Official Languages Committee on Dec. 13th, 2011

[Bernard Roy]

I think Saskatchewan is beginning to see this. In fact, it's a value added for Saskatchewan and Canada. The more people who are functional in French, who are perfectly bilingual or who say they are francophone, the more francophones we attract. Whether we want it or not, this is what happens when there's a community and it provides services. That's what needs to develop. Over the years, we haven't had services. Or they were very expensive and, in that respect, reparation measures must be put in place.

[Yvan Lebel]

If I may, it isn't just the economic aspect, but the cognitive aspect that our children and the growing community benefit from. This knowledge, the development of various brain muscles, it doesn't just benefit the economy, but learning as well. It's important to take that into account.

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QC]

Thank you.

That's very interesting.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Mr. Bélanger, you have the floor.

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

Welcome.

Mr. Chair, I have another request to make of our researcher, if possible. It would be helpful for the members to have a document. It doesn't need to have a mountain of figures, but just an overview of the money transfers from the Government of Canada to Saskatchewan for education each year. It could be very helpful to know the transfer situation. Because this morning I heard that $13 million would be enough for the request and to quadruple the system. I don't know if I'm right.

[Yvan Lebel]

It's a good start.

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

It's a number I heard. Only $2.2 million is being transferred for education. I think it would be helpful for the committee to have an overview of the situation should we want to write a report on this matter, which I hope we do.

Perhaps I should ask the Auditor General to study it, but I will have to wait at least a year or maybe more before he can understand us.

This morning, Mr. Chair, I am also going to put forward one of my motions, which you have notice of, the one that deals with asking the Auditor General to come and appear before us.

As for the one that refers to the headhunter, I'll wait, in case my colleague for Ottawa—Orléans should join the committee. I'll wait to give him the opportunity to vote for or against this matter, because he had spoken about it.

I also want to say to the members of the committee—because this session is currently being publicly broadcast—that I intend to support the motions of my colleague, Mr. Godin, this morning, even if we do it in camera. I intend to support them and I want the world to know where I stand, Mr. Chair. It's important that Canadians know where their representatives stand and that we are not going to hide behind closed doors, as this committee has a tendency to do.

Next year is the year of the francophonie in Saskatchewan. Does that mean that the Government of Saskatchewan is going to give you more money?

[Yvan Lebel]

I'm at a loss for words with this question because—what do they say—once bitten, twice—

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

Twice shy.

[Yvan Lebel]

—shy, yes. A lot of promises have been made and we lived in hope for a long time that they would be acted upon. This situation is often presented to us. We have even had to go through the courts.

What will the year of the francophonie in Saskatchewan bring? A beneficial recognition, that's for sure. However, to commit to saying that there is something more from the government, we can't—

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

We can hope that the government walks the walk.

[Yvan Lebel]

Yes.

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

Yes, Mr. Roy?

[Bernard Roy]

I would still like to draw your attention to one thing. We hope that it's more than the presentation of a plaque showing the contribution of the Fransaskois.

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

Yes, especially if the federal government is paying for the plaque.

[Bernard Roy]

I don't know. There have been many recognition events where a plaque is unveiled one day, but it stops there. I think it's very important to have adequate funding and correct past wrongs.

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

I am sure that a motion of support for the Government of Saskatchewan to recognize the year of the francophonie in Saskatchewan, which would include amounts of money, would be welcome. So Mr. Chair, I will also give notice of such a motion. Perhaps we'll be able to adopt it one day, in camera. We'll see. So I propose:

That the Committee encourage the Government of Saskatchewan, given that it has declared 2012 the Year of the Fransaskois, to increase funding of the Fransaskois school board.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Mr. Bélanger, can you repeat that motion?

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

Yes, I can repeat it. Since it now seems possible to present a notice of motion without it being written down, I will present this one:

That the Committee encourage the Government of Saskatchewan, given that it has declared 2012 the Year of the Fransaskois, to increase funding of the Fransaskois school board.

To help my colleague, Mr. Gourde, grasp what is going on, I'll describe a situation. I have a good friend, who you may know. Her name is Joanne Perreault. Her children learned English. This woman worked and still works in the Fransaskois community. She is an advocate. I think she has already been a director in the Fransaskois community. It's her grandchildren who are going to be remolded through the school system and the daycare centres.

At the time, I negotiated a daycare agreement with my colleague Ken Dryden, but the Harper government cancelled it. In fact, I think it was one of the first things he did. I'd like to get the government to understand that our communities, pretty much across the country, need daycare centres.

Furthermore, I would like to know if you can give us a few examples of services that francophones cannot obtain because of underfunding, but that anglophones in the same province can.

[Bernard Roy]

First, if we're talking about study programs accessible to the majority, we can say that there's a difference of 150 programs.

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

There are 150 fewer programs in French?

[Bernard Roy]

Exactly. That gives you an idea of the situation. When a program is created, the English version is always available sooner than the French version. In our case, the educational resources do not come immediately. There's a delay.

In 2007, for example, the government required that the treaty on first nations and the Métis be part of the curriculum. Last September, we received the related written document, but our teachers have not received training. But I know that, on the English side, in addition to receiving the training as of 2008, those people had a video dealing with the pedagogical approach, and so on. We still haven't received them. At the end of the day, the board must invest its own funds to try to fulfill a government requirement.

[Yvan Lebel]

Given the circumstances, we appointed someone from a school management team who is familiar with the topic to start to develop the program alone. But it's in addition to the regular workload.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thank you.

Mr. Bélanger, the figures concerning the transfers from the Government of Canada to the Province of Saskatchewan are on page three of the analyst's notes.

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

I will send a note to the analyst. I'll share what I have in mind.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.