Official Languages Committee on June 1st, 2010

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Part VII of the Official Languages Act provides money to promote a community. You can obtain money to do that promotion. Do you recommend that the federal government get involved in this area and support you in this effort? This isn't to encroach on fields of provincial jurisdiction. However, with the provincial authorities, we can identify the problem in order to try to help people everywhere in the schools.

[Thérèse Desautels]

Naturally, from the moment we talk about strategy, projects and things to do, we need personnel.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

You've no doubt heard about the Roadmap for Canada's Linguistic Duality.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you, Mr. Godin.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Do you think the government should be involved in it?

[Thérèse Desautels]

Yes.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you very much, Mr. Godin.

We'll now go to Ms. Shelly Glover.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I'm happy to welcome you, and I thank you for coming to testify before our committee. We have been well received at your school.

You touched on a number of areas. I'd like to start with the students.

You talked about English and so on. I think there's one factor that has an influence in this area, and that's American culture. What kind of music do you usually listen to? Who is your favourite singer? I'd like each of you to briefly answer those questions.

[Miguel Cédric Tchuemboum Kouam]

For me, it's Booba, a French rapper.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

Perfect.

Andrea?

[Andrea Santana]

I just like techno.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

Techno? That's it.

Kelly?

[Kelly Bararu]

For me, it's La Fouine, who's also a French rapper.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

That's good.

Most of the students I speak with—I have five children; I know a lot of children and I love them—are very much influenced by American music, theatre and movies. However, all that's in English.

I want to know whether, outside of school, and apart from music, you have the opportunity to visit francophone centres, to go to the theatre, watch movies, things like that. Can you name a few events in French that you take part in outside of school, whether it be sports events or anything else?

[Miguel Cédric Tchuemboum Kouam]

Not really in French. As you know, the city is mostly anglophone. I can say that I attend concerts in French, music concerts. Apart from that, I work in English. I try to speak English, but for the moment I don't speak very good English. I arrived a year ago. I'm trying to speak English, because I need to speak English to live here.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

Do you take part in other events in French outside the school?

Andrea?

[Andrea Santana]

No.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

No?

Kelly?

[Kelly Bararu]

Sometimes I go to concerts in French. Apart from that, I go to the movies to see movies in English, or things like that.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

I encourage you to take the opportunity. The Government of Canada is investing a historic amount of money to support events in French, particularly in the regions where the linguistic minority communities live.

I have five children, and I'm the product of immersion programs. When I was at school, we were with francophones because there was no immersion school at the time. I was part of the first immersion class in my region, in Manitoba. We had consequences at school. When we went to school with francophones, if we were caught speaking English, we got a ticket. That ticket meant we had to go see the principal. When we got a second ticket, our parents were called. The principal asked them whether they really wanted their children to attend a francophone school. With the third ticket, the parents were invited to see the principal together with the student. We were given the opportunity to leave the school. There were consequences. When I was a student, I found that harsh, but I can say that it's thanks to those consequences that I speak French today. I wanted to learn French.

I'm sharing that with you, since you really want to learn and speak French at a francophone school. It surprises me that there aren't any consequences. Are there any consequences?

[Francine Lanteigne]

You're talking about pedagogy. In today's teaching methods, in 2010, punishment doesn't produce the same result as it used to.

Today, we're in an era of plurality. There isn't just English and French. There's also Arabic, all the African ethnic languages and Creole. There's the recognition of language as an object of communication. So, of course, we encourage expression in French. We speak French during the classes. In the halls, we speak French as much as possible, of course. However, we don't punish the students; we don't give them tickets, and we don't send them to the principal's office. We don't do that.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

It's interesting to hear you interpret that as punishment. At the time, when I was young, I thought it was punishment. However, I can tell you that it's different for a parent who wants to maintain French—my children wanted to learn French. Since you want to have more French in your halls, I assume that's not viewed as punishment, depending on who's involved.

I'd like to ask you a question, Ms. Brûlé.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

That will be for your next turn, Ms. Glover. Time is already up. Thank you very much.

We'll continue with Mr. D'Amours.

[Jean-Claude D'Amours, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I want to thank the witnesses for being here. I also want to thank the students. Their testimony was very interesting to hear. Lastly, I want to thank the school principal, Mr. Charest, who I've learned is from my home town, Edmunston, in northern New Brunswick. Ms. Lanteigne is also from northern New Brunswick. It's interesting to see that we can meet so far away.

I'm going to focus on the students and on Mr. Yengayenge, that is on the parents and students. I'd like to know whether your parents spoke English when they arrived in Canada.

[Miguel Cédric Tchuemboum Kouam]

Mine didn't; they spoke French.