Thank you very much.
I am continuing with the question-and-answer approach. According to what Mauril was saying earlier, and what Mr. Castonguay also said,
“You also have to put your money where your mouth is.”
I remember a gentleman from La Broquerie, in Manitoba, whom I like very much, who now lives in the region and who used to be my boss. His name is Ronald Bisson, Executive Director of the Fédération de la jeunesse canadienne-française. He had asked Roger Bernard, who, unfortunately, has departed this world, having passed away, to carry out a study entitled Vision d'avenir de la Francophonie. He said that this study in four volumes was an initial blueprint that would lead to zero assimilation and advanced “refrancisation”. When I was at the Fédération des Francophones de Saskatoon, I had proposed that this be a battleground for the Association culturelle franco-canadienne de Saskatchewan, as it was known at the time, its new name being the Association communautaire fransaskoise, but people laughed at me. I have no problem with people laughing at me. However, that is just the problem: there people were saying that nothing could be done. Imagine! These were people in Moose Jaw rethinking the future of Franco-Saskatchewanians. I continued to fight for that, however. We were demanding a bilingual province and that the actions of the Conservatives under Grant Devine be reversed: they had simply done away with things that affected Francophones, and we thought it was terrible. So, it is important that people know that.
You are right, Ms. Lamarre, that there are still communities out there, and I realize that we have to support them. However, it is also important to be aware of assimilation and acknowledge the fact that the Francophone critical mass in North America, in a specific region and forming a nation, is Quebec. We must not forget to focus on that. Because if Quebec suffers assimilation or shrinks, its influence… We must not weaken the strongest part. We should provide support to the weakest ones in this struggle, but we have to look at where is appropriate to devote our energies.
Mr. Chairman, could Mr. Castonguay table his two studies so that we could have them translated? That way we could have them eventually, once the translation is available.