Official Languages Committee on Feb. 7th, 2011

[Guy Lauzon, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

What types of services does the centre offer?

[Julie Leclerc]

For the time being, the centre is a place where people get together. We could give you an average; let's just say that every time we open the centre in the evening, between 5:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., there are five to seven visitors. I think it's important to be there.

[Marie-Ève Owen]

We organize funding campaigns for Francophone programs, exchanges with Quebec, film festivals and cultural events, such as the Carnaval, and so on.

[Guy Lauzon, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

What proportion of the 125 Francophones is involved in the centre? Is it 50% or--

[Julie Leclerc]

For a major event where people want to get together, such as Christmas or Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day, I would say it's 300%.

[Guy Lauzon, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

So, the Francophone community is very vibrant in Dawson.

[Julie Leclerc]

Yes, but at this point, everyone does not have the energy to get involved. Personally, I am in the process of building up my energy so that I can get to know our community better. I arrived only three years ago. Before writing anything, I want to know what is going on. I will prepare an application, and I really have the sense that Dawson could be a second stepping stone for Francophones in the Yukon, simply because it isn't the capital. We are different, and that can still be of benefit to the Yukon.

[Guy Lauzon, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

Thank you.

Ms. St-Gelais, with respect to child care, how much do parents pay for day care services?

[Isabelle St-Gelais]

The cost is $50 a day. For children under the age of three, it's $750 a month, and for children 3 years of age and over, it's $700 a month.

[Guy Lauzon, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

Is the cost about the same in Anglophone day care centres?

[Isabelle St-Gelais]

I don't know.

[Marie-Ève Owen]

It's the same thing. Well, not necessarily in Dawson, but elsewhere, such as Whitehorse, it's $50 a day.

[Isabelle St-Gelais]

It may be a little more expensive at our day care centre. But we have already lowered the prices. I think it's important to mention that it's not easy to find qualified people who speak French in the territory. The current members of our team are all Francophone with level 3 qualifications. We only speak French at the day care centre, and the people who work there have to be qualified.

[Guy Lauzon, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

Are they people from outside?

[Isabelle St-Gelais]

Yes, there are a lot of people from Quebec.

[Guy Lauzon, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

Is that more expensive?

[Isabelle St-Gelais]

Yes, it's more expensive to bring them here.

[Lorraine Taillefer]

There is also value-added at our day care centre—for example, we offer music programs.

[Isabelle St-Gelais]

Cultiver l'avenir is a program that--

[Guy Lauzon, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

Have you applied to the Yukon government for assistance?

[Isabelle St-Gelais]

We work closely with the AFY and the SOFA. We submit a lot of applications for grants for our programs, such as Cultiver l'avenir, for which we have submitted an application. That application has been accepted, meaning that once every two weeks, someone comes to help us with the cooking.

[Guy Lauzon, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

I have a question for Mr. Bourcier. There are 5,000 students in the Yukon, 2,500 of whom speak French. Is the funding equally distributed between the two linguistic groups?

[André Bourcier]

I have no idea.

[Guy Lauzon, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

You don't know?

[André Bourcier]

The Ministry of Education does not have separate accounting.