Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you very much for your testimony and the information you've given us this morning.
I'm originally from Hawkesbury, in eastern Ontario. It's a very francophone town. I taught for seven years here in Ottawa, at schools that you know: Louis-Riel, Gisèle-Lalonde and De La Salle. They're part of the same system as you. Your school is part of the Catholic system, whereas those schools are public. We occasionally cross paths during sports activities, in particular.
I was also involved in after-school activities. I organized UN debating clubs—and there's still at certain schools where we did that. At Louis-Riel, where I taught, in half of cases, the children who attended the school, or their parents, hadn't been born in Canada. So when we organized the UN club, believe me, it was a real success. People got together and it was very good.
Moreover, one point was just mentioned—and I'm pleased with the students' frankness. Even for me, as a Franco-Ontarian teacher in the environment that is Ottawa, assimilation is an issue within our walls. We mustn't conceal the fact. Some tried to cover it up, to conceal it, to say that these are statistics that can't be trusted.
This is a scourge for the survival of the French language. The students who are testifying here, who themselves were francophones as a result of the fact that French was the language used to communicate, tell us that to have friends and everyday discussions in the halls, as they say, or in activities outside the classroom, you have to speak French, or else you aren't understood. This shows the Canadian cancer—that's the term I use, which may seem tough for some. We're losing French to the benefit of English, even in our French schools.
My question is for the people who are on the floor and who, as I was, are employees of a Franco-Ontarian school board. I'm speaking to Ms. Lanteigne, among others, who is a teacher—that was my alter ego at the time. What can we do to prevent assimilation in our schools?