Evidence of meeting #20 for Official Languages in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was saskatchewan.
A recording is available from Parliament.
9:30 a.m.
Conservative
9:30 a.m.
President, Conseil scolaire fransaskois
Bellegarde is in the southeast. Bellegarde and Lloydminster are the farthest points. It is a nine-hour drive between the two.
9:30 a.m.
Conservative
9:30 a.m.
Director, Conseil des écoles fransaskoises
Right now, in cities, we think we would need two more elementary schools in Regina and Saskatoon. We could also use another school in Prince Albert. But there are still emerging communities, such Estevan, Weyburn, Swift Current and Yorkton, where there are no services.
9:30 a.m.
Conservative
9:30 a.m.
Director, Conseil des écoles fransaskoises
At the moment, there are just two high schools that are separate from elementary schools. In rural communities, schools go from junior kindergarten to grade 12.
9:30 a.m.
A voice
[Editor's note: inaudible]
9:30 a.m.
Conservative
Guy Lauzon Conservative Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON
Oh, really? I can continue.
You are saying that the number of students goes up by 4 to 6% per year. Is that because of francophone families?
9:30 a.m.
Director, Conseil des écoles fransaskoises
We have francophone families and immigration is just getting going, but we could attract more.
9:30 a.m.
Conservative
Guy Lauzon Conservative Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON
What percentage of students comes from immigration?
9:30 a.m.
Director, Conseil des écoles fransaskoises
In a city, it is usually about 15%.
9:30 a.m.
President, Conseil scolaire fransaskois
I'm sorry but I would like to add something.
Children who were in school 15 years ago are now parents. They went to our schools and now they are coming back with their kids. That does not make us look younger, but we have this generation that is now well on its way and that—
9:30 a.m.
Conservative
Guy Lauzon Conservative Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON
Do you have cultural centres to help francophones continue to speak their language? Can people make a life for themselves in French in some communities?
9:30 a.m.
Director, Conseil des écoles fransaskoises
I think so. It is a matter of having services, such as a cultural centre—
9:30 a.m.
Conservative
Guy Lauzon Conservative Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON
Are you telling me that you can build a life in French?
9:30 a.m.
Director, Conseil des écoles fransaskoises
I for one work in French.
But for shopping or health care services, unfortunately... We might sometimes get a francophone doctor, but it is quite rare.
9:30 a.m.
President, Conseil scolaire fransaskois
Some organizations work really hard to get those services. The vitality of the Franco-Saskatchewanian community is amazing. The people are proud. And it is growing. They are trying to get services in French.
I cannot say that I can fully live in French, because my wife is anglophone.
9:30 a.m.
Conservative
9:30 a.m.
NDP
Robert Aubin NDP Trois-Rivières, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good morning and welcome to everyone. I hope you will let me take 30 seconds of your time. Unfortunately, it is the only way we have now to guarantee transparency and to introduce a notice of motion as well.
I move:
That the Committee invite the minister, the deputy minister and the relevant senior officials from the Department of Canadian Heritage to discuss the mid-term report of the Roadmap for Canada's Linguistic Duality 2008-2013 by February 23, 2012.
If you get an answer, it will probably be a positive one; if you don't hear back, you will draw the same conclusions as us.
Let's go back to the main issue. Mr. Lebel, in your presentation, I couldn't help but notice your desire to go over the wrongs of the past and their impact. I would like to give you a minute to quickly do so, before I go on to my next questions.
9:30 a.m.
President, Conseil scolaire fransaskois
Yes, the wrongs of the past have led to an assimilation, and that continues because we don't have the tools yet to address all the needs of the community. That is sort of what we are asking the federal government or the provincial government to do: to right the wrongs. That might give us a strong enough foundation to be able to welcome development and accommodate the number of students that continues to grow each year. That would be part of making amends—providing us with structures and adequate funding to curb the assimilation process that is ongoing.
We have the names of 250 kids on a waiting list for enrolment. That's scary. We think about that every day and we wonder what we can do to stop assimilation.
I'm not sure whether Mr. Roy has something to say about this.
9:35 a.m.
Director, Conseil des écoles fransaskoises
If I may add a few words, making amends has to do with child care services, francization services, family advocacy centres, various services that are equivalent to programs that most people get, as well as facilities to make all that possible and an effective technology network to help us reach our young people wherever they are.
Online schooling is a way to offer programming to students in remote communities where they have no schools. That is one of the solutions we have suggested to the government. We have not received funding for that yet.
9:35 a.m.
NDP
Robert Aubin NDP Trois-Rivières, QC
Thank you. There is one question that concerns me.
Is it true that the province made the decision as to whether you could participate in the consultations with Canadian Heritage? Why do you think you are not an official partner with full rights?
9:35 a.m.
President, Conseil scolaire fransaskois
I constantly ask myself that question. We are the ones going through everything. We know what we need, we are the experts. But we keep being told what we need. It would make a lot more sense for us to be on a committee that is going to decide our future and the funding we get .
Let me tell you a little story. Last time Canadian Heritage consulted with the Saskatchewan government, it took us almost a whole day and several letters to convince government officials to let us take part in the committee. We were successful in the end, but that was the first time.
