Evidence of meeting #109 for Official Languages in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was action.
11:50 a.m.
Executive Director, Société de développement économique de la Colombie-Britannique
Yes.
We are also creating francophone companies. We support small businesses. Those are francophone businesses. That is a program we are managing with WD.
We have another program we are managing jointly with Employment and Social Development Canada, or ESDC. We pay young people over a few months to work in companies and we help immigrants integrate into those companies. We are mostly talking about anglophone companies.
11:50 a.m.
Saint-Jean, Lib.
Thank you.
I will move on to another topic.
Mr. Laberge, you talked about early childhood services. You say that the government should grant special status to francophones in that area, as far as I understand. Early childhood services are considered equal, be they francophone or anglophone, even though the needs are different. Can you tell us more about that?
This morning, we have been made very much aware of early childhood services. We were told that four francophone children out of five were assimilated. That seems to be a priority if we want to ensure the survival of French in British Columbia.
11:50 a.m.
President, Educacentre College
Thank you very much for the question.
I have a clarification to make.
What is important to us are training services for early childhood practitioners. If we want to increase the number of places, for example, in daycares, we have to make sure to have qualified personnel.
Qualified personnel is part of a professional association in the province. Any training program for those people must be approved by the professional association. Certain conditions have to be met, such as obtaining copyrights for a program. So we are assuming that the program has already been developed.
The money earmarked under the agreement is intended for the program offering, but not for its development. We take it for granted that the program has already been developed, while anglophone public colleges receive further funding for program development. This example shows that we need some latitude.
As my colleagues from the francophone school board said earlier, the money has been distributed without any consultations. Had officials consulted us before stating that a certain percentage would go to a certain sector and another percentage to another sector, we could have told them what our needs were. That would have been more effective and would have met our needs better.
11:55 a.m.
Saint-Jean, Lib.
The new action plan provides significant funds for early childhood. Does that not give you the money you need to develop early childhood programs?
11:55 a.m.
Liberal
11:55 a.m.
Conservative
Alupa Clarke Conservative Beauport—Limoilou, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good morning, everyone.
Mr. Rothon, I am happy to see you again. What is happening with the decision Mr. Choquette mentioned? An appeal has been appealed, correct?
11:55 a.m.
Executive Director, Fédération des francophones de la Colombie-Britannique
That's correct. Without going into too much detail, as the case is before the courts, I can confirm that we have used our right of appeal and are currently before the courts in appeal. I also think we are ready to take it as far as the Supreme Court of Canada if necessary.
11:55 a.m.
Conservative
Alupa Clarke Conservative Beauport—Limoilou, QC
According to you, did the situation that is hurting you develop when the government of Christy Clark was in power?
11:55 a.m.
Executive Director, Fédération des francophones de la Colombie-Britannique
When it happened....
11:55 a.m.
Conservative
Alupa Clarke Conservative Beauport—Limoilou, QC
What I'm actually wondering is whether the current NDP government would take action. What is its opinion on this? Is it known?
The NDP was not in power when the contentious situation developed, right?
11:55 a.m.
Executive Director, Fédération des francophones de la Colombie-Britannique
No. Since we went to court, the government has changed at both levels—at the federal level and in British Columbia. The current agreements have been standardized by the provincial public service, and they have been renewed or are currently been renewed, so they are in the works at the provincial level. A call for tenders has been launched, and people have responded.
It is interesting to note that this agreement, which concerns employment centres, will continue to treat francophones as a specialized population, and French as an additional language and not an official language. That is entirely part of the provincial government's culture.
11:55 a.m.
Conservative
Alupa Clarke Conservative Beauport—Limoilou, QC
Someone told you that a surgical procedure would be needed—for example, amending part VII or part IV of the act. Who told you that this would lead to many complications? Was it some bureaucrat in Ottawa?
11:55 a.m.
Executive Director, Fédération des francophones de la Colombie-Britannique
We have conducted consultations. We were looking for an immediate solution or corrective action.
11:55 a.m.
Conservative
11:55 a.m.
Executive Director, Fédération des francophones de la Colombie-Britannique
We have consulted a number of stakeholders—political parties, but also lawyers and constitutional experts. It was rather legal professionals who convinced us that it was better to wait.
11:55 a.m.
Conservative
11:55 a.m.
Executive Director, Fédération des francophones de la Colombie-Britannique
Lawyers.
11:55 a.m.
Executive Director, Fédération des francophones de la Colombie-Britannique
They convinced us that the idea itself was interesting, but that the approach was not really realistic in the context of overhauling the act, and that it may have undesirable results for us. According to them, it was better to wait.
11:55 a.m.
Conservative
Alupa Clarke Conservative Beauport—Limoilou, QC
Okay.
There is something I would now like to clarify. Are members of your federation still operating with the funding from the 2018 roadmap or have they already started to receive money from the 2018 action plan?
11:55 a.m.
Executive Director, Fédération des francophones de la Colombie-Britannique
They are operating somewhat like us—in other words, a number of them have multi-annual agreements.
11:55 a.m.
Conservative
11:55 a.m.
Executive Director, Fédération des francophones de la Colombie-Britannique
The agreements date back to the roadmap.
