Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
We have been talking about credential and diploma recognition. This is a very complex problem. I did a study on access to post-secondary education in French outside Quebec. This goes back some time, to 1987. The fact remains that there are differences even between universities in the same province. For example, you decide to take courses at the Faculté Saint-Jean at the University of Alberta, which is part of the same institution. However, those courses are not recognized because they were taken in French. The universities claim to be independent, but they are 80% subsidized by governments. That is part of the equation. Imagine what it's like from one province to another.
I taught in three provinces, and every time, I had to take additional courses to receive the equivalent of what I had in the province I had just left. Imagine what it's like for a newcomer to Canada who doesn't understand how this works! In Canada, we talk about whether an elephant falls within federal or provincial jurisdiction. We debate the issue and end up deciding that, because it's exotic, it must fall within federal jurisdiction. I won't press the point, but that certainly is a problem.
I would like to talk about Acadia as a whole—the first Acadia as it was when Acadians were deported from Nova Scotia. There are still large communities in the southern part of the province and in Cape Breton. I am aware of that because I worked there for quite some time. There is an interesting feature about Acadia, and it could be a role model. I am talking about the agreements between France and Acadia, for instance. When a student had completed his studies in an institution and been accepted in France, he could go back home and get a job—at least his credentials were recognized.
Coming back to you now, Mr. Nadeau, you referred in your book to the sovereign states we should be dealing with. For the provinces, this is a major problem in many respects. You cited the example of Martinique. Maybe we should go and visit, particularly since the weather is nice. In Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, it rains more, but there may be things we can do there as well. You talked as well about the CODOFIL, and our friends--