Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Colleagues, I am pleased to be here to talk to you about the activities coming up in the next few months in the official languages portfolio and to lay the foundations of a very productive working relationship. Yesterday, I testified before the Standing Senate Committee on Official Languages. Today, I am with you, and I hope that together we will be able to examine the issues that are of importance to us.
First of all, I want to tell you how honoured I was that the Prime Minister entrusted the official languages portfolio to me, first as Secretary of State and then as Minister. It is a portfolio of the utmost importance to me.
French had an important place in my own family. Thirty years ago, my parents enrolled my two sisters and me in a French immersion school starting in kindergarten. Today, I am more grateful to them than ever. I am very proud to be one of the growing number of Canadians who speak French. There are 9.6 million francophones and francophiles in the country.
My ability to speak French and English is a true asset for me. I'm able to do my best to understand my constituents and Canadians, my responsibilities, and the hopes and aspirations, I hope, of Canadians in anglophone and francophone communities throughout the country.
Since last July, I have met with a number of official-language communities, in all parts of Canada, including the members of the organizing committee for the next World Acadian Congress. To date, we have invested over $4 million in this congress.
I also took part in round table discussions bringing together community leaders in Vancouver, Moncton and Edmonton. Last August, I attended the opening of the Jeux de la francophonie canadienne in Edmonton. I also attended Francoforce, first in Quebec City, and then in Dieppe. There I discovered the next generation of francophones, who are talented, daring, and proud of their roots. I also had the opportunity to talk with young people who are learning their second official language, and with others who are pursuing their university studies in French in a minority official language community.
You know, I consider the needs of official language communities in all my decisions. For example, when I created the Canada Media Fund, I ensured that there was an envelope set aside for these communities. For 2009-2010, the communities will retain the 10-million-dollar envelope set aside for them by the Canadian Television Fund.
On a smaller scale, in early March, I had the opportunity to announce the allocation of funding to the 20th Festival du Bois de Maillardville. This community, which I am very well acquainted with, is celebrating its centennial. It is the oldest francophone community west of the Rockies.
Obviously, this is not the only important anniversary in the country in 2009.
As you know, the Official Languages Act turns 40 this year. This anniversary is a real milestone, as the Official Languages Act was an excellent initiative for asserting Canadians' rights and opening up new opportunities to them. The recognition of our two official languages and our history has always been a part of my life and my country. Our linguistic duality is a treasure, and we want to take every advantage of this opportunity to make Canadians more aware of the benefits of having two world-class languages in our country.
The year 2009 will be crucial for those working in the area of official languages. The commitments made by our government last June when the Roadmap to Canada's Linguistic Duality was announced are continuing to take tangible form.
A great deal of work has gone into developing the Roadmap. We took the opinions of our tremendous number of stakeholders into account. We drew inspiration from the committee work and reports from the Commissioner of Official Languages. We also considered the recommendations in Bernard Lord's report, as well as the findings of the Sommet des communautés francophones et acadiennes.
The Roadmap is a document of great scope and tremendous significance. It defines the Government of Canada's overall approach in the area of official languages while also presenting our objectives and strategies.
I have said this often, and I will repeat it today: our government is determined to keep its commitment and deliver to Canadians all the initiatives announced in the Roadmap.
Thirteen departments and federal agencies have contributed a great deal of work since the beginning. And I am happy to add that another department—Indian and Northern Affairs Canada—has joined the group to meet the needs of communities in the territories. So, that makes 14 departments now participating in the implementation of the Roadmap.
Our investment is unprecedented: $1.1 billion over five years. For 2008-2009, we plan to pay out over $180 million in addition to the $15 million set aside in the 2007 budget for official language community activities.
As a matter of fact, the Roadmap funding announcements have started in sectors that we consider to be priorities: health, justice, immigration, and economic development, as well as arts and culture. I assure you that the implementation work is proceeding very smoothly.
The economic action plan presented in budget 2009, recently passed by the House and Senate, clearly demonstrates our government's commitment to arts, culture, and heritage. The plan sets aside an unprecedented $540 million to provide support and sound economic return on our investment.
Culture is also an important new component of the Roadmap. Four days ago, as part of the Rendez-vous de la Francophonie in Vancouver, I had the opportunity to announce the implementation of the Cultural Development Fund.
Thanks to this fund, we are responding to some of the requests expressed by the communities.
This fund will benefit from a 14-million-dollar budget over four years. It will support and strengthen the arts, culture, and heritage in minority anglophone and francophone communities. It will foster an enhanced sense of identity and belonging within these communities. And it will enable Canadians everywhere to become better acquainted with the diversity and vitality of the cultural scene in these communities, from Whitehorse to Moncton, by way of Saint-Boniface and Lennoxville.
I recently had the pleasure of announcing the National Translation Program for Book Publishing. Starting April 1, our government will invest $5 million over four years to help Canadian publishers translate literary works by Canadian authors into French and English. With this program, we want to give the greatest possible number of Canadians access to our country's immense cultural and literary wealth.
In the health sector, I want to point out that yesterday, Colin Carrie, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health, announced over $4 million in additional support for the Consortium national de formation en santé. This funding will assist francophone students in pursuing post-secondary studies in this field.
I also wanted to discuss education since it is a major component of the Roadmap. The government has been working on education with its partners for a long time. In fact, for some 40 years now, the Government of Canada has offered support to the provinces and the territories with a view to helping them meet their responsibilities in matters of minority-language instruction.
Investments in education for the last full year rose to $288 million. These funds go to education in the minority official language and second-language instruction.
The services and education agreements between our government and the 13 provinces and territories must be renewed this year. This will enable us to continue working together while also fulfilling our commitment to ensure that the Roadmap is implemented taking the special characteristics of each region into account.
The education agreements are certainly one of the main means of supporting education in the minority official language and second-language learning at the primary, secondary, and post-secondary levels.
It is important for Canadians to have the opportunity to improve their proficiency in French and English throughout their education, from primary school through the post-secondary level.
My mother was a French teacher in the 1970s, and today one of my sisters is an immersion teacher in British Columbia. In my opinion, education is a very important thing, and these subsidies are just as important.
This is what we are aiming at in our work with the provincial governments, so that projects for enlarging school community centres benefit our youngest. I am particularly thinking about the Centre communautaire Sainte-Anne in Fredericton. Our government supported its expansion with a total contribution of over $6.6 million.
In addition, Canadian universities are key government representatives when the time comes to talk about post-secondary education for francophones and francophiles alike.
In January, our government gave a one-year extension to the Canada—British Columbia Subsidiary Agreement on Minority-Language Education and second-language instruction at Simon Fraser University. Our government thereby made a commitment to help British Columbia with the costs related to official languages, up to $1.2 million.
Thanks to this agreement, francophones and francophiles in this part of the country do much more than pursue their post-secondary education in French. They stay in the province. They assert their attachment to the French language and francophone culture. And, above all, they continue to contribute in numerous ways to the vitality of their community.
I have every intention of continuing to work with all stakeholders, communities, and the provincial and territorial governments in the interests of Canadians across the country.
We are committed to implementing the Roadmap along with the renewal of the agreement and the establishment of the program to support linguistic rights. We are less than a year away from the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Vancouver. Since planning the games began, respect and promotion of our two official languages have been priorities for our government and this project.
The study presented by the Commissioner of Official Languages last December clearly shows that the 2010 Games are an opportunity for Canada to showcase its linguistic duality. I assure you that our government and all our partners are working diligently to ensure that the 2010 Games are games for all Canadians, in both official languages.
As you know, my responsibilities also include coordinating government action in official languages. Given the growing number of departments involved, this is an important role. I encourage my fellow ministers to take official languages into account in their departments' activities, at every stage.
I would like to take advantage of our discussion today to assure you that I will continue to support my colleagues and cooperate with them in implementing the Roadmap.
To conclude, I'd like to state that we are going to continue on this path. Our government will continue to support the development of French and English official language minority communities and promote full recognition of the use of French and English in our society. As Minister responsible for Official Languages, I have the good fortune to be able to count on a parliamentary secretary for official languages who is fully committed to this portfolio. As you know, Shelly Glover proudly represents me at various activities. I am happy to be able to count on both her understanding of the official language communities' situations and her desire to promote our linguistic duality.
Today, I would like to call upon your skills to help the government explore courses of action to enable us to encourage more Canadians to become proficient in both official languages and to use them on a regular basis. I hope to work effectively with you and all our partners, in the government and outside the government, so that Canada's linguistic duality continues to benefit all Canadians.
Thank you for your time and attention. I am ready to answer your questions.
