Evidence of meeting #46 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 yellowknife.
2:55 p.m.
Manager, Éditions franco-ténoises, Aquilon et la Société Radio Taïga
We are actually talking about the next fiscal year. This is completely new. The radio station was controlled by the Association franco-culturelle de Yellowknife, but it will be transferred to an independent corporation beginning in April.
2:55 p.m.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
Was that the only obstacle to your securing funding?
2:55 p.m.
Manager, Éditions franco-ténoises, Aquilon et la Société Radio Taïga
It might have been a handicap. The new corporation that will be taking control of the radio station will give it a territorial mandate. In fact, we have plans to eventually go beyond the boundaries of Yellowknife in terms of our signal, in order to reach a larger audience.
In any case, this is the first year that I am able to secure funding for the radio station. That core funding is very important, but almost all the development projects through which we were expecting to establish a solid base for the radio station were rejected by Canadian Heritage. It's kind of a shame.
2:55 p.m.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
The situation here is different, of course. The population of the North is about 40,000. You were saying earlier that the programs are not really in tune with your needs and that you do not get a very positive response from the different ministries.
Have you been experiencing these problems for a long time? Has it always been that way? The newspaper, for one, has been around for 25 years.
2:55 p.m.
Manager, Éditions franco-ténoises, Aquilon et la Société Radio Taïga
My comments had mainly to do with the radio station. As I explained earlier, I have been a driving force behind the newspaper for several years now. We were able to set up a proper operation. Now I am taking on a new mandate, which involves responsibility for the radio station. And I realize that there are some significant stumbling blocks. It is puzzling to be told by the department that the project does not jibe with its priorities.
2:55 p.m.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
Thank you.
Mr. Lepage, you talked about racism when describing the territorial government's attitude towards Francophones. Perhaps you could give me additional details in that regard. As you know, that is a very strong term.
2:55 p.m.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
You don't seem to be concerned about the fact that you used it.
2:55 p.m.
Vice-President, Association franco-culturelle de Hay River
No. I'm not afraid of words. I'm no more afraid of that one than I am of another. In the court case where the school board was fighting the government, the school board was obliged to defend its rights. It was clear that there was a lack of good will. When the territorial government seeks funding from the federal government, it talks about the lack of space in French-language schools, but when the French-language schools say that they lack space and would like to have a gymnasium or other facilities, they are told that they have enough space. So, that shows a lack of good will.
How is it that every school in the Territories has its own gymnasium and adequate facilities other than the two French-language schools? That raises questions. If that isn't racism, then we need to know what it is.
2:55 p.m.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
Personally, I do not necessarily consider that to be racism. As you well know, there are 11 official languages here in the Northwest Territories. That clearly poses a significant challenge—if I can put it that way—for the government, in terms of ensuring that the needs of each of the official language communities are met.
You referred to the educational sector. This morning, we met with members of the Fédération franco-ténoise and we visited their facilities yesterday. It is quite clear that they are in very cramped quarters. They said they are interested in buying a building—either buying it or building it—in order to group French-language services in one place. There were more services being offered in their facilities, but because there was no more room, they moved.
Do you think it would be a good idea to bring all the services under one roof? That question is addressed to all the witnesses, both the person representing the daycare centre and the others. Would you like to have one building where all these services would be under one roof, including the high school? There could even be a gymnasium. Is it conceivable that there could be one building completely dedicated to Francophone programs and services in the Northwest Territories?
2:55 p.m.
Vice-President, Association franco-culturelle de Hay River
It is certainly conceivable. It has been done elsewhere, quite successfully in some places. But every case has to be examined separately. In our case, in Hay River, that is something we would have to look at. The community wants a community centre, we want the school to expand and we also want a daycare centre. We have the same problem as the FFT: we want larger facilities. The question we are considering now is whether we want to centralize everything in the school or whether we want a separate building.
3 p.m.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
What is the distance between Hay River and Yellowknife?
3 p.m.
Vice-President, Association franco-culturelle de Hay River
The width of the lake, about 200 kilometres.
3 p.m.
President, Association franco-culturelle de Hay River
But it takes five hours to go around the lake.
3 p.m.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
It's shorter by boat, I guess.
3 p.m.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
Or by snowmobile in winter.
I'd like to hear from the person representing the daycare centre and Mr. Pitre on this same issue.
3 p.m.
Chairman of the Board of Directors, Conseil de développement économique des Territoires du Nord-Ouest
The community centre has been a subject of discussion in the Northwest Territories for 15 years now. And the question is still the same: who will take care of it? It's fine to build buildings, but if there is no money to maintain them, they just turn into white elephants. You build a beautiful new building and bring together all the different organizations under one roof. Then one of them decides to leave, it becomes difficult to operate and you end up having to close the building down. We are not in a position where we can develop a long-term vision. We are just interested in what is going to happen on March 31, or in three years' time, and our agreement with the government is for five years. These kinds of projects are carried out over a 20-year period. So we can't just decide to put up a building, particularly here, when it costs about--
3 p.m.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
Based on my own experience—and I completed many different projects in my lifetime, both in the municipal and private sectors—as soon as you decide that you want to do something, you have to create winning conditions right from the outset, and do what is necessary for it to really become a collective issue. If you want to see the number of Francophones double over the next 25 years and ensure that they have services that jibe with Mr. Lepage's expectations, you have to come together as a group and develop a project collectively, to ensure that, 25 years from now, that plan will still be in place and be even more dynamic. It becomes a tool.
3 p.m.
Chairman of the Board of Directors, Conseil de développement économique des Territoires du Nord-Ouest
The last two times we tried to get that type of project underway, the governments refused to cooperate. That is what made the difference.
If government French-language services had worked together with the Francophone associations, it might have worked.
3 p.m.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
Yes, we have heard that before.
3 p.m.
Chairman of the Board of Directors, Conseil de développement économique des Territoires du Nord-Ouest
Since governments refused to come onboard, it wasn't possible.
3 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Steven Blaney
Thank you very much.
Would you like to comment, Mr. Lepage? Please be quick.
3 p.m.
Vice-President, Association franco-culturelle de Hay River
Yes, I will. In terms of centralizing French-language services, in our case, our concern is that this could lead to the creation of a Francophone ghetto. We want services to be made available in different buildings so that it is clear that we are here and are part of the community. As for the community centre, we are currently trying to work with the Anglophone community to use part of their community centre. We really want to be part of the community, rather than ending up in a ghetto. We have no desire to be separate from the rest of the community.
3 p.m.
President, Association franco-culturelle de Hay River
And at school, the students, the young people have to be able to speak French.