Thank you very much for being here this morning.
It's indeed a pleasure--and I speak on behalf of my colleagues when I say this--to be here on behalf of the Parliament of Canada and to make the federal presence known. You have a wonderful, vibrant, beautiful community.
I am going to ask a few questions about official languages and your role as commissioner. In Ottawa we have Mr. Graham Fraser, appointed by the federal government, who of course gives progress reports to Parliament. But he is also--and I think he would agree--fairly vigilant, to the point of being almost critical of many of the steps the government is taking or not taking on any given day towards what he feels are the goals of official languages policy.
I must say that we've had a chance to read in advance the comments Minister Lafferty may make today, and I've heard your comments, and I understand the issue, which is that with so many official languages, there's an effort on all fronts. Would it be fair to say, however, that there isn't as precise a concentration on French as a second language, or French as a first language, an official language of Canada, when you have so many official languages to take care of?
I say that because the remarks from Minister Lafferty laud very much the efforts with respect to aboriginal languages, and I think you've obviously been making great strides there. But is there a danger that the épanouissement of the French language is being mixed in with that, and that it is not, from our point of view, being given as much due as it should?
I draw your attention also to the funds that have been transferred from the federal official languages program to the Northwest Territories. I guess the follow-up on that general question is the specific question of whether these moneys.... It may be ignorance on my part, but in the envelope of the development of federal official languages communities programs for the Government of Northwest Territories, for instance, the $3.2 million and so on, are those funds directed solely towards French as an official language, French and English as official languages, or official languages as mandated by your commission and your territorial law?