Evidence of meeting #20 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 immigrants.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Bloc
Richard Nadeau Bloc Gatineau, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Good morning to you all. I am sure you understand that five minutes is not very long.
Cousin--
Bloc
Richard Nadeau Bloc Gatineau, QC
--I happened upon the book L'Acadie possible, which I found very interesting. It talks about societal projects in Acadia and contains information that could be helpful to us. For one thing, it reveals that New Brunswick has the largest Acadian French population, in terms of percentages, in a given province. In Ontario, where I'm from, Francophones pride themselves on the fact that there are a half million of them, except that they are surrounded by 11 million people and scattered all across the province. I'm from Eastern Ontario. Montreal being a suburb of Hawkesbury, we have a lot of influence on that region of the world, as I'm sure you can understand.
In your book, you say that “interculturalism” should replace multiculturalism, specifically as a means of fostering integration in Acadia. Could you clarify for me the difference between these two avenues and tell me why you think one is a solution, compared to the other?
President, Société de l'Acadie du Nouveau-Brunswick
In Canada, there is a shift from biculturalism to multiculturalism, in my opinion. I think we have to make it clear to our brothers and sisters from other parts of the world who want to come and live here that we have two official languages. We should be encouraging them to retain their own language, but telling them at the same time that, in order to become properly integrated—and the Chinese population in British Columbia is a good example of that, in my opinion—they must also learn French and English. Ideally, people coming here should set as their own personal goal and challenge—and be told this right from the outset, as soon as they leave Slovenia or Russia—the learning of two languages, which is not necessarily a daunting task. Europeans, in particular, are used to learning several languages. It is we, Canadians, who have trouble learning other languages—especially English-speaking Canadians.
I do not understand how it's possible that 7% of English-speaking Canadians are bilingual here, whereas in England—which is not a bilingual country to my knowledge—20% of English people speak English and French. That is a contradiction that I just don't understand. And that's why I say we are missing the boat by not focussing more on this country's fundamental values, including the bilingual component.
So, for me, interculturalism means that, from the very beginning, wherever people come from, they know there are two official languages that define this country. We encourage them to retain their language and its specificities, but they must subscribe to bilingualism. So, we should be promoting biculturalism, rather than multiculturalism, which seems to be what we are doing now.
Bloc
Richard Nadeau Bloc Gatineau, QC
I understand. There is another point you make that I found quite interesting. In the book you say: “Urbanization rimes with assimilation.”
President, Société de l'Acadie du Nouveau-Brunswick
Yes, because even in a city like Moncton—the assimilation rate in New Brunswick is still between 7% and 9%, although people don't realize this—in Greater Moncton, the assimilation rate is 22%. The most bilingual city, in a bilingual province and a bilingual country, has a unilingual casino. People believe that New Brunswick is already a linguistic paradise. I would like to make it one, but I would not claim that the province has already achieved that status. However, it is something we should aspire to and we will achieve it with our English-speaking friends.
I think we are reaching an interesting level of linguistic and intercultural maturity in New Brunswick. Our English-speaking friends are increasingly open and generous, even though there are still rednecks and some people who want us to return to France. There will always be people like that.
Conservative
Bloc
Richard Nadeau Bloc Gatineau, QC
That's fantastic. Let's keep going.
You also say in this book: “Bilingual structures are taking a beating, and we are witnessing the emergence of Acadians, and therefore Francophone organizations [...]” So, bilingualism is something that is pulling us down; and the Francophonie in Acadia, in terms of integrating newcomers—because we want them to be Francophones— pulls us up.
Can you clarify exactly what that means?
President, Société de l'Acadie du Nouveau-Brunswick
Bilingual structures are a little like the Tower of Pisa, in that they always lean in the same direction—in the direction of English. Our English-speaking friends have a lot of trouble understanding why we want homogeneous institutions. Furthermore, people tend to talk about Francophones in Acadia. But the Francophone community in Atlantic Canada already has a name: Acadian. And there are Acadians of Brayon origin, like Mr. D'Amours and myself. It's such a great name, why not use it?
Often, rather than celebrating and dealing with a strong identity such as that one, Canada will tend to trivialize it by francisizing everything, when in fact, I don't think we should be doing that. Instead, we should be “Acadianizing” in Atlantic Canada, francisizing in the rest of Canada and “Quebecizing” in Quebec.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Steven Blaney
Thank you.
I thought you were going to say we should “Acadianize” Canada. But I cut you off just before you said it.
President, Société de l'Acadie du Nouveau-Brunswick
That would obviously improve its quality.
Conservative
NDP
Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB
I do agree with you.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to welcome you all.
You said you held a meeting in Moncton to bring people together. Did you also go to Nova Scotia?
Deputy Executive Head, Metropolis Project, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
No.
Deputy Executive Head, Metropolis Project, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
It's possible. The pre-conference days take place just prior to the national Metropolis conference, which takes place every year. The national Metropolis conference travels to the five different Metropolis centres of excellence, which are located all across Canada. There have been some in Atlantic Canada, which includes the four Atlantic provinces. The last time the national conference took place in the Atlantic provinces, it was held in Moncton. The next time, if our project is renewed in 2012, it may be in another Atlantic province. We would be very pleased to hold it in Nova Scotia.
NDP
Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB
Mr. Léger, you talked about the $10 million that New Brunswick has received and the fact that Nova Scotia is jealous.
Executive Director, Fédération acadienne de la Nouvelle-Écosse
It's envy; we are envious.
NDP
Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB
As you know, that $10 million amount exists only on paper. We have seen none of it. Why ACOA? What justification has to be given to ACOA? ACOA is the government's economic development agency. What do you think this would bring to Nova Scotia?
Executive Director, Fédération acadienne de la Nouvelle-Écosse
First of all, when we heard about the Roadmap for Canada's Linguistic Duality and saw that there was $10 million in there for Francophone immigration, all the provinces were thinking that they have also been working at Francophone immigration. So, they wondered why they didn't receive any money. I think it's more along those lines. It wasn't jealousy; it was envy. We are happy for our Acadian colleagues in New Brunswick. We haven't seen the results yet.
For Nova Scotia, it would mean that our province could do more. I mentioned in my presentation that there is a federal-provincial agreement on immigration, but there is no official languages funding attached to that agreement. As a result, provincial funding for the community comes exclusively from the province. CIC does give a little money to the community, but the province has no other way of helping the community.
Ten million dollars—if that were the amount given Nova Scotia—would in fact mean that we could provide better intake and integration services. At this point, reception services are limited to Halifax. In the rural areas, we have very little money for immigration, retention or intake. So, some of the money could be used to enhance services for Francophone immigrants across the province and with the support of the province.
NDP
Executive Director, Fédération acadienne de la Nouvelle-Écosse
Yes, but Grand-Pré is not necessarily Francophone. Grand-Pré was Francophone prior to 1755, but it is now more of an English-speaking area. There are areas like la Baie Sainte-Marie, Par-en-Bas, the Argyle region, the Chéticamp region, the l'Isle Madame region, the Sydney region, the South Shore, and so on. There are 10 regions--
NDP
Executive Director, Fédération acadienne de la Nouvelle-Écosse
I agree with him in part. I would say that the Société de l'Acadie du Nouveau-Brunswick is having trouble moving forward when it comes to Francophone immigration. I don't know why that is. I don't know whether it's because the province is not necessarily very well organized. I don't want to get back into what Mr. Nadeau said.