Good morning. Thank you very much. The Canadian Teachers' Federation (CTF) is pleased to respond to the invitation to present our testimony. Joining me today is Mr. Ronald Boudreau, our Director of Services to Francophones.
At the outset, we wish to stress that we appreciate your open-mindedness in wanting to better understand the challenges surrounding the official languages, although it seems as if the whole exercise has gradually turned into a consultation process in view of a federal strategy. We would be remiss if we did not mention that we would have hoped for a more formal consultation mechanism if indeed the presentations made before the committee were to lead to the next roadmap.
Moreover, the Sommet des communautés francophones et acadiennes (Summit of Francophone and Acadian Communities of Canada) held in June 2007 laid the foundations for strategic planning by minority francophone community partners, including the CTF. The Government of Canada should give special consideration to the strategic community plan that grew out of the summit and involve in a special manner those stakeholders who speak on behalf of their members while encouraging the development of structures that would strengthen the autonomy of minority communities.
The CTF represents approximately 200,000 teachers through its member organizations. Of these, over 10,000 work in minority French-language schools and approximately 8,000 in English-language schools in Quebec. Given this particularity of our membership reflecting both Canadian linguistic minorities, we are confident that we can bring a balanced perspective to a federal official languages support strategy.
Let us first emphasize that the notion of equality between both official language communities will be at the heart of our presentation. The CTF has for a long time defended the rights of its members and advocated for a just and equitable public education system in Canada and throughout the world. However, we are increasingly aware that even though schools provide an unrivalled development tool to ensure the preservation of languages in minority settings, they cannot counter on their own the effects of linguistic assimilation.
We have just published a survey prepared by the researcher Diane Gerin-Lajoie that compares the reality of francophones living in minority settings and that of Quebec anglophones, also a minority group in that province. This study confirms, among other things, that the visibility of the minority language and culture in the public space has an important impact on an individual’s connection to identity. Not surprisingly, identity building has become one of the key elements of the francophone communities' mandate. It is however disturbing to think that the lack of French in the public space can bring young francophones to question the relevance of their mother tongue when the time comes to contemplate their future.
We will therefore focus in this presentation on some of the many challenges related to living in French in a sustained manner in minority settings, while recognizing that the development of the next federal official languages support strategy will also foster the preservation and full development of Quebec's anglophone community. Our presentation will also include a few recommendations in three areas that are particularly dear to our hearts as teacher representatives.
The first area is early childhood and welcoming measures. In 2004, the CTF published a study entitled Teachers and the Challenge of Teaching in Francophone Minority Settings. A high percentage of teachers reported the dominance of English in their communities as one of the main challenges they were facing. This situation is greatly exacerbated by key demographic considerations: the rural depopulation weakens regions where the concentration of francophones is highest; and the growing number of francophones living in urban settings is also having a direct impact on their escalating assimilation.
Two other factors must also be considered: the recruitment of children of rights-holders and the welcoming of newcomers. Teachers in French-language schools fully support the efforts being made by all stakeholders to welcome the largest possible number of children entitled to a French-language education in their schools, but they are deeply concerned over the diversity in family backgrounds, especially when these children speak little or no French upon their enrolment in French-language schools.
Teachers also greatly support the intake of children of immigrant families, but worry about the lack of measures to support these families both at the school and community levels. The linguistic challenges are obvious, but there can be other equally important concerns.
In the summer of 2007, the CTF commissioned a study on the intake of immigrant families into French-language schools. The research demonstrated just how poorly prepared minority communities are for welcoming newcomers, whether into the school system or in the community.
This gives rise to two observations. First of all, the next federal official languages support strategy must provide substantial support for early childhood development, which is the avenue most likely to be able to support recruitment efforts in French-language schools. Furthermore, this component of the strategy must go hand and hand with a set of welcoming measures, both at the school and community levels, so that the children of rights holders, as well as those from immigrant communities, will be able to contribute to the francophonie and to Canadian society as a whole.
We recommend that the federal official languages strategies invest in intake and support initiatives of those generations wishing to renew their ties with French or for immigrant families wanting to enrol their children in French-language schools. We also recommend that it promote the establishment of French-language early childhood centres across the country to prepare children for their active participation in French-language schools and in the francophone community generally.
The second challenge has to do with new technologies. Education in French in Canadian minority settings makes sense only in an economic framework that gives it an equitable place. Parents who choose to send their children to French-language schools do so in part because of their attachment to the language, but also in the hope that the next generation will be provided with more opportunities to live in French in every sphere of human endeavour. The driving force behind young people's decision to continue their education in French-language public and post-secondary schools is the opportunity to work in their language or to benefit from their bilingual skills.
The CTF is concerned about how little attention is being paid to technology in the measures to support official language communities. We released last year the results of a survey involving more than 1,600 French-language school students on technology and building a francophone identity. Given our previous comments on public space and resulting concerns, we are disturbed by the lack of opportunities to communicate in French through technologies since they are the media most widely used by young people throughout the world. We therefore believe that the federal official languages strategy must promote increased French-language content on the web and infrastructures that monitor, update and renew information. We also believe that the government must support innovative initiatives for the use of technology in areas like networking, distance education, language learning and dissemination of cultural content.
The third challenge has to do with research support. For the past 15 years, children have been educated in French in communities where several generations before them would never have dreamed of the possibility. Thus the advent of French-language school governance by the francophone community, sometimes after a hard-fought battle, marks an important turning point in the history of Canadian bilingualism. The empowerment of the francophone community in education has yielded sound results. It is contributing to the progress of bilingualism and to respect for cultural diversity across the country. The Government of Canada needs to learn lessons from this experience and to try to apply it in other areas. This empowerment of the community cannot take place without relevant information on the realities and challenges that are at the heart of the French-language schools’ mandate.
Therefore, we cannot overemphasize the importance of research for the advancement of language communities, particularly in minority settings. The numerous studies conducted by the CTF received solid support in the past from the federal government through the Department of Canadian Heritage. These studies and surveys enabled us to better understand the realities of communities and to intervene more coherently with young people on whom rests the future of Canadian bilingualism.
The federal official languages strategy must support research and dissemination of knowledge so that decisions and investments are based on reliable data that would be likely to yield results.
To conclude, the CTF is one of the national organizations to have followed the lead of the Canadian government with respect to bilingualism and the modernization of its structure. Our federation defines itself as bilingual in its operations and publications, and serves organizations whose membership reflects Canada's linguistic duality.
We are proud to contribute in a significant manner to the development of our country and of the values that make it strong and unique, both at home and abroad. Much remains to be done to give language minorities all the elements they need to live in French on an everyday basis. This is what drives our actions as a Canadian federation, and we can only hope that this will equally be the driving force and ultimate goal of the Canadian government in the development of its next official languages support strategy.
Thank you.