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.
9:35 a.m.
NDP
Robert Aubin NDP Trois-Rivières, QC
We are also deep in the Roadmap evaluation process. Under normal circumstances, the Roadmap should have improved your financial situation and given you more leeway.
In terms of the amounts you receive, are you able to separate things and determine which amounts come from the Roadmap and which come from the regular Canadian Heritage programs, for example?
9:35 a.m.
Director, Conseil des écoles fransaskoises
Not at the moment. We receive $2.2 million and that is the amount we are working with.
9:35 a.m.
NDP
Robert Aubin NDP Trois-Rivières, QC
So we could easily come to the conclusion that what the right hand gives, the left hand takes away and that the program has not been enhanced.
9:35 a.m.
Director, Conseil des écoles fransaskoises
I wouldn’t be able to answer that because we are not involved in the discussions much more than that. We are consulted in the preliminary stage, before the actual meetings, but we are not sitting at the table. The government can then decide on the priorities it wants to see us work on.
9:35 a.m.
President, Conseil scolaire fransaskois
We are talking about consultations, but being involved goes much further than that. They can consult us, but they jot down what we have said and then they go and make their own decisions.
In our recommendations, taking part in negotiations is crucial; it also makes sense.
9:35 a.m.
NDP
Robert Aubin NDP Trois-Rivières, QC
Absolutely.
In your respective communities, does francophone Radio-Canada play a key role?
9:35 a.m.
Director, Conseil des écoles fransaskoises
It is important for us because it is a network where we can talk about our community, our communities, and we can find out what is going on. In minority communities, it is crucial to be able to see who we are, to celebrate everything good that happens and to talk about it, as well as to address our challenges. We need that voice to assert ourselves and to be recognized by the public at large in Saskatchewan.
9:35 a.m.
NDP
Robert Aubin NDP Trois-Rivières, QC
Do you feel that Radio-Canada reflects who you are in your community?
9:35 a.m.
Director, Conseil des écoles fransaskoises
Generally, yes. I think Radio-Canada is making a good effort. More specifically, the extra half an hour added to the evening Téléjournal helped with making the needs of the community better known. We participate a lot in various interviews. Also, some portions of Radio-Canada's day programming give us the opportunity to make our voice heard and to spread the word about what is going on in our communities.
9:35 a.m.
President, Conseil scolaire fransaskois
It is not just Radio-Canada's programming. The employees are also part of the community. Many of them are involved in the community in order to enhance its vitality and so on.
9:35 a.m.
Conservative
Bernard Trottier Conservative Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I would also like to thank our guests for coming here today. As a francophone minority, I am even more delighted to see you here today. As I was saying earlier, I am a former Albertan living in Toronto now. We are sort of experiencing the same challenges, though they are not exactly the same.
I would also like to commend Saskatchewan on its recent economic strength in Canada. I think it is a strength. You now have more immigrants. This is adding to the number of francophones in Saskatchewan and also to the diversity of the French fact in Saskatchewan, I think.
Could you talk about the dynamic relationship between the francophonie in cities and the francophonie in more rural areas? Mr. Gourde talked earlier about the dynamics at the beginning of the century. How are things different in terms of needs and schools?
9:40 a.m.
Director, Conseil des écoles fransaskoises
We certainly have fewer students in our rural schools. This means that our teachers often have multi-grade classes, which makes the task more difficult in itself.
You mentioned immigration in Saskatchewan. We are definitely starting to see the effects of immigration even in rural communities. But that means there should be more promotion and outreach on the francophone side. At the moment, the programs in place and receiving funding from the Saskatchewan government focus more on the anglophone side. So funding is needed for immigration so that we can act as a host community and have the services required to be welcoming.
To come back to needs, we have to say that, in cities, when we have enough students in a classroom, we cannot have multi-grade classes. Most schools have single-grade classes. For example, if there are 51 students in the Catholic school system in Regina, they create three classes.
At one point, we had 33 students and, since we did not have enough funding, we tried to set up multi-grade classes, but we were losing our students. That did not work to our advantage.
9:40 a.m.
Conservative
Bernard Trottier Conservative Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON
In Saskatchewan, do you have two francophone school systems, a Catholic system and a public system?
9:40 a.m.
Director, Conseil des écoles fransaskoises
No, the school board administers both. There is no Catholic system as such, but there is a provision in the legislation that lets the school board determine the religious education that is going to be taught, with moral education as an option.
9:40 a.m.
Conservative
Bernard Trottier Conservative Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON
In the anglophone system, are there also French immersion courses?
9:40 a.m.
Conservative
Bernard Trottier Conservative Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON
Is there any tension between the two systems? Do the two systems compete against each other for students?
9:40 a.m.
Director, Conseil des écoles fransaskoises
Yes, they do compete. English school boards are not required to tell people who are eligible that they should go to a Franco-Saskatchewanian school. Sometimes, people are in the immersion system and they think it is a francophone school.
9:40 a.m.
President, Conseil scolaire fransaskois
The same message was passed to welcome centres and organizations, such as the Open Door Society, Regional Newcomer Gateways, and so on.
We were sort of comparing the nature of rural communities at the beginning of the century and today. I’m not sure if things have changed. For example, I visited the school in Bellegarde, a pretty little community in the southeast of the province, for the graduation of eight students. The gym was so full that I was afraid firefighters might have to come. There were at least 400 people when there are usually 150 people in that small community. You need a bigger gym for graduation or other celebrations; otherwise, things aren't up to their normal standards. You get the idea of the level of enthusiasm in a situation like that.
In Bellegarde and Gravelbourg, it is always amazing how involved people are.
9:40 a.m.
Conservative
Bernard Trottier Conservative Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON
There is also a sense of vitality outside schools.
I know people from Willow Bunch, for example. I knew the Champagne family when I was young.
Can you quickly give us an overview of linguistic vitality outside schools? I think those two things go hand in hand. It is very important to have a francophone environment both at school and outside. Are there other French-language radio stations in Saskatchewan in addition to Radio-Canada?
9:40 a.m.
President, Conseil scolaire fransaskois
The community is very vibrant. The Association communautaire fransaskoise is active in more communities than schools. Actually, the association always has representatives, local associations, if you will, that promote the French language and capitalize on the fact that there is a community centre and activities. Networking also takes place. We work a lot with schools and the community because, together, we will be able to get things done.
For example, Saskatoon has an urban village. Another one is being developed in Regina. There is a great deal of interaction between the two, and we can understand how important that is. If there was only the school, we wouldn’t be able to survive. The community has to be active and vice versa.
9:45 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Michael Chong
Thank you, Mr. Trottier.
Thank you for your testimony, Mr. Lebel and Mr. Roy.
We are now going to suspend for one minute before we start the third part of this meeting.
9:45 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Michael Chong
Welcome to the Standing Committee on Official Languages.
Joining us are Mr. Fahmy and Mr. Turbide from the Table de concertation du livre franco-ontarien.
The floor is yours.