To support its commitments to the implementation of the Official Languages Act, the federal government made financial resources available to the minority communities to support community development and vitality-enhancing efforts.
Following two rounds of Canada-community agreements, new institutions were established and institutional networks strengthened. In March 2003, the Government of Canada adopted the Action Plan for Official Languages, which in fact renewed the Canadian government's commitment to linguistic duality.
Lastly, as noted above, the Acadian community of New Brunswick has been financially supported since August 2005 by a Canadian Heritage contribution agreement designed to support its development and vitality. The organizations benefiting from past agreements have been in a better position to plan their action strategies and to ensure the implementation and funding of community development activities.
The amounts that we have obtained have been managed in a sound and transparent manner, even though the last collaboration accord funded only 45% of financial needs.
New Brunswick's Acadian and francophone community must absolutely open up to francophone immigration and to cultural diversity in order to offset the declining birth rate and exodus of its population to regions of the country that are experiencing a sustained economic growth. However, the programs at Citizenship and Immigration Canada, which are aimed at settlement agencies, are hard for community groups to access. And yet success in the area of immigrant integration relies on greater awareness on the part of the host community and the reinforcement of francophone intake structures.
In the current state of affairs, even though many organizations are aware of the importance of these issues, none can assume, on a full-time basis, the complex responsibilities stemming from the desire of the two levels of government to increase francophone immigration in the minority communities.
All the organizations agree that it is fundamentally important for them to know how long they must wait for a decision after filing an application for financial assistance. Too often organizations must manage with interim funding and all the stress and anxiety associated with waiting times. A few examples of this are given in the text.
In addition, as a result of these lines of credit and additional interest charges, a large portion of the organization's grant revenues are used to finance the banking system, out of public funds. Other federal agencies, such as the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, have established operating rules concerning the time periods during which Canadian taxpayers must wait for a response. The organizations should be entitled to the same treatment.
In closing, we repeat that it will be necessary to increase the budget for the next collaboration accords in order to enable us to consolidate what we have already established, to achieve equity with the other provinces and territories and to counter inflation.
Thank you for your attention.