Mr. Chairman, first of all, I would like to congratulate you on having been elected to the chair. We can now continue discussing with the government. I hope the government will listen to what we have to say about this program, which was essential to us.
Before the implementation of the Court Challenges Program, Franco-Ontarians, among others, had to struggle unrelentingly to uphold their right to use French, even in their schools. The infamous Regulation 17 was imposed in 1910, at a time when there were no court challenges, and do you know how long it took to rescind the regulation? It took over 40 years. It was only after the Second World War that we were able to have the regulation repealed.
Each time we went in front of the court, it was as a last recourse. Everything had been tried. Efforts were made to talk, discuss and debate. In the case of the Montfort Hospital, we went to Toronto some 50 times. The premier, in a scrum, said that the government had never negotiated with a hospital. The community wanted to discuss the issue, but the government did not. All language crises are really caused by the governments, whether provincial, federal or municipal, as was the case here in Ottawa.
Mr. Chairman, it is unfair to accuse us of playing politics when we are demanding our most fundamental rights. On the contrary, we want to talk to you about our most precious assets: our language, culture and everything we have to preserve, in short, our identity.
I will be brief because I would like that Michel Gratton talk to you about the law itself, which shows that it was illegal for the Prime Minister and government to cancel the program.
We are not an interest group. We belong to one of the founding peoples of this country, and if you are against the concept of founding peoples, I am sorry to hear that. We went before the Supreme Court 10 years ago in a case dealing with education. We also went before the Ontario Court of Appeal, which is a highly esteemed institution. We wanted to bring the case before the Supreme Court, but the government got cold feet.
It really pains us to see that you do not understand how much we depend on financial assistance. Do you know how much the government spends on the program? On a per capita basis, it amounts to 50¢ for Francophones, but if you include Quebec Anglophones living in a minority situation just like us, that amount decreases to approximately 30¢. Do you not think that Canadians, who know how much the government is currently spending across Canada, would be outraged to learn that you refuse to give us a meagre 30¢? That money would allow us to defend our rights against the government and its army of lawyers. This to me is hard to understand.
That is what I would like you to tell the Prime Minister. You have a significant role to play, as Francophones and members of this committee: you have to tell Mr. Harper that we urgently need the program to be reinstated. By cancelling the program, you have infringed upon our rights and taken away what is most dear to us. Mr. Chairman, we are being humiliated. Humiliating a minority is not something to do lightly. That is something that has led to many revolutions around the world. I tell you, this is something we cannot accept. Our fundamental rights are being infringed upon.
Mr. Chairman, I thank you very much for having allowed us to appear again. I hope we won't have to repeat this and that you will have news for us shortly. I would simply like to report, without engaging in politics, what Ms. Verner said last weekend. She was very nice to come meet with us, but she said, among other things, that there was still a need for indepth studies and large-scale consultations. I just met a member who told me that he went across Canada and consulted people on the Court Challenges Program.
Mr. Chairman, when a government does not want to act, as you well know, it drags its feet for years. I am not a politician, but I know full well that governments carry out small studies and strike small committees. What I'm asking you to do is to tell Mr. Harper and his government that this is a pressing issue. Some 700 delegates attended the summit here last weekend. There were leaders representing Francophones from across Canada—although there were not many Quebec representatives: imagine if Quebec had joined us! All of them were asking for the program to be reinstated. I ask you to do so as soon as possible.
I will turn the floor over to Michel.