Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Good morning to you all.
Mr. Chairman, I am a little taken aback. The purpose of our study is to look at how universities can train bilingual graduates so that the federal public service can respond to citizens in their mother tongue. I have nothing against the people who are appearing today. They are doing excellent work in their respective areas. However, perhaps we should be hearing from witnesses who are able to address the specific goals of our study. It seems to me we have strayed well beyond the topic on the agenda. We may have to take another look at our study schedule.
I would like to address my question to Mr. Gaffield, from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
I would like to know whether, in your fields of study or the programs you have looked at, you have found any data indicating at what point a student should learn a second language in order to be fully bilingual by the time he or she graduates. Should the learning process begin at the primary, secondary or university levels? What should we be focusing on so that more graduates are able to read, write and speak both languages?