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.