She is the wife of Mr. Legault, the leader of the CAQ. I was reflecting on all this and I realized that I still have a lot of work to do and that we are still a long way from our goal.
In my view, bilingualism depends on culture. In fact, I think the very survival of a population depends on culture. Considering the limited resources we have here in Saskatchewan, we are performing miracles, achieving incredible things, but it's all hanging by a thread. We are keeping things afloat, but it's not always easy. The French language needs to be promoted more effectively, more prominently and more actively, and the Official Languages Act needs to be modernized, so that the fransaskois culture can flourish and be showcased more.
Additionally, the act must be more than just a declaration or words written on paper. It must also be binding. For us, enforcing the legislation is key. Having meetings like this one is all well and good. I think it's excellent, but enforcing the law, what happens on the ground, is another matter. Enforcing the Official Languages Act is crucial, especially here, where we are a very small minority. We represent only about 1.8% of the population. That's pretty small, but we are quite strong.
We are a strong and vibrant community, but there are some gaps in our ability to promote our artists. Recently, one of our artists managed to take first place at the Granby International Song Festival. It was the first time in the history of Saskatchewan that one of our francophone artists has won this Quebec competition.
It's huge, but there is still work to be done. We definitely need to promote that artist. The official languages program can help us to some degree, but it must absolutely be modernized in order to be able to meet our artists' needs, whether in music, visual arts or other areas. It's also important that French not be limited to just the federal government; it needs to be recognized all across Canada.
I will now give Ms. Campagne a chance to add her remarks.