Evidence of meeting #11 for Official Languages in the 40th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was university.
A recording is available from Parliament.
9:35 a.m.
NDP
Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB
Thank you.
We're playing musical chairs. We'll do it again on the next round.
9:35 a.m.
Conservative
Shelly Glover Conservative Saint Boniface, MB
Thank you very much for coming today. I'm going to speak English, although I speak French, as you well know.
I believe in rules and regulations. I belive it is much more practical to serve this committee by following the rules and regulations, so I apologize for the outburst by my colleague. Nevertheless, we're going to continue.
I really appreciate that you're here today. I grew up taking French immersion, and I was in a school where
there were francophones with anglophones. So voilà, I can speak English and French. That's really thanks to the francophones and anglophones who promoted our program.
I'm very pleased that we have Collège universitaire de Saint-Boniface in my community. We see a lot of promotion for our minority community and our anglophones to attend Collège universitaire. If Brandon students ever want to come, Collège universitaire is much closer, and I would encourage them to do so. It's a fantastic program. I myself went to Collège secondaire de Saint-Boniface, which was in the same school.
I understand how it's working in Saint Boniface. I know there's promotion there. But I see kids, as you said Monsieur Rainville, who are not taking the initiative themselves. There is an individual responsibility--I agree with you entirely--and choice to practise their French, but I think it's two-sided.
I think you're both right when you say it's two-sided. We need promotion by the university; we need leadership, but we also need the youths to take advantage of what is being promoted and to really insert themselves into the situation. I hate to say this, but unfortunately I see a lot of francophones speaking English in the hallways of their French schools, just as I see anglophones taking immersion who are still speaking English in the hallways.
So again, individuals have to make a choice. They have to do what they need to do to improve their French.
Would you say that, in general, because I don't really understand the situation in Quebec, anglophones are well served in Quebec? Can more be done for anglophones in Quebec?
9:40 a.m.
Member of the Board of Directors, Director General, Cégep de l'Outaouais, Fédération des cégeps
I would say they are very well served. As you know, we have three universities where the main language is English. Actually, I would say one of the universities in Quebec is among the most sought after by the anglophone population in Canada. In our colleges, we have 8% of the Quebec population whose first language is English. We have 15% of the total college population within our anglophone colleges. So I would say they're very well served.
As of now, there is absolutely no pressure and no demand to add other colleges. Actually, what they would like--and we have the same request from our government--is maybe more choice in terms of the programs that are offered. But I would say that it's not really an issue in Quebec.
9:40 a.m.
Conservative
Shelly Glover Conservative Saint Boniface, MB
What role would you say an anglophone university outside of Quebec would play in the development of a francophone minority community in its regions or provinces? I would ask that to....
9:40 a.m.
Coordinator, Office of the President and Senior Advisor, Francophonie Affairs, Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada
What would an English-language university do in an anglophone environment to promote bilingualism and serve its students? In general, the universities exist to provide education and to certify studies by awarding degrees. The universities are also important players in the community and socio-cultural lives of their regions. In general, they will serve the needs of those communities by seeing what goes on around them. In certain—
9:40 a.m.
Conservative
Shelly Glover Conservative Saint Boniface, MB
Pardon me for interrupting you. We don't have a lot of time. I was wondering what anglophones are doing for francophones?
9:40 a.m.
NDP
9:40 a.m.
Liberal
Lise Zarac Liberal LaSalle—Émard, QC
My first question is for Ms. Poirier. Your federation represents more than 48 public colleges in Quebec and has more than 30 years' experience. Earlier, during our discussion, I noticed that you personally have a lot of experience. One of the committee's objectives is to ensure fairness in minority situations.
Do you believe that all the colleges have all the necessary tools? Is there fairness among the colleges?
9:40 a.m.
Member of the Board of Directors, Director General, Cégep de l'Outaouais, Fédération des cégeps
In fact, the colleges are 40 years old. I proudly wear the pin of the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Cégep de l'Outaouais. It was one of the system's first 12 founding colleges. I believe there is total fairness among the colleges. The resources allocated to the anglophone community are of the same quality as those allocated to the French-language CEGEPs. The best way to answer that question is to emphasize that the principle of fairness is applied. All Quebec students must be equally served in the colleges. The Quebec-Canada Accord, among other things, probably makes it possible to achieve that. That's not an issue.
9:45 a.m.
Liberal
Lise Zarac Liberal LaSalle—Émard, QC
And you have all the necessary tools for that learning process.
9:45 a.m.
Member of the Board of Directors, Director General, Cégep de l'Outaouais, Fédération des cégeps
For example, the department of second languages at the Cégep de l'Outaouais has 28 teachers. So it's a very big department. We of course have an obligation to teach the second language, but we offer much more. I'm going to change topics and go back to the question that Mr. Gaudet asked earlier. Students are seeking proficiency in the second official language and even a third language. The most taught languages are currently English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Mandarin and Portuguese. All those languages can be taught at our CEGEP.
9:45 a.m.
Liberal
Lise Zarac Liberal LaSalle—Émard, QC
Do you think we should give English and French special status relative to a third language, since you mention that a number of languages are taught?
9:45 a.m.
Member of the Board of Directors, Director General, Cégep de l'Outaouais, Fédération des cégeps
That's already the case.
9:45 a.m.
Liberal
Lise Zarac Liberal LaSalle—Émard, QC
Perfect, thank you.
My second question is for Mr. Dulude. You have more than 40 years' experience in managing scholarship programs and you supervise more than 2,000 projects on all continents. Ms. Glover mentioned earlier that students were responsible for their learning, but that they had to be given the necessary tools.
What is your assessment of the scholarship and research programs that we currently have?
9:45 a.m.
Vice-President, National Affairs, Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada
A significant amount is spent on research. Let's recall that research is obviously a federal jurisdiction, whereas education is a provincial jurisdiction.
In research, according to the data from 2006-2007, $2.7 billion out of a total of $2.9 billion is allocated to the universities. Most of the funding is thus allocated to research. That includes research fellowships in all disciplines and also infrastructure.
Under the 2009 budget, the association was very pleased to receive an additional amount for infrastructure. The 2009 budget allocated $2 billion to the universities and colleges. That $2 billion is in addition to the $2.9 billion allocated in 2006-2007. The amounts are considerable.
9:45 a.m.
Liberal
Lise Zarac Liberal LaSalle—Émard, QC
What do you think about the 2009 scholarships for business studies?
9:45 a.m.
Vice-President, National Affairs, Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada
When we spoke to the person responsible for scholarships at Social Sciences and Humanities, the granting council, he said the definition was very broad, that it could include business, but also history, if, for example, someone was concentrating on the history of recessions. That fell within the definition of the word “business”. It's a very broad definition.
9:45 a.m.
Bloc
Richard Nadeau Bloc Gatineau, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Still within the context of our exercise related to the training of individuals so that they can speak the second official language in this country as well as their first language, I would like to know your opinion on the following question. In the study we are conducting, we're asking universities to provide leadership in promoting second-language learning. Don't you believe that we're starting backwards? I know I'm going into jurisdictions that don't necessarily affect your institutions, but shouldn't we start teaching the second language adequately at the primary and secondary levels? As a result, students entering university would be able to feel comfortable studying subjects at a higher level in their second language.
9:50 a.m.
Vice-President, National Affairs, Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada
That was the first point in my statement. I entirely agree with you. The approach should start with the primary and secondary levels. There's no doubt about that. At university, it's not too late, but it's already late. We should devote more resources and effort to the primary and secondary levels.
9:50 a.m.
Member of the Board of Directors, Director General, Cégep de l'Outaouais, Fédération des cégeps
I entirely agree as well. We know that second-language learning in Quebec now starts in grade 1 at the primary level. I must say that we, the colleges, are working and focusing a great deal on the issue. We administer a national exam to determine students' second-language proficiency levels on leaving secondary school, but we would like to take the matter further. We're seeking second-language proficiency standards or levels that students must meet at the end of their primary and secondary education.
9:50 a.m.
Bloc
Richard Nadeau Bloc Gatineau, QC
Thank you.
In another line of thinking, we all know that the fiscal imbalance issue is not resolved and that $3.5 billion remains to be transferred to the universities for postsecondary education for Canada as a whole. In Quebec, that represents approximately $830 million. For the UQO, which is located in Gatineau, in my region, that's $16 million that isn't going into its coffers. That's quite a significant sum.
What is the status of your efforts to have the federal government transfer that money to assist Canadian and Quebec postsecondary institutions in getting more up to standard?
9:50 a.m.
Vice-President, National Affairs, Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada
An increase in the postsecondary education transfer was not one of our demands for the 2009 budget. I already said that we had obtained the $2 billion we requested for infrastructure. We didn't want to be too greedy. We limited ourselves to one priority and we got it.
Mr. Nadeau, that could be part of our platform of submissions for the 2010 budget. We haven't yet consulted our presidents on priorities. In 2008-2009, it must be admitted that the $3.2 billion cash transfer for postsecondary education is already a considerable amount. However, I can't tell you what our demands will be for the 2010 budget.