Official Languages Committee on Feb. 9th, 2011

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

So, rather than giving parents $100 per child for every child under the age of six, they would have been better off investing in daycare centres.

[Marie-Pierre Dupont]

Yes.

[Monique Guay, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

The way we did in Quebec.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

I would like to put the same question to you.

[Simon Lepage]

As long as the money is actually invested in daycare centres, yes, of course.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

That's what I mean. I'm talking about daycare centres that provide proper programming, where children are properly educated and supervised, by qualified personnel.

[Simon Lepage]

Yes. Right now, I have no choice but to put my son into private daycare. The language used is English and we are not getting exactly the service we would like to have. We cannot tell the lady who works out of her own home to do this or that. We simply have to put up with the situation. So, I am working part-time and spending more time with my son at home. That's the way it is.

You asked what difference it makes whether there is a French-language daycare or not. Although my wife is English-speaking, she works at the French school as a teaching assistant. She looks after all the children with problems, such as speech disorders. She works closely with the teaching assistant in Yellowknife, where the issues are not the same.

The percentage of children from Francophone families is higher at the Yellowknife school—there is no doubt that has an impact—but the problems in terms of comprehension of French are far more acute in Hay River than they are in Yellowknife. You should hear the children speaking French; it's awful.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

French is a language that you learn; English is something you pick up.

[Simon Lepage]

Ah, ah! That maybe the reason. They don't really learn French that well and I'm not sure they're picking it up either.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

If they don't learn it between 0 and 5, they will… You are married to an Anglophone, and you are doing your best to ensure that your child learns French. But two Francophones settling here would have the same problem and would have to place their child in someone's home where they speak English. There would be a risk of assimilation. That child would not speak French.

[Simon Lepage]

There is no doubt the child's French would suffer. Even if the parents insist on everything being in French—other than at daycare or in school—whether it's television, music or anything else at home, the child will ultimately have problems in French, if only in terms of his ability to express himself.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you very much, Mr. Godin.

Mr. Bélanger, would you like a turn?

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

I asked for one minute.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Yes, you said you wanted to correct something.

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

As I was listening to Mr. Boutin, I had the impression there are 54 bilingual positions in the territorial public service, but that is not exactly the case. After the testimony, I had a chance to speak to Ms. de Jong, who works in human resources. The fact is that there may not even be 10 positions designated bilingual in the Territories. Mr. Boutin was referring to the fact that 54 employees received the bilingualism bonus. This lady will forward the information to us. I will pass it on to our analyst. I was saying that about 1% of positions may be designated bilingual, but in actual fact, it is more like 0.1%. I wanted to make that correction.

[François Pitre]

I guarantee you that if you get in touch with that ministry, they will not be able to answer you in French, other than to say “bonjour” and “merci”.

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

These people were unable to tell me who is involved. They are researching this now and will forward us the information.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

That brings this part of our meeting to an end. We will suspend for a few minutes to allow the members to freshen up and our witnesses to take their places.

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

We are going to resume.

I am very pleased to begin this second part of the meeting and welcome our witnesses. I should actually say that we are extremely anxious to hear from these witnesses, who work primarily in education and culture. We are in the second stage of our travel mission to the Canadian Far North. This is the last meeting of a tour that began Monday in Whitehorse and is ending here this afternoon.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the witnesses for agreeing to meet with us. Without any further ado, allow me to introduce the people representing the Commission scolaire francophone des Territoires du Nord-Ouest. I would like to welcome the Chair, Ms. Suzette Montreuil, and the Superintendent, Mr. Philippe Brûlot, whom we met last night at the home of the Association franco-ténoise, as well as the Executive Director of the Association franco-culturelle de Yellowknife, Ms. Marie Coderre.

Thank you all for coming this afternoon.

And, to represent youth in the Northwest Territories, we are happy to receive a young mother whose son had a birthday yesterday, Ms. Rachelle Francoeur. We're also aware that members of your staff are in the room today as well. and we extend a warm welcome to them.

Without any further ado, I would like to invite our witnesses from the Commission scolaire to make their presentation.

[Suzette Montreuil, Chair, Commission scolaire francophone des Territoires du Nord-Ouest]

Good afternoon.

Welcome to Yellowknife. I hope you have enjoyed your stay.

I would like to begin this presentation by pointing out that there were Francophones here as soon as exploration and development of Western and Northern Canada began. Whether we are talking about the coureurs des bois, the Métis who came from the Red River, the Oblate Fathers, the Grey Nuns or the merchants, Francophones from a variety of backgrounds played an important role.

For a very long time, Francophones had been working hard to preserve and promote French in an environment where they formed a very small minority. We suffer from a high rate of assimilation and, in the face of that threat, we recognize that French-language education plays a key role.

All across Canada, French-language school communities have had to make their case in the courts in order to resolve the issue of a lack of support for their constitutional rights with respect to education. The Northwest Territories are no exception in that regard.

There are four major reasons that underscore the need to promote the French language in Western and Northern Canada.

First of all, it is the central purpose of section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, specifically, the development and preservation of minority language communities. In our case, it is French, of course. The second reason relates to the welfare of our children, and their ability to become fully bilingual and develop a Francophone cultural identity. Third is the role of French-language education, as a means of encouraging and protecting Canadians' interprovincial mobility, including that of French Canadians. The final reason is globalization and the linguistic expectations associated with it.

Two of these points warrant special attention. The first relates to the central purpose of section 23. The demands of the Commission scolaire francophone in its law suit against the government of the Northwest Territories, are based on the fact that our programs have no opportunity to develop because of a lack of infrastructure and resources.

In our pre-trial factum, our counsel, Mr. Lepage, points out that the case law has clearly affirmed the central purpose of section 23, which is the development and preservation of minority language communities. He states that the Supreme Court has laid out four principles that are fundamental to the achievement of that central purpose.

Section 23 addresses substantive equality in education for Francophone and Anglophone communities in Canada. It includes a positive obligation for governments to build the necessary educational facilities to achieve that substantive equality.

Section 23 creates a positive obligation for governments to act expeditiously to implement section 23. That section also gives rights holders and their representatives an exclusive right to manage their educational institutions. Finally, section 23 has a remedial component to it which is intended to right the wrongs of the past.

The development of Francophone educational communities in Yellowknife and Hay River has been hindered, because there is no substantive equality. Our schools do not have gymnasiums, nor do they have easy access to other gymnasiums. As a result, our students travel to different facilities, to wherever there is a willingness to let us access a gymnasium. The physical education portion of the day is cut back because of the time wasted, or students are told at the last minute that the gymnasium is not available.

The government argues that other schools in small rural aboriginal communities have the same problem, since they do not have a gymnasium, but they forget that those schools have almost exclusive access to the local gymnasium. So, the situation really is not the same.

Still on the theme of inadequate space, our schools do not have the specialized facilities that are needed to provide education of equal quality, particularly at the secondary level. We do not have fully equipped laboratories or special rooms for home economics, music or other subjects. We are also lacking sufficient office space for advisors and guidance counsellors. We can also give you other examples.

This lack of space results in insufficient classroom facilities, thereby forcing us to put students at two or three different levels together in the same classroom. That lack of space also complicates class organization, which becomes a real nightmare, since we really don't know where to put the students.

Infrastructure modifications require money, and the NWT government prefers not to fulfill its commitments under section 23 by conferring upon itself a right that it does not have. I refer to the right to manage admissions. This occurred when a ministerial directive was issued in July of 2008, under which the ministry now controls access to our programs and greatly restricts that access by limiting it to only those who meet the very narrow criteria listed in section 23, showing a complete disregard for the broad and remedial nature of the provision, and granting the minister the right to decide, based on no particular criteria, who will receive an exemption and who can be integrated into our programming.

This directive poses a very serious threat to the fundamental enforcement principles—as defined by the Supreme Court—with respect to “exclusive management” and “remedial nature”. If we are forced to work on the basis of that restrictive definition of who is allowed to study in French, then people should not be surprised to see the French language completely disappear from Northern Canada.

It is our position that the government of the Northwest Territories shows complete disregard for its positive obligation to implement section 23, as the Francophone community is constantly having to go to court to protect its rights. We are currently witnessing the systematic erosion of our powers as a community, the weakening and disintegration of the Francophone population, which is surviving only with the greatest of difficulty, and the denigration of section 23, the thrust of which is not respected.

Let's move on now to the second point, which is the need to adapt to globalization and ongoing change in modern societies.

It is our submission that this adaptation cannot occur without the preservation of the French language and cultures that acknowledge each other's existence. We also believe that Canadian bilingualism is a key asset in a world where countries encourage their populations to become citizens of the world and speak several languages. We know that our French-language schools produce better examples of bilingual citizens.

Globalization and ongoing change translate into such phenomena of urbanization as immigration, pluralingualism and multi-ethnicity. How can Canada position itself to face the world of the future? We say it can do so by protecting the rights of Francophones and taking responsibility for their full development.

Bilingualism is, in effect, the best way to instill concepts such as pluralingualism and multi-ethnicity. Bilingualism also enables us to prepare them for societal changes that we experience on an ongoing basis in the major urban centres.

A child that already speaks two languages and has been exposed to two cultures will have an easier time coping with these changes and will be more open to the reality of immigration and the challenge facing aboriginal communities that seek to preserve their language. This will result in a future Canada that is more sure of itself, with fewer complexes and better prepared to meet the global competition. In the Northwest Territories, we will have young people who are prepared to call for measures that meet our needs at the national level, in both official languages.

Some people may respond by saying that the four above-mentioned phenomena are peculiar to the major centres, like Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. They might also argue that this kind of adaptation to globalization is not needed in the context of the Northwest Territories, but that would be a grave mistake. And it would also encourage the development of a two-tier Canada: urban Canada, on the one hand, preparing for the world of the future, and rural Canada, on the other, which would remain on the sidelines of globalization. Such an error would be folly indeed in Northern Canada, which is actively seeking major industrial and mining projects, as well as the construction of a gas pipeline in the Mackenzie Valley.

Not respecting the rights of Francophones and the bilingualism principle is also extremely prejudicial to the students of today who will have to compete for jobs in the future. If we still believe in the importance of our two official languages, let's demonstrate that conviction by offering better support to French-language schools in Western and Northern Canada.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Since we have just heard from the representative of the Commission scolaire francophone des Territoires du Nord-Ouest, I think we should move now to the Association franco-culturelle de Yellowknife.

[Marie Coderre, Executive Director, Culture, Association franco-culturelle de Yellowknife]

I would just like to mention that I have cut back the part of my presentation that deals with historical background, since the Association franco-culturelle has the same roots as the Fédération franco-ténoise. I will address it somewhat, but to a lesser extent than originally planned.

The Association franco-culturelle de Yellowknife is very pleased to be celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. From the organization's infancy, many different players have been successful in passionately promoting the French fact in a minority environment.

The tireless work of active members was certainly instrumental in consolidating our assets in terms of the development of French Canadian culture in Yellowknife. The first Francophone institution in the Northwest Territories came into being in 1978 under the name “Association culturelle franco-ténoise”.

Francophone culture has been present in the Northwest Territories mainly since the 19th century. The First Nations' enduring perception of the Francophone community can be described as bitterness resulting from the repression of their mother tongue in the colleges and convents administered by the different religious orders, but also the recognition that we are a benevolent partner, rather than a rival or oppressor. The following is an example of that.

Aboriginal leaders pay tribute to the French Canadians for having fought, for some 240 years, against the policies of cultural genocide adopted by a Canadian government controlled by an Anglophone Orangeman mentality, and enthusiastically take inspiration from their courage and their success as they, in turn, demand that their culture be preserved.

It was thanks to the initiative of members of the Association culturelle franco-ténoise that a new association was established to serve the capital. The new association was incorporated on September 18, 1985 under the name “Association franco-culturelle de Yellowknife”.

In recent years, the Association has developed a number of important projects, including CIVR, Radio Taïga, the only French-language community radio station in the NWT. Since September of 2001, the Yellowknife community has been able to benefit from continuous programming in French, including at least 25 hours of local programming every week.

The mandate of the Association franco-culturelle de Yellowknife is to develop cultural life in the City of Yellowknife. For many people, culture is synonymous with art; for others, it involves social gatherings that are likely to create relationships and a sense of belonging because of similar societal references. However, the term “culture” is associated with several different categories of activity, such as the environment, history, the welfare of a society, the arts, and so on.

Over the years, the AFCY has succeeded in developing programming that meets the needs of Francophones and Francophiles living in Yellowknife. In order to attain the goals set by members of the AFCY, we need to establish multiple partnerships. The critical mass of Francophones and Francophiles is continuing to expand. It is therefore critical to ensure the necessary financial stability to cover expenses associated with fixed costs. Insecurity leads to poor distribution of tasks, something which causes burnout among both board members and employees.

Financial stability would allow us to strike a certain balance and enable our association to conduct research and diversify its funding sources. The AFCY is interested in focusing its attention on such areas as artistic dissemination, festivals, social and community activities, as well as youth-oriented programming.

In order to maintain the quality of the programming that is offered, AFCY employees are always seeking new volunteers who may be interested in supporting the Association. This organization would not be viable without the unconditional support of volunteers. Voluntarism is proving to be an excellent way of developing their skills in a variety of areas. Furthermore, our organization provides a meeting place for one and all, thus avoiding some people's sense of isolation. I also want to mention that our meeting place is a small “cabin”. So, we have about three square feet to accommodate people.

It is important that the government understand that arts and culture act as a preventative tool, particularly from a social standpoint. Three years ago, the AFCY had about 40 members. Now its membership exceeds 250.

The ultimate goal is to see a tangible increase in the number of people who communicate in French, through various cultural projects. The year 2010 was synonymous with success thanks to the celebrations organized for the 25th anniversary. The festival that took place as part of that commemoration was an opportunity to demonstrate a visibility never seen before in the City of Yellowknife. That is a wonderful stepping stone for the development of large-scale projects in the near future. The “Miroir sur la francophonie nordique” festival was funded primarily through the support of the government. Without that contribution, we would never have found 15 sponsors, multiple partners in the City of Yellowknife, 25 volunteers, 10 or more local artists, caterers, and so on. That event had positive spinoffs at the economic, cultural, community and tourism levels. Now we enjoy excellent credibility and hope that this can continue.

Let's move on now to talk about the Association's issues. There is inadequate funding to ensure that the fixed costs of AFCY and Radio Taïga can be covered. The extra workload prevents us from carrying out medium-term planning. The work space is inadequate, too limited. There is a lack of funding to hire additional resources. Funders do not consider the fact that Yellowknife is located in a remote area. Personally, I think it is even more important under the circumstances to ensure cultural vitality. The funders' response time is unrealistic and excessive. Indeed, I want to point out that when we work in partnership or under contracts awarded by other non-profit organizations, we are all subject to the whims of our funders. At this point, there are approximately five contracts for which we are unable to be paid because the organizations in question are still waiting for their funding to come through. Under those kinds of conditions, it never ends.

I would now like to give you an idea of the daily work schedule for the director. In that capacity, I have to draft project proposals, provide the necessary follow-up, look after administration and accounting, organize fundraising, take care of communications and advertising, find funding and partners, write up all the formal documentation, respond to visitors, carry out long-term planning, organize events and activities and find volunteers. In other words, the director manages, plans and executes.

With respect to our accomplishments, I want to mention that these activities are self-financed or partially financed by the government. My salary is still not covered by our operating fund. So, it is really out of passion for what I do that I take on these responsibilities.

Here is a list of our accomplishments: the four activities organized as part of celebrating Canada, which are funded by Canadian Heritage, the Miroir sur la francophonie nordique festival and the radiothon. We had a magician give a show at the Northern Arts and Cultural Centre. That was a gift from the organization that enabled us to use the facility free of charge, and keep all the revenues that were generated. There was also the haunted house at the Maison bleue. That was done in cooperation with the Yellowknife Judo Association. We also had the Francophone Beer Festival, the silent auction, and the Epiphany event. We organized meetings, AGMs and special general meetings. We organized activities such as bringing the artist Gérald Laroche from Manitoba, the Youth Film Festival, the sugaring-off activities in the school, the igloo camp, weekly activities, the youth improvisation league, and so on. We are now part of the Coup de coeur francophone and Réseau des grands espaces network. I am still awaiting answers from my funders.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Okay! Thank you.

Ms. Francoeur is now going to talk about the youth component.

[Rachelle Francoeur, Coordinator, Jeunesse Territoires du Nord-Ouest, Fédération Franco-Ténoise]

First of all, it is important to define what Jeunesse Territoires du Nord-Ouest represents. This service has been in place for more than seven years and we are members of the Fédération de la jeunesse canadienne française or FJCF. Young people in the NWT can therefore take part in national activities developed by the FJCF or by members of the network, in addition to our activities.

Our mission is to enable young French-speaking residents of the NWT to get together to enjoy stimulating experiences while developing their full potential. Our vision is to instill in young people aged 12 to 25 a sense of belonging to their cultural community, thereby contributing to its vitality.

Because of its leadership role in the North, Jeunesse T.N.-O. is the only organization to have a committee composed of young people who, this year, come from both Yellowknife and Hay River. The committee's name is Comité Action Jeunesse or CAJ. It advises the Coordinator of Jeunesse T.N.-O on the direction to be taken with a view to organizing activities and events that reflect the reality and interests of young people in the Northwest Territories. The youth representative on the committee sits on the board of directors of the Fédération de la jeunesse canadienne-française.

Advocating a philosophy of “by and for youth”, the youth service of the FFT seeks contexts which are likely to foster the development of a sense of leadership, empowerment, and participation on the part of young people, so that they are able to reach their full potential. Our actions are therefore planned in cooperation with youth in the North so that they are engaged in their community. For the NWT, 30 participants is the equivalent of 300 in Alberta.

Since the establishment of the youth service, a lot of changes have occurred that have made it possible to offer more activities to young Francophones in the Territories. Moving beyond services just for young people in Yellowknife, now it is possible for youth from across the NWT to be involved in our activities, thereby breaking the isolation created by vast distances. By becoming members of the Fédération de la jeunesse canadienne-française, young people are now able to leave their immediate area to meet up with participants from all over the country.

It is at these get-togethers that our young people form a collective identity which allows them to form social relations and think about the issues that help them to build their personal identity. With respect to our accomplishments, here are a couple of key results from recent years.

Sexo Quiz, a quiz about sexual health, is a project that was carried out through our partnership with Réseau T.N.-O santé en français. The Franco-Nord camp de leadership, organized in partnership with the Commission scolaire francophone des Territoires du Nord-Ouest, Radio Taïga and l'Aquilon, was an opportunity for young people aged 15 to 25 to explore the art of journalism for an action-packed weekend in the City of Yellowknife. A cultural camp also took place this summer in Fort Smith with 18 Francophile participants. The Rassemblement Jeunesse nordique offers a chance to explore northern and aboriginal traditions. Thanks to Canadian Heritage, the wide variety of activities offered during the first three editions of the program has made this event very popular with our young people. The latest edition saw twice as many participants. Unfortunately, because of a lack of funding for recurring projects, Jeunesse T.N.-O. was not able to present its fourth edition of the event, even though it was in demand by young people in Northern and Western Canada.

The Forum Multimédia, which is also funded by Canadian Heritage, made it possible to hold an innovative interterritorial event that allowed young people to use new media and learn more about occupations which held a certain fascination for them. A DVD by Stop Motion was produced and presented at the Yellowknife Film Festival. That forum, which attracted 30 or more participants, was a great success and, once again, responding to general demand, Jeunesse T.N.-O. submitted a re-drafted application for the project to the interterritorial fund with a view to meeting the needs and interests of young people in the three territories.

The initiative known as Yeux du Nord allowed Jeunesse T.N.-O., through the Francofonds, to travel to communities in the three territories to introduce French-speaking youth to the technique of making films in 8 mm. A DVD entitled “On a perdu le Nord” came out of that project. It was also presented at the Yellowknife Film Festival and was showcased at the Northern Pavilion during the Olympic Games.

Our future projects focus even more on fulfilling the full potential of young people, their community involvement and support for French-language communities by Jeunesse T.N.-O. Jeunesse T.N.-O. is proud of the fact that it has been able to establish and maintain collaborative links with Francophone organizations in the North and the West. New relationships have been forged and that continues to be the case. The community education connection is also of critical importance in order to coordinate our actions and ensure that the Francophone community is a choice constituency for French-speaking young people in the NWT.

With that in mind, Jeunesse T.N.-O. launched a project for apprentice cooks, which is intended to teach young people how to cook and, at the same time, promote healthy eating habits and prevent obesity in Yellowknife and Hay River. For a two-year period that begins in September, the project will be a catalyst for the creation of a credit program in cooking that will be taught by the École Allain St-Cyr during development of the second phase.

The L.A.M.A. project, which could reach more than 400 youth in the three territories, refers to leadership, development, mobilization and action. For young people in the North, this is the project that will give real meaning to the term “leadership”. The project will unfold in four phases and involves seven training sessions and five specific actions to be taken by young people in the community. It is aimed at citizen engagement among young people in their communities.

School staff already have a heavy burden, community players are overworked, budgets are limited and everyone is running out of steam. We must prepare the next generation of community workers. This project has resulted in incredible unity among the partners, who are 10 in number. They are now expressing their desire to take action to maximize the youth contribution. One teacher who recently talked to me about the importance of our extracurricular activities said that the young people tended to speak French in school the day after, rather than English, which sometimes happens.

Young people in the North who speak French need the support of Jeunesse T.N.-O. in order to have access to this kind of experience in French. Thus they can learn how to take their rightful place and discover their own personality. We rely on federal assistance to carry out this project, which was submitted under the program Les jeunes s'engagent.

At Jeunesse T.N.-O., we are currently developing our Équipe TNO. However, because we have no sporting status, we are unable to benefit from the support of territorial sporting associations, which makes it difficult to secure sponsorships. We rely on volunteers, which makes our job particularly difficult, but, through Young Canada Works, we are able to hire a welcome resource.

A sporting clinic project for a two-year period which involves Sports-Québec, specifically includes training for coaches. It will be presented to the SAIC after this year's edition in Sudbury, with a view to creating better visibility for the Équipe TNO.

Jeunesse T.N.-O. is also partnering with the Association franco-culture de Yellowknife and will be presenting the first Festi-Film jeunesse en français in one week's time in Yellowknife. A cultural camp for youth from Fort Smith, Yellowknife and Hay River is currently in preparation for the coming summer.

In closing, despite its long-term vision for minority youth, and the vitality of its coordinator and all the assistants who provide support through critical programs like Young Canada Works or Programme d'emploi jeunesse francophone, the support of a youth committee for whom the Francophone community means a lot, and partnerships with community players who believe in developing skills in young people, Jeunesse T.N.-O. is facing considerable challenges.

Our services do not have the benefit of recurring funding. That is why Jeunesse T.N.-O. is trying to diversify its revenue sources in order to remain a positive model for youth. The project funding formula makes it practically impossible to organize recurring events. Because of that, it is difficult to create traditions among young people and allow them to adopt a positive attitude towards the Francophone community. There are shortcomings in terms of the departments' obligation to put us on the funding track. Furthermore, the fact that a number of government players don't understand the northern reality means that we have to work even harder to have our projects accepted and funded.

The low level of interest in the Francophone community among young people, because of gaps in infrastructure and programming, results in a lack of participation on their part. They do not see the Francophone community as particularly attractive, so that preventing their assimilation by the majority becomes a significant challenge. Simply mentioning that our two French-language schools still do not have a gymnasium is enough to illustrate that fact.

Finally, the isolation of our communities as a result of their geographic location makes it difficult to bring people in, and yet that is an essential part of forming a youth identity. The very high costs of transportation means that there are fewer activities, fewer participants and therefore less visibility, despite the considerable efforts devoted to this by Jeunesse T.N.-O.

On behalf of young French-speaking residents of the NWT, I would like to thank you for your attention and I hope that you enjoy the rest of your stay here.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you very much, Ms. Francoeur.

I see that Mr. Bilodeau, Chair of the Association des parents ayants droit de Yellowknife, has been able to join us. I am going to invite him to make a few comments.

Mr. Bilodeau, please.