Thank you very much.
Good morning, everyone. I'm very pleased to be with you again. I won't do a word-for-word reading of the brief document that we have submitted and that was only in French. The beauty of Canada is that we have the right to homogenous institutions. In that sense, we are consistent with the philosophy.
I would like you to keep the following question in the back of your minds: are all the efforts and extraordinary gains that we have made over many years enough in view of the permanently ongoing erosion? We're winning and losing at the same time. You will see along the way that even New Brunswick, which is supposed to be a linguistic paradise, is not really so. We have our own problems, and they are disturbing.
I represent the Société de l'Acadie du Nouveau-Brunswick, which represents some 30 Acadian organizations and approximately 20,000 individual members. I have been the organization's president for three and a half years, and my term will be ending next June. What we want to make is a kind of declaration of love. We love this country, our province, our community and our people. That is what has made us what we are today.
I live in Moncton, and I believe that city is a miniature New Brunswick. If we can manage to live in linguistic harmony in New Brunswick, which is a miniature version of Canada, I believe we have significant responsibilities. We view matters from that perspective. That hasn't yet been done, but we are working toward it, and we are making enormous progress.
With regard to the concept of the two founding peoples, the first nations must not be forgotten. I have always thought we should establish trilingualism and triculturalism. In fact, why not make it quadri or multi? Whatever the case may be, we very much embrace the concept of the two founding peoples. When I make statements like that, you have to consider that as a group. If French is being lost in Canada, we are all responsible. That will mean that we have not done our job and that we must agree to question the way we approach the issue.
There are gains, but there are also losses. Let's make sure this country doesn't become a second unilingual English United States. I think that having two official languages is an asset for this country and that we must continue making the necessary effort to ensure we move forward rather than backward. There are currently 2.5 million francophones and Acadians outside Quebec. Without federal support, we definitely would never have been able to get where we are today.
I am not convinced we have gone as far as we should, but we have nevertheless made notable, even obvious progress. The University of Moncton could never have come into existence without Canadian bilingual federalism and so on. We are extremely grateful for all that. The Roadmap has enabled us to fight battles in the health field. Sometimes we are forced to institute legal proceedings, although we are reluctant to do so. Among other things, we have also conducted a major debate in recent years in an attempt to regain our right to Acadian governance in health. We have managed to do that without having to conduct a full-fledged battle in the courts.
It is sad to always be forced to fight, but we will clearly have to fight as long as we want to live in French in North America,. We have to acknowledge that fact. However, if someone could make that fight easier for us, that would definitely be very much appreciated.
With regard to community management, we have managed to convince our government to allow the new board of directors to consist of eight elected members and seven appointees. We would have preferred to have nine elected members and six appointees, so as to have a stronger majority, but our minister has reserved the right, in the event of resignations, to appoint replacements for those members who have resigned, even if they are elected members. It is therefore entirely possible that, within six months, we may wind up with a new board of directors consisting of a majority of political appointees. We believe that could be done in the form of a consultation. All that to say that this is part of our everyday lives.
The Roadmap has also enabled us to achieve something else. New Brunswick may be the kingdom of community radio. In 1989, I had the good fortune to be the founding president of CJSE, in Shediac. The federal government was very useful in that matter. I would like this tool to become widespread. In the southeast region, when Radio Canada was the only broadcaster of French language programming, only 5% of francophones listened to French-language radio, but now 70% of Acadians do. These are extremely important tools for Acadia and they must continue. The community radio stations enable the population to hear themselves, to dream, to make plans and to witness their successes. It has been extraordinary from an artistic creation standpoint.
With respect to immigration, through the efforts of former premier Bernard Lord four years ago, we have received special funding of $10 million over five years for francophone immigration. Unfortunately, New Brunswick is not a province that is taking people in. Instead it is a province that is losing people to our friends in Ontario and Alberta. We find it difficult to retain people. Of course, even though that was included in the Roadmap, we will not have completed the work in two years. Consequently, we hope the program is extended.
The only problem is that, since 2001, that is in the past 10 years, the core funding for the Société de l'Acadie du Nouveau-Brunswick has remained the same. Furthermore, considering inflation, which averages 2.2% annually, we've wound up with 30% less revenue. Consequently, our organization does not even have a research officer or communications officer. Since my executive director and I are former journalists, we can offset that deficiency. However, it is not normal for an organization of people such as ours not to have a communications officer or a research officer. For that reason, more money is necessary.
Although people say New Brunswick is a linguistic paradise, I see this morning that 1,650 francophone children in southern New Brunswick—650 in Saint John, 500 in Fredericton and 500 in Moncton—all rights holders, don't have access to French-language schools. I think it's incredible that, in 2011, 1,650 children who are rights holders don't have access to French-language schools. There is currently no more room in the schools and community centres; they are overflowing. That's even the case in Fredericton the capital, and in Moncton, where there are 500 children. The situation is becoming urgent for us. That is why we can only hope the federal government will continue to encourage the provincial governments to deal with education. We know that education is a provincial jurisdiction, but the fact remains that it is the basis of everything. Without education, you don't move forward.
There is another problem in New Brunswick. Unfortunately, I have to be pessimistic; you have to tell the truth. For the first time in New Brunswick, the number of families for which French is the first language spoke in the home has just fallen below 30%. This troubles us. For the first time, the assimilation rate is now in two figures, having risen from 9% to 11%.
That is why I'm saying we must make a collective consciousness-raising effort together. We have responsibilities. This all shows that we are not doing our job. It is not so much the others. Let's look at ourselves. As president of the SANB, I am sorry and destabilized. MPs, ministers, premiers, senior officials, commissioners of official languages have been telling us for 10 years that, for linguistic duality to be established in this country, they themselves must be champions of linguistic duality in Canada. They have to wear that pride.
I could talk about literacy rates. I thought I had original proposals. However, I hope they aren't original. I hope that my ideas are shared and that they have previously been thought. I thought I had an original proposal, but it seems we've already discussed it, and I'm proud of that.
I believe that, in this country, we have to have bilingualization programs for Canadian university graduates, and the Roadmap should include that. Let's not wait until they arrive in Ottawa to see whether they are bilingual, like our friend Michael Ferguson, who is nevertheless married to an Acadian. It is clearly he who wears the pants in that family since he hasn't learned our language, which is unfortunate. I prefer Mark Carney, or Mr. Paulson, who has just been appointed RCMP commissioner. There are some marvellous anglophones who are perfectly bilingual. There are also marvellous francophones. That's why I propose that we start early. Let's not wait until they arrive in Ottawa and take up important positions, particularly if they intend to work in the public services, such as that of New Brunswick, for example. Consequently, early childhood is important for us.
I don't know whether the other proposal is original. Earlier I told you that, in 10 years, we had lost 30% of our revenue based on the inflation rate. We fought for multi-year funding in the 1990s. We thank the federal government for granting our request. However, we forgot to negotiate to ensure that funding was indexed to the cost of living, which would have prevented us from winding up 10 years later with 30% less revenue. We therefore very much hope to see the Roadmap extended and to see it include a clause providing that funding will be indexed to the cost of living so that it reflects the actual situation. Otherwise we will ultimately be in a losing position.
According to my information, another original idea is also working its way through the federal government. That idea is to help our community improve its self-funding capacity by establishing a trust fund. I very much encourage you to reread the report that the late Senator Jean-Marie Simard wrote in the late 1990s. He advocated the creation of trust funds for minority organizations, which would give them greater independence and more money, and a more permanent way of advancing their issues. It appears that idea is circulating in Ottawa.
However, if it comes this far and the federal government decides to invest one dollar for every one-dollar contribution we make, that must not become a government pretext to encourage self-funding or, at the same time, to shirk its responsibilities and start cutting core funding. We are quite prepared to do our share to provide better funding for our organizations, but the government must not make us bear the cost of resulting cuts.
All that to say that we love living in this country as Canadians, as francophones and, especially, as Acadians, don't we, Guy? I think that being Acadian is the best way for us to contribute to this country's cultural mosaic. We want to continue living as Acadians for a long time, but in French.
Thank you for your attention to my brief presentation.
