Mr. Chair, ladies and gentlemen, the Société Nationale de l'Acadie was born 131 years ago out of the Acadian renewal at the end of the 19th century, expressing the desire of our "stateless people" to develop its own distinctive voice. "Strength in Unity" is our motto: it attests to our determination to grow strong within this Canada of ours, a country we do not question and whose nationality we proudly bear.
The SNA is the oldest francophone institution outside of Quebec; it existed long before official bilingualism came into being and it is here to stay. The SNA is a federation representing each of the Atlantic provinces francophone associations and, since 1988, the four corresponding youth organizations—a unique innovation in our country that guarantees the longevity and originality of the SNA's ideas and actions.
The SNA is the only body representing the Acadian people—its only means of promotion at home and abroad. For more than 60 years now, it has represented Acadia to member states of the Francophonie, mainly France and Belgium, with which it signed bilateral people-to-people agreements that are unique. It is also active in the Americas, most notably with the Acadians of Maine and Louisiana. In short, the SNA represents the Acadian people at home and on the international stage, and it delivers important services in the Atlantic region, a space that the SNA is the only francophone organization to occupy.
Our priorities are demographic growth and immigration, youth, culture and identity, literacy, and communications. The SNA plays a key role in these sectors by delivering services that contribute to the economic development of the Acadian people and, as such, of the Atlantic region as a whole.
In the area of demographic growth and immigration, the SNA has set up, in 2007, a round table on francophone immigration in the Atlantic region. It brings together experts from the four provinces who are developing an immigration strategy for the international market. This offers organizations and the provinces an essential service made possible only because of the international stature of the SNA.
In the cultural area, the SNA's initiative for the promotion of Acadian artists internationally is a unique service, whose usefulness and reach are recognized by the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) that funds most of this initiative because of its economic benefits.
Culture also means being proud of one's identity and in this regard, the SNA, since 2004, has assumed responsibility for the World Acadian Congress, an international event organized every five years that draws thousands of participants. In 2014, the CMA will be held in northern New Brunswick and the bordering Temiscouata region of Quebec and northern Maine, an international initiative that will bring millions of dollars in economic benefits to the region.
For youth, we are launching this year a promising initiative, a youth mobility office bringing under one roof all the possibilities in training, exchanges and travel-work placements abroad for young Acadians and francophones of the Atlantic region, and, conversely, for youth from the Francophonie who wish to come to Acadia to learn a new skill or share their knowledge. Agreements with Saint-Pierre et Miquelon, France, Belgium, Louisiana and the four Atlantic provinces, allow us to deliver quality services in a concerted and economical way. Moreover, the SNA has for many years organized Atlantic youth events, such as the Acadian Youth Festival in the area of culture and the Acadian Youth Parliament in leadership. In 2007, we also set up a round table on literacy with Atlantic-provinces and federal experts who are working together in a concerted effort to fight this major problem.
Today we wish to share with you our ideas on the Roadmap for Canada's Linguistic Duality from which we get our core funding—from the national fund—and to offer our suggestions for the future.
First of all, I want to emphasize that the roadmap has been a great improvement. It gave us all—the SNA, its member organizations and indeed all the Canadian francophonie—the benefits of a precise development plan, national in scope, taking into account the community, its priorities and objectives, and for a five-year period that allowed for longer-term results-oriented planning.
Here are our recommendations for the future.
We are in favour of continuing the present roadmap model over a five-year period.
We recommend that more federal departments be involved in the roadmap in the spirit of section 7 of the act.
We encourage multi-year agreements in order to foster long-term capacity building for community organizations.
We are in favour of core funding for organizations because of its leverage effect. For each dollar of core funding, tens of other dollars are raised.
In the case of the SNA, however, the present core funding is insufficient to fulfill the organization's mandate: we receive $168,000—which works out to about 50 cents per Acadian, as I like to say—an amount that has practically not changed in six years and that is not meeting our most basic expenses. This year again, thanks to special projects, the total funding of the SNA is around $800,000; but such an effort, year after year, means some very expensive human costs and undermines the SNA's capacity to devote energy to important projects, such as a communication effort with the anglophone community and the protection and promotion of our Acadian symbols.
In this regard, we would like to suggest two new approaches to secure adequate core funding for the SNA. Recognizing its unique position in the country as the only francophone organization representing the Acadian people—that is, the second francophone founding people of Canada—we suggest that the federal government create a trust fund to secure the base financing of the SNA, or create a special fund for the SNA outside of the national fund.
With such a model ensuring adequate core funding, as is already the privilege of other groups financed by the national fund, the SNA will be in a position to fully achieve its mandate, which is to promote Acadia, and thus Canada, around the world, and to develop, in the Atlantic region, the links, projects and initiatives that are needed to enrich the region both humanly and economically.
Thank you for your attention.