Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I would also like to thank committee members their welcome this morning.
I have a well-prepared text on our commitment with regard to official languages within VANOC, but I would rather take a few minutes to talk to you about the Official Languages Advisory Committee that we established some time ago. I think that such information as well as the committee's objectives are worth putting on the record. I will therefore take a few minutes to tell you about the committee's underlying mission.
I agreed to chair the Official Languages Committee as a member of VANOC's board of directors. Basically, as Mr. Matte indicated earlier, we have been working over the past two years in close cooperation with various francophone groups from across Canada, including the Canadian Foundation for Cross-Cultural Dialogue. We also work with the Fédération des francophones de la Colombie-Britannique as well as all kinds of organizations from coast to coast. We are also working in partnership with federal government officials whose job is to ensure that we make all the necessary efforts to respect the multi-party agreement, which is at the heart of VANOC's commitment to official languages.
We came to realize—and this is something Graham Fraser understood as well—that we needed to create a formal framework within the committee so that the various francophone stakeholders involved in the discussions would be on the same page and have the same objectives. That is why we recommended that this committee be established. At the outset, we wanted to bring together Canada's francophone stakeholders. After much reflection and discussion with various political players, including Mr. Diouf, the Secretary General of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie. We thought it would be a good idea to open the committee to international members, including Jean-Pierre Raffarin, who was pleased to be on the committee.
There was a reason for choosing Mr. Raffarin. As you know, he had been appointed the Grand Témoin (great witness) of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie at the Beijing Olympic Games. Given that very recent experience, we thought that he could help us in our work. As recently as last Friday, the committee had its first official meeting in Vancouver, and Mr. Raffarin provided us with exceptional support. He gave us a lot of information, both general and at times quite detailed, on the issues he had identified in Beijing and with which we should be dealing. We greatly value his work with us.
We have also obtained the participation of Judith LaRocque, who is the Deputy Minister at Canadian Heritage. Here again, the goal was to make sure that the federal government, which makes representations in matters concerning the francophonie, be part of the committee in order to listen and criticize generally, but also regarding VANOC's objectives. I think that our working group truly represents all bilingualism stakeholders.
I read in the paper this morning that the Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games had struck the committee a bit late in the process after having decided that such a committee was needed to ease tensions. I have to say that that is not an accurate interpretation of the situation. In fact, we have been working with stakeholders for over two years, especially to solve problems regarding the francophonie and ensure our presence where need be.
At our first meeting last Friday, we acknowledged that some issues were outstanding—and I will let Francine talk to you about them in a few minutes—but that substantial progress had also been made. We are probably responsible for the fact that news about this progress was not conveyed properly. Therefore, our challenge is to inform all francophone stakeholders, including everyone in this room, of course.
Over the next few weeks, we will be implementing a very detailed action plan, which is based on the report done by the Commissioner of Official Languages, Graham Fraser. We will therefore use the report to draw up our work plan, including timelines but especially measures to rectify the remaining outstanding issues. I must say that we have addressed major issues in recent months, including French broadcasting and the partnership with the French-language print media. These are issues have been settled. Agreements were reached with Gesca for French-language coverage of the games in Quebec, New Brunswick and parts of Ontario.
As Mr. Matte indicated, CTV appointed Gerry Frappier as the francophone chef de mission for the French-language coverage of the games. There will be over 200 reporters and some 20 hours of French-language broadcasting for the duration of the games by francophone reporters on all Canadian networks. In short, some major issues have been resolved. Needless to say, there is still work to be done. We have to be vigilant, but pragmatic at the same time. That is the ultimate objective of the committee, which will provide the board of directors with regular reports, but in particular, it will meet with and inform all official language stakeholders.
I want to assure you that we will continue to work with the major stakeholders in the coming weeks. I will again be meeting with Mr. Diouf, the Secretary of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, to discuss the appointment of the next Grand Témoin, with whom we will be working hand in hand in Vancouver. The cooperation of our committee as well as each and everyone of you will be required.
I would like to thank you for inviting us to appear before you. I will now let Francine speak to you for a few minutes about the more concrete progress that has been achieved. I of course remain open to answer your questions.
Thank you.