Mr. Chairman, membres du comité, thank you for the opportunity to share Human Resources and Skills Development Canada's contribution to the road map for Canada's linguistic duality. Human Resources and Skills Development Canada's mission is to build a stronger and more competitive Canada, to support Canadians in making choices that help them live productive and rewarding lives, and to improve Canadians' quality of life.
Within its mandate, HRSDC is committed to supporting initiatives that foster the development of official language minority communities and that promote the use of English and French in Canadian society.
Under the Roadmap, the department allocated $94 million over a five-year period to implement four initiatives in the areas of social, human resource and economic development of official language minority communities in Canada.
Let me begin with the enabling fund for official language minority communities. The enabling fund is HRSDC's main contribution under the road map and is a cornerstone initiative in community, economic, and human resource development for official language minority communities. The Commissioner of Official Languages has recognized the enabling fund as an example of a positive measure.
The initiative represents an investment of $69 million over five years, which has funded the operations and activities of 14 national, provincial, and territorial not-for-profit organizations, including
the Réseau de développement économique et d'employabilité, the RDÉE,
the national coordinating body for francophone communities; 12 provincial-territorial networks representing francophone and Acadian minority communities; and CEDEC, the Community Economic Development and Employability Corporation, representing Quebec's anglophone communities.
The success of these organizations has been based on their ability to forge partnerships and to build on the strengths and expertise of others. For example, in 2010-11, enabling fund recipient organizations leveraged over $40 million from the public, private, and non-profit sectors, representing three times the value of the original investments made through the enabling fund.
The RDÉE and CEDEC networks create hubs for community-based partnerships. They support an integrated approach to local economic and human resources development, and they have undertaken innovative projects that respond to local needs. For example, RDÉE Ontario developed La bonne affaire, an innovative model that supports the economic integration of francophone immigrants into small and medium-sized businesses. CEDEC has worked with the remote anglophone community on Quebec's north shore to develop the tourism sector to support economic diversification in the region. CEDEC helped members of the community acquire the skills they needed to be successful and facilitated the development of strategic partnerships with tourism associations.
A second Human Resources and Skills Development Canada initiative under the Roadmap is strengthening the capacity of non-governmental organizations for early childhood development. Four million dollars has been allocated to this initiative over five years.
The funding is used to promote the linguistic and cultural aspects of early childhood development while strengthening and improving access to programs and services in official language minority communities. It recognizes the important role that the not-for-profit sector plays in building relationships, networks and partnerships with parent and learning organizations for an environment that supports early childhood development at the community level.
The funding is used to support the Commission nationale des parents francophones, which includes obtaining a consensus on a vision for early childhood development in official language minority communities and preparing a harmonized national action plan, including the development and transfer of educational tools and products for children and families such as video clips, a guidebook and resources for professionals.
The work of the Commission nationale des parents francophones and its partners has helped to strengthen and improve access to programs and services in official language minority communities. It has worked to create a strong network where partners can work shoulder to shoulder to sustain and evolve the vision for early childhood development among communities and their stakeholders.
The third Human Resources and Skills Development Canada component under the road map is the child care pilot project. Funding for this initiative is $13.5 million over the life of the road map. The initiative is a research project studying the impacts of a French language preschool program on linguistic and cultural development and on the readiness to learn of young children living in francophone minority communities.
The project is being conducted in six communities: Saint John and Edmundston in New Brunswick; Cornwall, Durham, and Orléans in Ontario; and Edmonton, Alberta. Approximately 400 children and their families are participating in this project.
The pilot project is a unique initiative that provides research evidence on what works for children growing up in minority francophone communities. The results are particularly informative for parents, service providers, and communities with respect to the design and delivery of early childhood development and the identification of ways to preserve francophone culture and language. So far, the results of the study indicate a positive impact of the preschool program on the school readiness of children growing up in minority francophone communities.
The fourth and last Human Resources and Skills Development Canada initiative under the Roadmap is the family literacy initiative. The purpose of the family literacy initiative is to improve access to francophone family literacy services by supporting networks and partnerships with various community stakeholders with a view to reaching families and adults that play an important role in the lives of children. Family literacy services are being integrated into existing community programs and services, and tailored to the specific literacy needs of minority communities. Total funding for this initiative is $7.5 million for 2008-2013.
This initiative is managed by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada's Office of Literacy and Essential Skills which in turn is working closely with the Réseau pour Ie développement de I'alphabétisme et des compétences and its partners to implement the initiative. The initiative objectives are to strengthen networks and create new partnerships; to adapt literacy services and programs to meet the particular needs of certain groups within a minority community setting; and to increase access to family literacy training and to have qualified trainers. The Family Literacy Initiative has supported eight new research reports identifying needs and tools for targeted groups, developed nine family literacy models, implemented two awareness strategies and published various promotional tools.
This completes the overview of the four initiatives supported by Human Resources and Skills Development under the road map. Human Resources and Skills Development Canada remains committed, through its policies, programs, and services, to listening to communities and responding to their needs. The department has developed an integrated official language minority community consultation framework to facilitate meaningful consultations at both the national and regional levels. The department has established and continues to maintain ongoing dialogue with communities to gain a better understanding of their views, needs, and priorities. Human Resources and Skills Development Canada is contributing to the horizontal evaluation of the road map that has been conducted by Canadian Heritage. Two initiatives are being formally evaluated at this time: the enabling fund and the family literacy initiative. These evaluations are well under way and are expected to be completed by the summer of 2012.
The department also reports on its initiatives under the road map through the departmental performance report of Canadian Heritage that's tabled in Parliament annually.
I want to reassure the members of the committee that our department is committed to fostering the development of official languages minority communities and linguistic duality, and will continue to support and explore avenues to pursue this engagement.
I would like to thank you for this opportunity to present the departmental accomplishments with regards to the Roadmap. My colleague and I will be pleased to respond to your questions. Thank you.
Thank you very much.