First, there was an obvious lack of French-language postsecondary programs in central-southwest Ontario. In addition, there is strong population growth there.
So we focused on that on our own initiative because we wanted to analyze the issue in greater depth. We therefore requested all the figures. We prepared a 78-page report, which we submitted today, on the status of postsecondary education in central-southwest Ontario.
We informed the government and officials of this obvious lack in a 2012 report entitled The State of French-Language Postsecondary Education in Central-Southwestern Ontario: No access, no future—kind of a punchy title.
This is the region where the population is growing and and where the largest percentage of the student population is studying at the postsecondary level. Since there is a shortage of French-language postsecondary programs, students quite obviously study in English. They are trained in English and then wind up in absurd situations in which francophone nurses hesitate to speak to us in French because they haven't learned the terminology or the exact words in that language and are somewhat uncomfortable.
Since we were hearing this every week, it was time to advise the government to ensure that postsecondary education could be provided in French.
We lit a minor fire by publishing the report, but it was the community that took charge of it, more specifically organizations such as the Assemblée de la francophonie de l'Ontario, the AFO; the Fédération de la jeunesse franco-ontarienne, the FESFO; and the Rassemblement étudiant franco-ontarien, the REFO. They organized the États généraux sur le postsecondaire en Ontario français.
A dialogue was established between the community and the government. The latter conducted two studies that confirmed our investigation report and our figures. They obviously confirmed our figures because they came from the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities and from the Ministry of Education. That started a discussion, and the dialogue spread throughout the community. We took a step back, thinking that it was no longer our responsibility because a dialogue was going on in the community. The university was thus created.
Currently, however, the fact that it has been abandoned concerns me in my capacity as commissioner because there is still an obvious lack of French-language postsecondary education programs in the central-southwest region.