Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee.
I am representing the Fédération nationale des conseils scolaires francophones today as its President. I am also President of Prince Edward Island's Commission scolaire de langue française. I am here with our federation's Executive Director, Mr. Roger Paul.
We want to thank you for your invitation to appear before the Standing Committee on Official Languages as part of your study on second official language immersion programs in Canada.
Who are we? Our presentation this afternoon will allow us to tell you more about the federation, while sharing the organization's point of view on national education, specifically immersion programs.
The federation is responsible for representing the interests of the 29 francophone and Acadian school boards in every Canadian province and territory, except Quebec. It is active on a political level with the various bodies involved, and on the pedagogical and administrative level through the Regroupement national des directions générales de l'éducation, within which the country's 29 directors of education operate.
With regard to our link with immersion, allow me to tell you from the start that immersion programs are not part of the federation's scope of activity. However, we take great interest in the deployment of these programs since they help develop and promote linguistic duality in Canada, as does the French-language education system.
Now I will hand the floor over to our Executive Director, Mr. Paul.