Mr. Chairman, committee members, dear partners who are here today, on behalf of the board of directors of the Consortium national de formation en santé and myself, I want to thank you for this opportunity to present the major initiatives and results that CNFS has been able to achieve thanks to the financial contribution from, and the exceptional collaboration with, Health Canada as part of the Roadmap for Canada's Linguistic Duality.
Following our presentation this morning, the committee will be convinced that CNFS has enabled the Government of Canada to fulfil the commitments set out in the Roadmap for Canada's Linguistic Duality with regard to improving access to high-quality French-language health services in francophone minority communities by means of enhanced training for francophone and bilingual health professionals and researchers throughout the country.
Thanks to its wide range of training and research activities, the CNFS has been able to ensure quality and range of access to French-language health services in francophone minority communities in light of the upcoming renewal of the Roadmap. The CNFS is eager to build on this solid foundation and, with the support of the federal government, meet the evolving needs of those communities.
It was the work of an advisory committee established by the Department of Health in 1999 that led to the creation of the CNFS in 2003. Sponsored by Health Canada, the CNFS was created as part of the Action Plan for Official Languages and continues to operate as part of the Roadmap. The mission of the CNFS is to ensure the establishment of an expanded postsecondary network of training and research in French in order to support the postsecondary institutions that offer health training programs and the researchers who are working in the health field.
The CNFS is a consortium of 11 university and college education institutions offering training programs in French in various health disciplines and six regional partners that facilitate access to those programs. The CNFS also has a national secretariat in Ottawa.
The CNFS engages in a wide range of activities classified under four strategic axes. First of all, there is recruitment. We have to support and reinforce efforts to promote health careers and student recruitment. Recruitment faces some significant challenges. For one thing, the pool of young francophones potentially interested in postsecondary studies is decreasing and competition from anglophone institutions is fierce. Over the next few years, promotion of and recruiting into CNFS French-language health programs must be increased in order to attract francophones as well as francophiles, and youth as well as adults.
The main goal of the training axis is to promote the maintenance, development and consolidation of existing training opportunities and institutional training partnerships. Since the Roadmap was implemented, it has made it possible to introduce 15 new French-language health programs, for a total of 48 new French-language health programs in Canada since 2003. In addition, since 2008, there have been 3,000 new registrations, 3,000 new students in programs supported by the CNFS and 1,000 new graduates. Since 2003, 6,000 students have registered for French-language health programs in our francophone communities. Nearly 3,000 of that number have now graduated and are working as professionals providing services in our communities. According to a survey we conducted, 86% of our graduates are working in health institutions and agencies serving our communities, and 79% of them are working in their home province or territory.
As acknowledged in the Roadmap, health human resources for minority communities require particular attention as there are numerous challenges. Francophone minorities are widely dispersed and find it difficult to access training programs.
Whether it be theoretical, clinical, ongoing or linguistic training, the solution lies in the inter-institutional sharing specific to the CNFS, that is to say sharing among various provinces, various institutions, which makes it possible to reinforce all educational institutions.
The CNFS also devotes considerable energy and human resources to health research, which, among other things, makes it possible to facilitate national research projects that examine the health of francophone minority communities. One such project currently has pan-Canadian thematic research teams studying aging and mental health. Unfortunately, the recent decision by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to terminate the health of official language minority communities research program will have a significant impact on our current and future projects.
Through its established activities and main programs made possible through federal funding, the CNFS has for several years been able to establish significant complementary initiatives in immigration. We are working on remedial training for francophone health professionals who have been trained outside Canada. We are assisting in their integration into the communities and making them aware of specific issues before they arrive in Canada.
Data collected to date demonstrate certain key findings on the impact of CNFS activities and show how well this organization has been able to overcome significant challenges. The main impacts have included: the rise in the number of French-language health training programs and their noticeable effect on the number of francophone and bilingual health professionals serving the communities; the availability of distance education, an approach that provides better access to postsecondary education in French for francophone students in remote and often poorly served communities; increased collaboration on health issues among all involved parties, on a federal-provincial/territorial level as well as on inter-provincial and inter-institutional levels, thanks to the leveraging effect created by federal funding.
Lastly, at mid-point in the current phase, a recent study has shown a marked increased in participation by CNFS universities and colleges in a number of health human resource planning initiatives. Provincial and regional human resource planning authorities are relying more and more on their expertise.
As you can see, CNFS's actions are making a difference in the lives of francophone minority communities. Since the release of the Roadmap, we have consistently surpassed our expectations and objectives, and the pace of our achievements continues to improve. Our numbers of registrations and graduates are greater than initial commitments. This result shows an undeniable return on the Government of Canada's investment.
The CNFS is therefore making a tangible contribution toward improving access to high-quality French-language health services by increasing the number of francophone and francophile health professionals throughout the country, thus contributing to the development and well-being of francophone minority communities.
The CNFS has worked hard to earn its status as the undisputed leader in postsecondary health training and research in French. In light of the upcoming renewal of the Roadmap and the Health Accord of 2014, it is essential to remind the federal government to continue to ensure that Canada's linguistic duality is acknowledged in health and service planning and funding for official language minority communities.
The CNFS and its partners, such as the Société Santé en français, are deserving of support for their work and for the consolidation of their foundations in communities across the country. We therefore hope that the recommendations of the Standing Committee on Official Languages will recognize the unique and exemplary model of collaboration that is the CNFS and the importance of training, which is central to the active offer of high-quality health services.
Thank you for your attention.