Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
We're talking about political will, about how much this costs, about how much money you need. I remember the report of the Fédération de la jeunesse canadienne française, which was written by Roger Bernard. The title was “Vision d'avenir” and, if I'm not mistaken, that was 1990. In four volumes, he painted a picture of the francophone community at that time. Among other things, he emphasized that money is always a consideration in the official languages issue because the political will is not in place. If you put this in the contemporary context, if the A H1N1 virus is important, we invest the necessary money so that all citizens who want to be vaccinated can be vaccinated, regardless of how much it costs. It's important; it's a priority.
In what you've presented us today, there is this vision for fighting these old demons that ask how much it costs and what return it ultimately provides. We know that the effort the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne has made since it was founded in the early 1970s has been to ensure the vitality of the communities against that very tough Canadian evil called assimilation and disappearance of the French fact. Today in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and even in certain other regions closer to Quebec, such as New Brunswick and Ontario, people have difficulty finding people who speak French. There are even some who have French family names but who no longer speak French as a result of assimilation, because governments have shut down schools and the whole question of returning schools management to francophones in all provinces is very recent. The federal government has also let matters ride and never made sure the French fact was respected across the country, except recently when this was established. In Saskatchewan, I know from having worked there, that there were 63 French-language schools in 1931—that goes back to the time of Émilie Bordeleau. The Anderson government, a Conservative government, had abolished the French-language schools at the time and they did not come back until 1995, 64 years later. At that time, they were only able to open eight schools.
That's what we're dealing with. That's the reality. So I'm going to ask you this. What are the priorities where we have to hammer in a nail and then hammer in the next one so that this structure of the French fact can be solid and lasting in English Canada and across Canada as a whole? What are the areas where you suggest that we as parliamentarians should rectify the situation immediately?