Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
We've just heard a discussion and some very interesting remarks. I'm of Franco-Ontarian origin, and I remember a sentence by Jeannine Séguin, who is no longer with us today, but who was President of the Association canadienne-française de l'Ontario. I worked closely with her at the time when she was President of the Fédération des francophone hors Québec. She said that we Francophones learn French, but we catch English.
In a society that wants to be bilingual, at least in accordance with the Constitution of Canada, we're still living that reality. When my children were at the Coopérative d'habitation Villa Bonheur in Saskatoon, they caught English very quickly. They were five and eight years old when they started there, and they learned it. That's a reality because English is the majority language there. I'm blaming no one; that's a reality. The Anglophone children didn't catch or learn French. There are those circumstances.
Perhaps we caught English, but we had to develop and improve our French as best we could. It's frustrating to see federal government colleagues who don't master both languages at all, whereas they should since they occupy so-called bilingual positions. I use the word “colleagues” as though I were a public servant.
There's also the letter that Ms. Kenny sent us yesterday or Tuesday. She is a woman who works with minority Francophones and who told an important story. The supervisor doesn't speak French, or doesn't understand it very well. Francophones may be numerous or less numerous; they will always speak English regardless, because, if you speak to the supervisor in French, the message won't be transmitted or won't be clear. You risk being misunderstood and you also don't want to undermine the job that has to be done.
In the public service, the further you get from the communities where there is a majority of Francophones, the more Francophones themselves work in the other language.
The public service is experiencing a problem in this regard. I know that it isn't the public servants' fault. It's a matter of will on the government's part. Will it step forward or not? Will it provide the tools or not?
The Action Plan for Official Languages has to be given an orientation. Let's see what Francophones... French is the language that is being lost and that is in difficulty across Canada, even in certain regions of Quebec. Let's make sure that the work can be done, that is to say that comprehension and learning can be done.
I would ask Mr. Cashman and Ms. Demers to answer that question. Are there things that the federal government has done well in the past, that have been cancelled and that should be reinstated?
The Action Plan for Official Languages is a good opportunity, even if it means establishing partnerships or restoring elements that were cancelled and that shouldn't have been, because they provided solutions.
I'm thinking of certain examples. Last year, the government cancelled the Canada Summer Jobs Program for youths and reinstated it this year, because it had completely missed the boat. We have a difficult situation here. I'd like to have your viewpoint on this aspect because you're inside the public service.