Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
First of all, on behalf of the QCGN, we'd like to thank the committee for receiving us again this year. As you will have already heard from Lise, some of the problems are still there. I'll talk a little about that, but also about some more general things.
The QCGN, which was recognized by the Department of Canadian Heritage as the official representative and interlocutor of English-speaking Quebec in the last collaboration accord, is a non-profit association that brings together more than 30 organizations from all parts of Quebec. Its purpose is to support and assist in the development and enhance the vitality of English-speaking minority communities. We have 32 member organizations across the province, from Gatineau to Gaspé, from townshippers to MCDC in Thetford in Quebec, and to the Lower North Shore and Baie Comeau, and the lower Lower North Shore and St. Augustine, Îles de la Madeleine, etc.
Lise was talking about the importance of timely funding for these member organizations. This is the third year, I think, that I've come to Ottawa. We spoke about it in the past and we're speaking about it again today. We all have examples of member organizations that are surviving the summer on the executive director's credit card. That's the reality.
We get 25% funding, but it's 25% of what? We don't know what the funding is for the year. You don't know how much you can start spending because you don't have your yearly budget. In these weeks where there's so much talk here in Ottawa of support, funding, and the amounts that are being invested, this is not new. This is a five-year plan. It's the same money year in and year out, yet every year it's such a problem getting timely funding. We know that people have been working on trying to fix this, but there's still a way to go.
As the QCGN prepares to launch its 15th anniversary celebrations in the fall in conjunction with the 40th anniversary of the Official Languages Act, we look back on past successes and failures and on 40 years of official languages legislation. The crucial question we must pose is this: how successful has the Official Languages Act been in supporting the vitality of English-speaking Quebec? But that is only the first part of the question. As we all know, the devil is in the details. The more fundamental question is the following: how successful have the Government of Canada's official languages policy framework and program funding initiatives been in supporting English-speaking minority communities?
The QCGN is working hard to develop and implement policies that support and nurture our community's place in Quebec and Canadian society. Among our greatest challenges has been getting recognition of Quebec's English-speaking community as a minority both in Quebec and in Canada.
That is why we were pleased that the Commissioner of Official Languages, Mr. Graham Fraser, underlined our “national standing” when he noted in his annual report in 2007-08 that Quebec's English-speaking community is one of the two official language minorities. The commissioner stressed that federal institutions and key stakeholders interested in official languages should acknowledge our community's contribution to national policy-making in Canada.
However, for the Official Languages Act to be effective in Quebec, our community's national standing must not only be recognized but acted upon. That means federal institutions must find innovative ways of supporting our community. While priorities apply nationally, the policies can be adapted in such a way as to implement them differently for us in Quebec.
In the 2005 mid-term report entitled “Update on the Implementation of the Action Plan for Official Languages”, our community's formal assessment noted that the most successful and promising initiatives under the action plan in Quebec were the efforts to improve access to health and social services in English. However, our overarching assessment was that the action plan had generated very uneven results and that it underestimated the community capacity required to successfully support its application.
That should have been a wake-up call to proceed differently, but despite the best advice, an upgrade didn't occur in the second round of the action plan funding and is absent from the road map. We are concerned that it is just still not a priority. While the development of the health sector is clearly a success story for us in Quebec, there is still little or no funding for other key sectors.
If evaluation frameworks for a 2008-2014 road map do not address funding gaps, for example, in immigration and literacy, the results will once again be skewed against our community. The evaluation may determine such programs were implemented successfully, but they will nevertheless have failed in supporting English-speaking Quebec.
We have come to recognize that when a systemic flaw fails to recognize the needs of our community, only an evidence-based approach can resolve the issue. In that context we have proposed that the Government of Canada develop and implement overarching evaluation methodology that would ensure all departments take the priorities of the English-speaking minority into account. If that is not done, the priorities of our community will continue to be ignored.
In the most recent collaboration accord, English-speaking Quebec was allocated almost $16.9 million in funding. That is less than $3.4 million a year, of which 80% is core funding. The core funding is that 25% cheque that goes to all our member organizations, but they still don't know that it's 25% of what. While the amount represented an 11% increase from the previous collaboration accord, it is just insufficient to support our network and to meet the needs of English-speaking Quebec.
What do we need, you might ask. I would suggest our network needs at least an 18% to 20% increase in funding to meet the most pressing needs of our community and to address funding gaps in a number of currently underfunded areas, including youth, seniors, status of women, arts, culture, and heritage. So, yes, there is success in the health sector, but what about the other sectors?
Over the past year, the QCGN has attempted to access strategic funding from the national as well as the regional envelopes of Canadian Heritage. That has met with systemic roadblocks. We believe initiatives of national strategic importance that the network has submitted in the area of youth have not been given the national priority they deserve. We work within a framework of PCH Heritage regional in Quebec and PCH Ottawa.
Without support of initiatives such as permanent funding for a provincial youth coordinator, the creation of a youth organization for English-speaking Quebec will be impossible. Quebec's English-speaking youth have no voice. When compared to every other province that has targeted ongoing core funding for official language minority youth organizations, this has been a disappointment for English-speaking youth in Quebec.
These are among our many priorities for the coming years. I'm sure the committee agrees that to be truly effective in supporting English-speaking Quebec's communities and institutions, a high level of commitment by the politicians is required. Without the support of each and every one of you, and your parties, there will be little or no change. For us in the English-speaking community of Quebec, there's a real appetite for change.
Merci. Thank you.