Mr. Chair, members of the committee, I am Michel Robillard, Vice-President of the Réseau pour le développement de l'alphabétisme et des compétences, RESDAC. I am accompanied by Normand Lévesque, the organization's director general.
Thank you for this invitation to appear before the Standing Committee on Official Languages to express our views as part of your study of the economic situation of Canada's minority linguistic communities.
For more than 20 years, RESDAC has been mobilizing its strategic partners around the social project of improving literacy and skill levels among francophone adults in Canada, who would in turn fully engage in their communities' civic, economic, social and cultural life, and thus contribute to their growth and development.
As Angel Gurria, Secretary-General of the OECD, said, skills have become the global currency of the 21st century. According to the OECD, skills transform lives and drive economies. To that end, it is crucial that the whole population of a given country, as well as its workforce, possess skills for life.
The OECD goes on, stating that the way we live and work has changed profoundly, and so has the set of skills we need to participate fully in and benefit from our hyper-connected societies and increasingly knowledge-based economies.
What about Canada? What about skills development among francophone adults, supporting employment and supporting the growth of our communities across the country?
Ten years ago, Canada's situation in terms of essential skills was clearly problematic. Results from the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies, PIAAC, published in October 2013, are just as clear in demonstrating that the problem is still unresolved. Are we on the wrong track?
Canada's performance is less than stellar, leaving the country in a difficult situation. Canada ranks at the OECD average in literacy. However, it has a higher proportion of its population at the highest but also at the lowest levels in literacy. Canada ranks below the OECD average in numeracy, and a higher proportion of Canadians are at the lowest levels in this area. Canada is rated above the OECD average in problem solving in technology-rich environments. However, 17% of Canadians did not complete the evaluation because 11% of them did not have the basic computer skills and 6% of them opted out of the computer-based assessment.
Canada has a larger proportion of adults at the lowest proficiency levels in all three targeted domains, compared with the OECD average.
An important and disturbing fact to note is that official language minority populations tend not to perform as well as official language majority populations—except for anglophones in Quebec—but differences vary across provinces.
If skills have become the global currency of the 21st century, our bank is in debt. Our line of credit is seriously threatened by rating agencies, is it not?
The time has come for innovative and dynamic responses. The implementation of 21st century skills for the 21st century will be an intricate challenge, requiring that we act together with all our partners. There is danger in waiting. New requirements are constantly emerging in terms of training, employment and economic development. Now, more than ever, we need to devise innovative and bold policies.
While similar to those faced by the majority of Canadian adults, issues of skills development among official language minority communities are amplified by other types of obstacles. Results of the 2003 survey and those of the PIAAC demonstrate it quite clearly. Literacy skills establish a foundation for learning all other skills. They also form the basis of training services provided to adult learners, for them to learn, work and contribute to their communities' economic development. In the Canadian context, it is not sufficient to apply an all-encompassing approach in terms of policies and programs designed to increase literacy levels and skills development among francophone adults.
Progress made in terms of innovation, research, expertise development, and community mobilization and involvement is currently jeopardized by the absence of a well-defined vision and adequate funding for organizations and institutions devoted to skills development. We must promptly act together with all our partners.
The presence of networks such as RESDAC across the country, as well as of key players from provincial and territorial governments, economic agencies and training centres is a guarantee of success. It is up to the federal government to recognize this and to provide concrete support to these best practices.
We need long-term support through significant funding. The implementation of the Roadmap for Canada's Official Languages 2013-2018 is lagging behind in the area of skills development and social partnerships. The federal government's commitment dates back to March 2013 and has yet to materialize. We have no information regarding the implementation of this focus area, and none of the actors within the skills sector have had access to this funding. The lack of funding jeopardizes the progress made in recent years, and prevents economic and government stakeholders from working with quality community partners.
The government must increase policies and measures that allow the Canadian population to develop skills on an ongoing basis. It must also ensure that less qualified individuals—who are not likely to engage in training and who may benefit less from training provided by employers and established services—can escape the vicious circle of low skills and low income.
The government must transform the wealth of data on skills and their impact on Canada, its population and its development, into tangible opportunities to design and implement policies, programs and funding frameworks that meet the needs of OLMCs in terms of employment, economic development and skills development.
Last, we must improve our understanding of the labour market and the economy within OLMCs, as well as issues, challenges and best practices related to skills development by actively supporting research and innovative projects.
Mr. Chair and members of the committee, thank you for your interest.