While the members take their places, we'll begin our meeting, since we have a lot of witnesses.
Welcome, everyone, to our second meeting on support for postsecondary institutions and their efforts in promoting bilingualism in Canada. We have a full slate of witnesses this morning. I congratulate our research attachés for the work that has been done.
It's like fishing: sometimes you throw out a line and the fish don't bite as much, but today we really have a lot of people that we are very pleased to hear from. I'm going to introduce you. Starting on the left, we have Mr. Laurier Thibault, who is director general of the Réseau des cégeps et des collèges francophones du Canada. He is here with Mr. Yves Chouinard, who is one of the administrators.
Welcome.
Then, from the Canadian Association of University Teachers, we have Penni Stewart.
Welcome, Madam Stewart, to the committee.
She is here with Greg Allain, who is the past president and whom I welcome as well.
We also welcome officials from the Department of Human Resources and Social Development who are responsible for the component we are dealing with today. They are Mark Hopkins who is Director General of Learning Policy, and Mr. Segard, who is Director General of Program Policy and Planning Directorate.
In the fourth group, we have the Canadian Association of Second-Language Teachers, represented by its president, John Erskine, and the executive director, Ms. Thibault.
Welcome to our committee.
Without further ado, I am going to turn the floor over to witnesses. We could start with you, Mr. Thibault, if you want to go ahead with your introductory remarks.