one we mentioned is in fact an important factor.

[The Chair, Conservative, Guy Lauzon]

Thank you, Ms. Beaulieu.

Mr. Cousineau, you have the floor.

[Gaétan Cousineau, Director General, Fédération canadienne pour l'alphabétisation en français]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you for your invitation to come and speak about the vitality of official language minority communities. The Fédération canadienne pour l'alphabétisation en français believes that literacy is the glue that holds all the parts of a community together. A high literacy rate strengthens a community's vitality, and conversely, a low level generates high economic, social and democratic costs.

For example, an employee who does not understand safety instructions, parents who cannot help their children at school, elderly people who do not understand instructions about prescription drugs, or people who can neither read nor write cannot be involved in their community. We could give you many examples from everyday life, whether for financial services, justice, health or communicating with governments and citizens.

It is taken for granted that most Canadians have finished high school and know how to read and write. However, for more than a decade, research has shown that the true situation is more complex. And we are not only speaking about illiteracy here. For example, people might be capable of reading a simple text without being able to understand or use the information contained in it. There are thus several levels of literacy.

The results of the 2003 Statistics Canada International Adult Literacy and Skills Survey speak for themselves. Two out of every five working age adults, or 42% of Canada's population, have trouble understanding simple textual material. This means 9 million Canadians between 16 and 65 years of age. If people over 65 years were included, the total would be 12 million. The situation is worse for francophones: over 50% of Canadians whose mother tongue is French cannot meet the requirements of a knowledge society like Canada's.

This is worrisome, particularly as outside of Quebec, 66% of French-speaking people chose to answer the questionnaire in English. This is revealing.

The federation has played a leading role for 15 years because of its expertise in literacy. In terms of development, literacy cuts across a variety of sectors. The federation has partnerships with various groups to work in sectors such as health, employability and early childhood. We have achieved positive results, for example by establishing networks of experts in family literacy, which I believe is one of the best outcomes of the Action Plan on Official Languages.

For a year now, the federation has been working with its members to develop federal and provincial remedial plans in all of the provinces and territories with a view to raising the average literacy rate for francophones over a 10-year period in order to achieve a level equivalent to that found in Norway.

Please do not hesitate to invite us to come here once again to speak to you about these plans in detail.

By aiming at being among the best, we can succeed in ensuring the vitality of our communities. But success requires everyone's support. Achieving results would be facilitated by having a national life-long learning policy for people and a national vision for literacy.

Literacy training runs parallel to formal education. It begins in early childhood and needs to continue life-long to enable people to enhance their education. It is the missing link in the development and vitality of minority francophone communities. There have been examples in Quebec, Norway, Sweden and Ireland, which could be consulted, in which people were able to implement adult education and life-long learning policies.

Learning does not stop when people stop attending educational institutions; it needs to continue throughout life. In a knowledge economy like ours, a growing number of jobs require higher levels of education and literacy than ever. The countries that took part in the International Adult Literacy and Skills Survey demonstrated that workers in growth sectors tended to make greater use of their reading and writing skills than workers in declining sectors.

If Canada wants to be competitive in a knowledge economy, then clearly the level of literacy for all Canadians needs to be improved.

As experts, we offer our services to collaborate in such a venture. We are prepared to do so. We have plans and are ready to speak to you about them. Literacy is an investment, not an expenditure.

[The Chair, Conservative, Guy Lauzon]

Thank you very much, Mr. Cousineau.

I now give the floor to Ms. Gagné-Ouellette. She represents the Commission nationale des parents francophones.

[Murielle Gagné-Ouellette, Director General, Commission nationale des parents francophones]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

In 2002, the Commission nationale des parents francophones succeeded in placing early childhood development on the agenda for francophone communities.

Here is why: Recent research by Dr. Fraser Mustard on brain development showed that the neurological and biological pathways created in the first months of life had a life-long impact. The brain develops through sensory stimulation. Without such stimulation, there is a risk of producing children and adults who will be a burden on society and a barrier to prosperity. The successful societies will therefore be those that invest the most at a time when such interventions have the greatest impact—in early childhood, when the brain is extremely malleable. James Heckman's research has shown that every dollar spent on quality early childhood care generates up to $8 in savings over the long term.

In 2003, early childhood development was recognized as a priority in the Action Plan for Official Languages.

Here is why: Brain research is revolutionizing our understanding of education. For example, sensory stimulation, attachment to parents and visual contact are needed to awaken curiosity and pleasure in learning; the higher cognitive functions peak at the age of 12 months; language learning begins at the sixth month of pregnancy and levels off before the age of 12 months. When preparing to send a child to day care or to school, it is too late to begin speaking to the child in French and having the child read in French. The basic identity forged in the early years is the most solid.

The impact of a good start enables children to be able to learn at least two languages, prepares them to attend school and allows them to besome success stories rather than constant failures. A good start is crucial because once adolescence is reached, when identity is challenged in predominantly English-speaking communities, the young people in question will be able to build on their successes and capitalize on their confidence in their language and culture. They will thus stand a better chance of resisting assimilation.

That is why the CNPF and parents are so emphatic in wanting early childhood services to be considered as essential to our society as public education. Learning while very young establishes the trajectory for life-long learning. It acts as a catalyst for education. Investment in young children is essential to lasting economic development.

The Commission nationale des parents francophones conducted a national tour of its members and partners in 2004 and developed a national early childhood vision: the optimal development of all francophone children in healthy families and communities through universal and affordable access to a continuum of high quality services in French.

The need for an emphasis on early childhood was reiterated at national congresses gathering together over 300 francophone leaders from the early childhood and French education sectors in 2004, and on health in French in 2006. At the provincial and territorial level, our parent federations and their partners developed strategic plans and action plans in 2005.

The CNPF got the 15 partners of the Table nationale sur la petite enfance francophone involved in a process to develop a strategic framework for early childhood development. One of the things we recommended was the establishment of an early childhood and family centre attached to each of the 400 elementary schools in minority communities. There are already 20 of these centres in Canada, providing a number of services.

These centres provide comprehensive early childhood services. They naturally include programs for children such as nursery schools, play groups and junior kindergarten, in addition to direct support services for families, beginning at the perinatal period. It is during pregnancy that there is an opportunity to include families in francophone communities. Early childhood services are the doorway to all the other services in French and to French-language schools.

The challenge to the communities is enormous: at the moment, only one out of every two francophone children is enrolled in a French school.

We will soon be undertaking a study to evaluate the costs of establishing the services we are proposing. It will be useful addition to our existing tools.

We have all the information we need, and we have established a national vision as well as a model for service delivery. We have action plans in each province and territory. We have obtained the commitment of governments and community partners to begin implementation.

In short, the Commission nationale des parents francophones is putting together the conditions needed for a change of direction in early childhood in minority francophone communities. The challenge is a major one. It will condition the very future of francophone communities. Communities, after all, are built from the bottom up.

Are you with us?

[The Chair, Conservative, Guy Lauzon]

Thank you, Ms. Gagné-Ouellette.

Before continuing, I wish to point out that the final 15 minutes of the meeting will be used to discuss motions.

We will begin with a five-minute round of questions. Ms. Jean-Claude D'Amours has the floor.

[Jean-Claude D'Amours, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I'd like to thank all three of you for being here today to represent your respective groups.

Ms. Gagné-Ouellette, to answer the question you asked at the very end of your presentation, I can assure you that we are listening.

I am from rural francophone New Brunswick, where official languages and everything to do with early childhood development are very important. I am also a young father and can assure you that we are listening. At least on this side of the table.

We could raise various subjects. I just spoke about early childhood. We could speak about literacy. All three of you will see that it will affect you directly.

Not so long ago, in September, many budget cuts were announced. Everybody is talking about them; you talked about them and I believe that everyone will continue to talk about them for months and years, until the situation is reversed.

However, there is another situation: Canada Post's contribution to funding to the Publications Assistance Program has been eliminated. At the end of this meeting, we are going to discuss a motion that I introduced a few weeks ago. The motion asks the government to reinstate the Publications Assistance Program to ensure that rural communities and official language communities are not negatively affected.

Indeed, we know that francophone communities or French-speaking communities are not necessarily the richest communities in Canada. That being the case, they are probably not able to pay more for such things as buying a newspaper.

Mr. Cousineau, you spoke earlier about literacy.

Ms. Gagné-Ouellette, you spoke earlier about children.

Ms. Beaulieu, you spoke earlier about francophone and Acadian communities.

In reality, if we are unable through such a program to provide assistance, then that limits what we can do. And if that is the case, it means that people will not be able to read or not have access to the tools they need to develop.

The government appears at the moment to be doing virtually everything it can to keep its citizens as ignorant as possible. I know that the government's members of Parliament disagree with me: I can understand them, because they are the ones implementing the cuts.

I would like to hear what you have to say about the reinstatement of the Publications Assistance Program. I want to make sure that everyone around this table understands the possible repercussions on the various communities.

[Marielle Beaulieu]

I will be very brief.

In principle, every government program, before having any cuts made or before being changed, should be submitted to the attention of the official language communities if indeed the government is going to maintain its policy on the Action Plan for Official Languages, which includes an accountability framework.

It is more or less what we mentioned in our most recent discussions. We need only remember the latest cuts, whether for the Court Challenges Program or others.

As it happens, we were very surprised. The official languages viewpoint is extremely important. You have been mentioning rural communities, francophone communities outside Quebec. All of these communities are indeed extremely vulnerable and sensitive.

That is why the action plan had incorporated an extremely important component: the accountability framework. We are in fact always surprised when we find that changes are made without any consideration of official languages, whether for publications assistance or programs that affect the communities in one way or another.

[Gaétan Cousineau]

At the federation, we can give you an example of two publications that were delivered by Canada Post under this program. We published approximately 300,000 bookmarks as a way of encouraging people to read. This year, for example, the message included an invitation to parents to read to their children to stimulate their interest in the French language, and encourage them to speak French at home. The distribution is very broad; it is promotion to make people aware.

There is also the magazine entitled Mosaïque, which recognizes the work of the learners. The magazine is for those who finally manage to get themselves out of the black hole, out of their isolation, by writing material in French that is published in Mosaïque. It is important to us.

[The Chair, Conservative, Guy Lauzon]

Mr. Cousineau, the five minutes are already up.

Ms. Barbot, you can ask the next question.

[Vivian Barbot, Bloc, Papineau, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you ladies and gentlemen for having come to meet us this morning.

Ms. Beaulieu, thank you for having appropriately asked the question about the vitality of the francophone minority communities. It is true that we often speak about numbers. It is an easy way of trying to understand the phenomenon, and you correctly said that this vitality had more to do with social, economic and cultural dynamism. I think that if we can understand that, we can better see what opportunities present themselves to enable such communities to develop. Everything that you said about this was very eloquent, in so far as these things need to be implemented.

Personally, I would have liked to meet you in a different setting, because you are currently being faced with draconian cuts. If we wish to maintain this vitality, then special efforts need to be made and an action plan needs to be developed to guarantee your "survival". It's unfortunate that this is being threatened.

You will no doubt find no consolation if I tell that it's the same thing for all the groups, not only francophone communities, but also for the women who came to meet us yesterday. A way therefore needs to be found to break down the wall.

My question is for Mr. Cousineau. You spoke about illiteracy. You are living in an environment in which there is illiteracy and a great deal of competition from the English language. You said that 75% of people had responded to the survey in English.

Do you feel that this is strictly something to do with literacy or is there a very direct link between this form of literacy that you are experiencing and the fact that people's English language skills are better ?

[Gaétan Cousineau]

There may be several different ways of explaining it. There has not been a specific analysis, but to begin to answer your question, 66% of those who were given the choice of responding in French or in English chose to do so in English. One might have expected, given that the people were francophone, that they would have answered the questions in French, but some of them felt more at ease in English. Some told us that they thought they had to choose English because the call had come from the federal government, because that was the language of work. These people live in a minority community.

So we are talking about vitality. If there had been more confidence in French and more vitality, people would have answered in French. We think that it is a clear sign of the challenge that awaits us.

[Vivian Barbot, Bloc, Papineau, QC]

Okay.

Mr. Chairman, you can give the floor to someone else.

[The Chair, Conservative, Guy Lauzon]

Thank you.

Ms. Brunelle.

[Paule Brunelle, Bloc, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Do I have a few minutes?

[The Chair, Conservative, Guy Lauzon]

You have two minutes left.

[Paule Brunelle, Bloc, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Ms. Beaulieu, you told us that it was important to be able to live in French, and I found that very interesting. Ms. Gagné-Ouellette spoke to us about early childhood. I think that this ability truly does need to start at the beginning, which is to say through early childhood centres, where children are educated.

In Vancouver, we had the opportunity to hear about schools that children attended for much of their primary level. I think that this is really a possible avenue.

Mr. Cousineau, I don't know if we have enough time, but I would like you to shed some light on the national learning policy. What do you mean by that? We know that education is a matter of provincial jurisdiction, but what can you tell us about it in a few minutes?

[Gaétan Cousineau]

Early childhood begins before school, even before primary school. This phase is not part of the formal education structure. It is informal. That is where there is room for the federal government, in partnership, if you will, with the provinces and agencies like ours, to develop programs.

Ms. Gagné-Ouellette explained child development much better than I can. If children are not in contact with French at home, and if they do not learn it when they are very young, they will perhaps never even enrol in a French-language school. They may end up enrolling in an English school because it is easier for them. These children will be more at ease in developing in that language and will lose their French.

Parents have to speak French to their children, but they need to have tools to do so. The day care centres these children go to must be French-language centres, so that they can hear French spoken. We have a network of experts, like the one in Manitoba for example, that also makes use of grandparents to speak French to their children and grandchildren, and make French the language spoken in the family once again.

So this all happens before school. After that, children will continue to develop if they go to a French-language school.

[The Chair, Conservative, Guy Lauzon]

Thank you, Mr. Cousineau and Ms. Brunelle.

Mr. Godin will ask the next question.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Ms. Beaulieu, you spoke earlier about infrastructure funds. At the moment, it is as if the government had decided to give us the money directly and allow us to deal with our own problems. You need not worry, there is nothing discriminatory about this, as we were able to see when it spoke about eliminating the Canadian Wheat Board and the CRTC.

Can you explain to us what you mean by infrastructure?

[Marielle Beaulieu]

At the moment, in many communities, French-language schools are in a thoroughly lamentable state. In some instances, including a school in Prince Edward Island, they have been described as third-world schools. In this area, there is therefore a great deal of catching up to do. Ms. Gagné-Ouellette spoke about early childhood centres. It is essential that within the schools areas be set aside for this purpose. In many instances, such spaces are not available.

Infrastructure also includes the cultural sphere. The people from the Fédération culturelle canadienne-française will testify somewhat later. They will thus be able to tell you more about this. In any event, what is involved is providing people in the communities with places where they can meet, speak, live and engage in activities in French. Community spaces need to be built where there are none.

I think that in Saskatchewan there has just been an agreement on a school-community centre. Such centres are the preferred venue for minorities, given their ability to include a school, community areas and early childhood facilities.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Ms. Beaulieu, you thanked us for having gone to visit francophone communities, and I want to point out that these visits were very interesting. The Court Challenges Program enabled us to obtain schools, but these schools were closed because new ones were being built for the anglophone community. The schools that had been closed because they were no longer usable were given to francophones. We saw this with our own eyes. It is shameful to see what governments are doing. The Liberals have nothing to boast about in this area either.

From the literacy standpoint, it's the same story. It is as if people could wake up one fine morning and decide to teach themselves. We need organizations and organizers. I have said it before and I will say it again: there is a surplus of $50 billion in the employment insurance fund. Yesterday evening again, the government answered one of my questions by saying that it was through training and education that we can help people. So why not spend some of this surplus on literacy and thus be able to set up some schools?

In the town of Petit Rocher in New Brunswick, there was a literacy school operating in a church basement. The teacher had to supply the toilet paper himself. That's how people are treated.

Do you think it would be a good thing in phase II of the employment insurance program, which addresses training, for there to be agreements between the federal and provincial governments on literacy in order to make it possible for our workers and the population to enter the labour market?