I'll answer first. Sarah has asked me to give my comments on your questions.
In regard to the first question, I think it's a legitimate question: does French sort of get into the mix when there are 11 languages and get overlooked? There's a long way to go, in my opinion, in terms of improving French language services--a long way to go.
However, going back to the initial comment I made, I think that largely due to some really good push on the part of the Fédération, there have been great strides made in providing French language services. For example, there's the French language centre here on Franklin. I don't know if you will have a chance to see that while you're here, but they can provide basic information on government services. The government has worked far more diligently in the last five or six years to make sure that publications are in English and French. So those strides have been made largely due to pushing, and yes, I think there has been some resistance.
I'll just add that for the French immersion education that kids can partake in here, my personal experience is that it's second to none, if you want to look across the country. I can say that based on my own children and their experiences.
So does the government have to move forward and improve things? Absolutely. Are they making strides? Yes.
I think the frustration actually goes more the other way, where those whose first language is an aboriginal language would say that the francophones get all of this and that they're not getting their share of the pie to do the same sorts of things. For example, where is the centre for Gwich'in, where they could access the same sorts of services in a centralized office, and in the other languages as well?
Where those types of facilities have been made available, it has been due to communities--again--really pushing. For example, in Behchoko, they have actively taken the stories of their elders and catalogued them, but that has been a real community initiative as opposed to government really pushing on that.
In short, I guess it's a matter of moving forward, but I think the bigger issue would be that people would perceive it as almost the opposite of perhaps the way you're looking at it.
In terms of the budget issue, I haven't really had a chance to look at that in the last two years. I don't know if Sarah feels comfortable commenting on that without taking a look at it. Minister Lafferty is probably your better bet on that.