Thank you very much. I am going to continue on the question of allophones. I have a problem with the word "allophone". I am an immigrant, I was not born in Quebec. My parents were Belgian, but they came from both linguistic communities, in other words, they were an exogamous couple: one was Flemish, and other Walloon. I learned both languages in the cradle, it is as simple as that. When I went to school, I was also confronted with two languages. When I came to Canada, I joined the francophone community and, naturally, the language spoken outside the home was French. At home, it was both languages.
When we responded to the census... Even today, questions have been modified to make them somewhat easier, but they still complicate our lives. The question of language spoken at home does not provide useful information. I don't know if you understand what I mean. I am trying to get you to understand that we speak both languages at home. Even now, two languages are spoken in our home: English and French. My children are bilingual. So what is their spoken language or their mother tongue? They both are.
I have a problem with the definition of the word "allophone", and I would say the word has pejorative connotations. I feel somewhat excluded because in reality, it is as if I were being excluded from one of the two communities and that I am being asked to make a choice. I speak both languages; I speak four, in some cases. This is a problem when statistics are compiled, because they do not necessarily reflect why I am in Canada.
Immigrants come to Canada primarily for work, perhaps also to change their lives, to have a better life, and so on. When we move and when we arrive in an area, for example that is francophone, if we see... For example, in 1958, when we arrived, Montreal was the metropolis of Canada. Today, it is Toronto. We go where the work is, we move around. We choose a community when we arrive, and often, we don't know what to do because we are in a community, but work draws us to another community.
When you do your censuses, the word "allophone" causes a problem for me; it literally causes a problem for me. I cannot follow your statistics. That is why I would like to get some answers from you.
I would like to ask you a more specific question about the work environment, as that is nevertheless an important aspect. When I work, I work in French. Outside Quebec, the use of French seems to have increased. I am talking about francophones outside Quebec, because that is the specific topic. At least French is being used more now in francophone minority communities. Is that correct? That appears in your document, it seems to me, but I cannot understand it. I would like some further explanation.