I must say that I admire your determination and courage. It seems to me that when there is an action plan and an accountability framework, and after some heated battles over the years, in which some schools were lost, it is certainly discouraging to find yourself not even back where you started, but behind the start line by a fair distance.
I would like to say a word about families. My colleague said not long ago that learning French was something that had to happen in the families. One musn't forget what the typical family is like today. It is often a broken family, a blended family or one in which both parents work. Most women are no longer at home raising children and able to teach their children a language.
You said that you wanted to build community spaces. I find that brilliant. In Quebec, the opposite was done. Schools were built at great expense, along with community centres for recreation and culture. This later become too much of a financial burden for the communities. Then, there was a baby boom, of which I am a part. So this happened a fairly long time ago. After that, there were fewer children, and some schools had to be closed. When the last school in the village was closed, it was tragic because you could see the communities disintegrating. The link I would like to make is that wherever there is a common community space, it is possible to develop all aspects of the language, and I tip my hat to this initiative.
Ms. Beaulieu, you told us that we were not providing enough support to community life. I think that this will be something to consider in the action plan. Community life needs to be supported so that the language can develop horizontally in all sectors.
I do not really have a question to ask at this time. Those were comments.
If you wish, we could speak about some of the more important aspects of the action plan or of things that we might be able to develop. It seems to me that the committee members would be interested in hearing comments about some of the urgent things that need to be done. We know that there is the reinstatement of the funding, respect for the accountability framework and the action plan, but is there something else that this committee could do to help you?