Official Languages Committee on Dec. 13th, 2011

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

If this is the way it is, my question will become an observation. I understand that you haven't had the opportunity to sit down with government representatives to tell them that you have received such-and-such amount of money, what your expenses are and to make your requests.

[Yvan Lebel]

Exactly.

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

If the government doesn't give a response, it is raising doubts.

[Yvan Lebel]

That's right. The doubts are there.

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

Let's talk about the Roadmap.

[Yvan Lebel]

May I add that, in our recommendations, we mentioned holding meetings, being part of these negotiations with the federal and provincial governments, like a tripartite committee. Because we know our needs and we would also like to know where the money is going.

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

If I remember correctly, didn't Saskatchewan win the right to have French schools? English schools were closed because they were obsolete. New schools were built and francophones took over the old schools.

[Yvan Lebel]

We always take over the old schools.

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

You use old schools.

[Yvan Lebel]

Yes, but we built new schools this year. However, it wasn't enough to allow the community to flourish. It's growing faster than our capacity to provide services to meet its needs. If we had a school that could take 400 students—we have 200 right now—we would still have 200 more students who would come immediately. We are still trying to catch up later instead of being in a position to meet demand.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thank you.

Mr. Gourde, you have the floor.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Lebel and Mr. Roy, for being here this morning.

I'd like to come back to your initial remark so that I can really understand. You said that, in the early 1900s, there were 80 francophone communities that no doubt came from Quebec, eastern Ontario or perhaps even directly from France, but I doubt it. This is really part of Canada's history.

[Yvan Lebel]

Yes.

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

There were far too many people in Quebec's francophone community and few jobs were available. So the community moved west, or south to the United States.

What percentage of the entire population of the province would these 80 francophone communities proportionally represent compared with today? Ten percent? Fifteen percent?

[Bernard Roy]

Today, we're told that there is still about 12% of the population that has francophone roots or ancestry. The percentage of francophones was initially about 35% to 40% compared with the total population at the time. It's clear that the decline has sped up over time.

[Yvan Lebel]

I have an anecdote for you. In the early 19th century, the governors who came to Saskatchewan had to be bilingual. It was a prerequisite of the federal government, and a bilingual individual had to be sent because most things were done in French.

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

For Canadians and to help us understand the history of Saskatchewan, how, politically, did the province come to ban education in French if the population was 25% to 30% francophone? That is a lot of political weight. What aspect of the history or what political forces at the time could have triggered that?

[Bernard Roy]

Historically, we see that there were many lobby groups. After the Battle of Batoche, which Louis Riel lost, a lot of francophones began to keep quiet, rather than claim their rights. It was the same thing for the Métis. Unfortunately, this phenomenon had a negative impact on all Métis populations, as well as on the francophones, who were Métis allies.

This of course had an impact on everyone, and their reflex was to want to collaborate more. The government took this opportunity to make changes, which had negative effects. There were even Ku Klux Klan groups in Saskatchewan. They oppressed the francophones. When crosses were burned in Gravelbourg and Vonda, the target was Catholic francophones. Our francophones were victims of oppression, and many of them wanted to be assimilated, rather than fight. They were the target of some discrimination.

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

You said that in the late 1960s and early 1970s, there was a shift in the legislation. No doubt, it was modest and gradual, but what triggered it?

[Bernard Roy]

The Official Languages Act. We must keep in mind that the Assemblée communautaire fransaskoise, or the ACFC, acted sort of like a government when it came to programs in French. It was the ACFC that prepared the curricula that enabled students to get one hour of French instruction after school. Fights to have these things recognized occurred constantly.

In 1967, the legislation brought about changes. Initially, teaching was allowed within English school boards. This approach was directly addressed at the first language, even though the majority used it. There was type A immersion and, for anglophones, type B immersion. Over time, the anglophones also wanted to get the best in language education, in this case education in French. But we hardly had any power or influence because we were part of an English school board.

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

Then, between 2000 and 2010, more students wanted to register for our schools. What does that stem from? Is it francophones coming from other provinces or simply people with a Fransaskois background who really want their children to go to your schools? In the case of your schools, you said that the daycare centres are full and have a waiting list. Could you please give me a few statistics on that?

[Bernard Roy]

Over the years, a good number of people born in Saskatchewan haven't been able to exercise this right. Some of them are now starting to discover the possibility of passing on their language, which they couldn't do in the past. There is also a lot of immigration, given that things are going very well for Saskatchewan, economically speaking. This attracts workers from across Canada, including francophones, as well as a significant number of French-speaking immigrants.

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

You spoke about people age 25 to 40 who do not necessarily have a francophone background, who attended school in English, but who want to enrol their children in French schools.

[Yvan Lebel]

We can really sense a renewal, an interest in learning French or another language, even from the majority. For us, the number of students who are enrolling is always increasing. We're talking about an increase of 4% to 6% a year. There would be even more if we had the facilities required to accept them.

We've also noted an increase in immersion. There really is an interest and, among other reasons, it's because Saskatchewan is becoming increasingly international with immigration. There is also the developing economy, the companies that set up there, and so on.

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

Does the population of Saskatchewan understand the economic advantages related to bilingualism, in terms of administration or the international scale? It can be beneficial for the province.