Evidence of meeting #13 for Official Languages in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was castonguay.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Bloc
Richard Nadeau Bloc Gatineau, QC
Would you agree to table your two studies so that we could have them translated?
Adjunct Professor, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Ottawa, As an Individual
Certainly; no problem.
Bloc
Richard Nadeau Bloc Gatineau, QC
Fine. We will do that and, that way, we will have access to the translations, once they have been completed.
I would like to wrap up. Mr. Jedwab and Ms. Lamarre were asked what recommendations should be included in the report with respect to Francophone immigration.
Mr. Castonguay, what would you have us say in our report with respect to Francophone immigration outside Quebec? Is that where we should be directing immigrants or should we be directing them to Quebec? What are your recommendations?
I think you have about two minutes.
Adjunct Professor, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Ottawa, As an Individual
I believe there will always be Francophones from Quebec and from abroad who are attracted to British Columbia, just there are large numbers of Francophones who are attracted by the climate and the job opportunities in California. We discussed that this morning. That is fine. That is great if they are fulfilling their own goals. However, if we want to invest in something which will, in the medium and long terms, strengthen French in Canada, a well-advised orientation policy for Allophone immigrants to Canada—I repeat—should point them in the direction of Quebec City, Montreal, Gatineau, Ottawa, Moncton or Sudbury—basically, to the bilingual belt and Quebec.
As for Francophones living in other areas, there is no reason why we could not develop a policy to support their cultural vitality, such as theatre, tours of authors-composers-performers, literature, and so on—something I hope would also be available to Francophones in California, Los Angeles, New York or Chicago. They are part of significant Francophone communities and are also potential consumers of French-language cultural products from Canada, and which are available in greater numbers than in Vancouver.
So, what we need is a nuanced policy, not a “flattened” one.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Steven Blaney
That is great.
On that final note, I would like to extend my thanks. I would say we almost had an historic meeting of the Standing Committee on Official Languages today. I would like to thank all members for their passion.
The meeting now stands adjourned.