Thank you, Mr. Carey.
To begin with, thank you for inviting us and giving us this opportunity to address you today. It is reassuring to see the interest you are taking in Francophone minorities living in remote regions.
I address you today in my capacity as Vice-President of the Association, but also as a parent and member of the Hay River community. That being the case, I will try to cover as much ground as possible within a short period of time.
Historically, Francophones arrived in the Territories after the aboriginal people, obviously, but before Anglophones. Starting in 1770, there were Francophones following the fur trade route and engaging in commerce. In 1870, when the Territories were created, Francophones had already been living there for 100 years and the French language had become a language of commerce.
That means that a large number of Francophones had taken up residence in the Territories, and were actually from there. At the present time, only 0.5% of Francophones living in the NWT are from here. They are what remains of those first Francophone pioneers. The names of Francophone places and families have been retained, but there is no longer any French. In fact, 2.5% of the population of the NWT is Francophone. That means that there are four Francophones from outside for every one who is actually from here.
Our linguistic situation has been studied. In a completely Francophone community, the language continuity index is ordinarily 100, meaning that the language is passed on at a rate of 100%. In the NWT, the index is 37%. In other words, over the long term, there is a serious threat to the vitality of the language if nothing is done. That 37% result does not guarantee its survival.
Furthermore, it has been observed that our population is more nomadic than the Anglophone population. We have a tendency to settle less often in the Territories, and the availability of services in French is not likely to encourage us to do so.
As a parent, I would like to raise my child in French, but I don't want him to speak poor French. I would like him to be able to speak both French and English with no accent. I want him to be able to speak to me in proper French. However, a parent wanting to do that would be better off going to live somewhere else at this point. That is why are asking that we be provided adequate services in French.
There are not many of us, but in percentage terms, our minority can be compared to other minorities in Canada. Indeed, the numbers do vary, ranging from 2.5% to 3.5% for the proportion of Francophones.
With respect to the turnover rate of the population, according to Statistics Canada, between 2001 and 2006, 8.5% of the Francophone population left the Territories, compared to 1.8% for Anglophones. That is an indication that Anglophones are more likely to stay here.
At the same time, there are just as many Anglophones coming from outside the Territories and they, too, may tend to go back where they came from. This is something that warrants study, as it raises questions. Why do Anglophones stay, even those from outside, whereas Francophones leave? The lack of services may be the cause.
Moreover, there are twice as many labour force participants in the Francophone population than there are in the Anglophone population. The unemployment rate among Francophones is half what it is for Anglophones. Our population is also better educated. If I'm not mistaken, the university graduation rate among Francophones is 10% higher. So, as a population, we are neither useless nor of no interest.
In terms of the services we are provided, in the education sector, for instance—and I'm still referring to the community of Hay River south of the lake—we have managed to secure a school. A great deal of effort was put into that project, and there was opposition; however, many of us got together and fought for it and were ultimately successful.
Now we are in need of a daycare centre. We have a French-language school but, after Grade 12, their spoken French is not as good, worse than my English. I will spare you the demonstration. Ah, ah!
Anglophone children born to rights holders who want to attend French-language school have no contact with French, as there is no daycare centre or no services are available. When they start school, they have to be francisized. They carry that problem with them throughout the time they're in school, right up to Grade 12.
And the same applies to Francophone children. My child now speaks English. We speak French at home, but that is not enough. When he starts school and is surrounded by other young Francophones whose command of French is poor, and Anglophones who have no idea what he is talking about, he will stop speaking French, unless we move. That is why the language continuity index is not very high.
If I simply give up on French and we stay here, what services will be available to my son? There is absolutely nothing for young people. Outside of what is available through the school board, there is absolutely nothing—not even bilingual services. If services were bilingual, it would be all right. But we have neither unilingual French-language services nor bilingual services.
I would now like to address the turnover rate among Francophones. A Francophone who settles here ordinarily thinks about starting a family and, most of the time, will decide not to stay because he wants to continue to live his life in French. Francophones here are open to bilingualism. If they were not interested in speaking English, they would have stayed where they were. But at the same time they want to retain their French.
In terms of art and culture, it is pretty quiet here in our community of 3,500 Francophones. Our annual budget is less than $60,000. We do what we can with it. When we are able to organize one or two shows or little events like sugaring off, our year is pretty well finished.
We need a larger budget in order to continue to be a vibrant community. This also affects our turnover rate which, in turn, infuences economic development.
If we want there to be economic development, people have to consider staying longer. Someone who starts up a business doesn't stick with it for just three years; it's a long-term project.
I myself am in career transition. I am thinking that if I have to leave, there may not be much point in developing something in the Territories. On the other hand, if there were adequate services in French, we would stay and there would definitely be things happening.
Despite that, because we exist, some public services are offered, such as the school. The Association franco-culturelle de Hay River has created 14 jobs in our 3,500-strong community. That is not much, but we derive satisfaction where we can.
In terms of health care, 1.3% of health care personnel in the NWT is Francophone, which is not much. At the Hay River hospital, one person has been hired on a part-time basis to support Francophone patients. At the same time, her tiny office is hidden in a corner and the public has not been made aware of this. It has happened that Francophones did not understand what the physician was saying—and I'm not sure the physician understood them either—and yet that service was neither offered to them or even mentioned. Nothing happened whatsoever.
We are not asking for the moon, but we would really like to be able to make ourselves understood, at least in that kind of situation. Aboriginal residents are entitled to interpreters, and we would also like to receive that service.
Consequently, we are recommending…