In terms of school programs, I could tell you about a project launched in Quebec three years ago. It involves Community Learning Centres, within the Anglophone community, through which small schools in remote areas were given video conferencing equipment. That means that people living in Harrington Harbour or Blanc-Sablon—regions that are far removed from everything Francophone—can connect to all kinds of cultural events in English. It could be 30 or so students in a small primary school who are thus able to visit museums such as the Canada Space Center.
What is even more surprising is that these small schools are in contact with other English-language schools on the coast of Labrador. All of a sudden, an entire network has been built up in an area where people—as is often said in Quebec about this Anglophone minority community living on the
the Labrador coast, wilting on the vine.
People say it has no chance of surviving, and that the population is in decline. But I was there in January and it was teaming with life. I think we have perceptions based on numbers that do not jibe with people's reality. I would suggest that you visit the Community Learning Centres, which have transformed these schools into community centres that are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. All of a sudden, the community has a place to go that is very easy to access, where people can play badminton on Friday night or do scrapbooking. Grandparents go there to tell stories to their grandchildren, because their own children are no longer there. It is an amazing experience that fills you with hope. It creates a community.
Don't underestimate what schools can do for community, all right? Who the community is, I'll come back to; it's something that could be made of many different types of people, but don't underestimate schools.
They're not being used. This kind of thing is not being used enough for exchange programs. I was recently asked....
Do you want me to take two minutes or stop?