If you look at the statistics on the screen, you'll see that Francophone assimilation and defrancization are dramatic in all provinces outside Quebec. This has been going on for centuries. In 30 years, from one census to another, this trend has not declined, on the contrary. Despite the federal official languages policy, the situation has become even more dramatic.
That's why Impératif français urges the Canadian government to rethink its language policy, to make room for a new policy focusing on the protection and promotion of French across Canada. This does not imply that the bilingualism policy should be excluded, but it is clear that one of the two official languages is a minority language. Within the Canadian federation and in the North American context, the situation is asymmetrical from the outset, as a result of which we cannot consider these two languages as equals: one of them requires more resources than the other.
The federal government's bilingualism policy has had a defrancizing effect. In Quebec, where there are 590,000 Anglophones, 60% of federal government jobs require knowledge of English. In Ontario, just next door, only 10% of federal jobs require knowledge of French, for a virtually equivalent number of Francophones, that is 510,000. As a result of this kind of aberration, for centuries now, Francophones across the country have been anglicizing. It is in this context that we urge the government to act responsibly with regard to our cultural heritage, which includes La Francophonie, of course, and to implement programs to provide more support for the minority official language, which is in trouble even in Quebec.
Considering the language transfers in Quebec, the language that dominates isn't French. In 2001, the impotance of the language of Quebec's Anglophone community increased by 26% as a result of language transfers. In the Canadian and North American context, despite legislation designed to protect the French language, we are unable to protect it, even in Quebec. English is still the language that dominates in Quebec. So imagine the dramatic effects felt by our countrymen and countrywomen who are members of the French-language communities outside Quebec.
In one way or another, the federal government will have to consider implementing a cross-Canada policy based on the promotion of French, together with the necessary resources. I invite you to think about that. The energy could initially be generated by the Standing Committee on Official Languages. This is an obvious need. We cannot continue to live in these kinds of situations. These figures don't come from our organization, but from the federal agency: Statistics Canada. The situation is dramatic. One cannot, you cannot, we cannot not understand why this requires restorative measures. The Constitution of Canada recognizes the possibility of implementing restorative programs. This is necessary.