I have the figures here for each of the provinces. As you know, we work with the provinces and territories, and we have agreements with them. We have a five-year agreement under which we made a commitment to provide more money so that they can meet the expectations in education and increase the number of students who study in the official languages.
I have the numbers here.
From 2007 to 2008 in Saskatchewan, for example, they increased the number of students enrolled in intensive French and enhanced French from 400 students to almost 800, so there's been a doubling of those students in Saskatchewan.
In New Brunswick we've increased it by 36% in 2007-08 to 70% this year. It's gone from 36% to 70% of grade 10 students who are achieving oral proficiency in intermediate programs.
In Nova Scotia there's been an increase from 77% in 2008 to 85% in 2012 of students from grades 6 to 9 who are succeeding in their provincial assessments in French as their second language.
In Ontario we've added new preschool day care places in French-language schools. We've increased the number by over 1,100 new spaces.
In the province of Quebec there's been an increase in the number of community learning centres that are offering educational opportunities for kids.
Education is increasing. French immersion enrolment in English Canada has gone up 10% since our government came into office. What's really going to be essential as we move forward, as we see the Stats Canada numbers.... I think everybody in this committee is quite familiar with the numbers. In 2001, if memory serves, 4.4% of Canadians outside the province of Quebec were francophone first. In 2006 it had gone to 4.2%, and in the most recent numbers it was at 4%. However, the number of Canadians who speak more than one language is growing by a large number.
In terms of the best way for this country to continue to be a country that has English- and French-speaking Canadians both, in all regions of this country, in my view there are two main avenues to achieve that ultimate goal.
One is to have a larger focus by provincial and federal governments, but mainly provinces. We can use the investments we have, as the federal government, as a fulcrum to leverage for better outcomes on education. We have to ensure that we have an effective education system that is teaching more young Canadians, especially in English Canada, the value of learning and speaking quality French in this country.
The second-best way, that works in parallel with that, is to ensure that Canada is seen as a country that is welcoming immigrants who speak French to this country.
You know, Canada is the only country in the G-8 that had a net increase in inflows of immigrants during the recession. Every other country in the world reduced its immigration inflows. As you know, in many countries in the world, including the United States, there's a very aggressive anti-immigration political movement. In Canada we don't have that. We don't have that tradition. It doesn't exist in any of our political parties in Canada, that anti-immigration sentiment. That's an incredible benefit for this country, because Canadians realize the importance of immigration to our economic and social well-being.
For the purposes of national unity, for the purposes of official languages, it is critical for this country that we educate young Canadians in the value of learning both of Canada's official languages and that we have a welcoming immigration system, so that when new Canadians come to this country, we're attracting new immigrants who speak French and who can fully realize their professional capacities in the official language of their choice.
I think for every political party in the last campaign, part of their platform talked about how to best integrate new Canadians into the workforce. The truth is that the biggest barrier for any new Canadian in having full access to all the opportunities of Canadian society is not credential recognition, it's the language barrier. And if there's a language barrier between French immigrants to having access to Canadian society because of their capacity to speak French, that's a barrier that we should be tackling more aggressively as a country.
For those new Canadians who are coming here from Rwanda, who are coming here from the entire family of the Francophonie, we want to make sure that they have the opportunity, if they move to Edmonton or to Vancouver, to have upward mobility in the Canadian economy. We want to make sure that the language barrier of Canada's official languages is a barrier that is smaller and smaller as we move forward.