Evidence of meeting #22 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 francophone.
A recording is available from Parliament.
9:25 a.m.
Liberal
Paul Lefebvre Liberal Sudbury, ON
Excellent.
If investments were increased under the next federal action plan, what would the members of your organization do with the additional amounts? What would that mean for you in concrete terms?
9:25 a.m.
Director General, Réseau des cégeps et des collèges francophones du Canada
First, it would mean more projects. I have to say that, when we started, the people from the francophone cégeps and colleges were not used to working together. They did not know each other. Now, 10 or 15 years later, they have become colleagues who know each other very well. Projects now take place naturally because people have gotten to know each other and work together. So it is possible to have more projects.
Some things also remain to be done with regard to the roadmap. For example, we have to help francophones in the Northwest Territories get their college. For the moment, they do not have one. There are laws that should be changed; that may be done this year. There are 5,000 francophones in the Northwest Territories. The day they get their own college, they will need more. They will need to establish programs. There is work to be done.
9:25 a.m.
Liberal
Paul Lefebvre Liberal Sudbury, ON
I would like to ask a final question before turning the floor over to my friend Mr. Samson.
How are your members outside Quebec being affected by trends in francophone immigration to Canada?
9:25 a.m.
Director General, Réseau des cégeps et des collèges francophones du Canada
Our members outside Quebec are very much affected. I think they are affected even more than our Quebec members.
For about 10 years now, we have recruited many international students both in and outside Quebec. That is a new trend. Mr. Généreux knows what I am talking about. La Pocatière was a 100% francophone town, but the face of La Pocatière has changed over the past 10 years. This year, there are 65 International students in the little town of La Pocatière, which has a population of 4,500 inhabitants.
That said, immigration affects the Collège Éducacentre in British Columbia as much as it does the Saint-Jean campus in Alberta. Everyone is affected by immigration. I believe Nova Scotia is as well. That causes a problem. For example, the Prince Edward Island campus is in Summerside, on the western part of the island—or the east, I am not sure. However, it is moving to Charlottetown because that is where the immigrants are. In some instances, the tendency is to return campuses to the cities instead of leaving them in the rural areas.
September 22nd, 2016 / 9:25 a.m.
Liberal
Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS
How much time do I have? I have a number of questions to ask.
9:25 a.m.
Liberal
Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS
That is not bad.
First, I want to congratulate you, Mr. Harvey. I consider myself a virtual expert on minority education since I worked in the field for 31 years. Your reading of the situation of French outside Quebec impresses me a great deal. You employ terms that are very much in use in the Canadian system today. You referred to a number of organizations operating in the field.
Personally, I will be focusing on immigration. My colleague just asked a question about immigration in your part of the country. Does anyone have data from this year or last on the number of immigrants at universities or cégeps in Canada? It would be interesting to know those figures. There is definitely a strong trend in the francophone universities outside Quebec toward attracting more international students. I would like to know what they do once they have the students.
Authorities are trying to make changes with respect to immigration in Nova Scotia and in Canada. They want to find ways to attract international students to our universities and even our secondary schools. This is quite a frequent occurrence. They have to be permanent residents in order to begin their lives here, to contribute to the community, and to stay there. If you ever find those figures, I would very much like to have them.
Furthermore, Graham Fraser's report clearly states that a lot of roadmap money is being directed to immigration. I am not personally convinced of that at all. Someone will have to convince me with figures and data that those amounts are actually being allocated to training for immigrants in francophone minority communities. Something tells me it is the majority language that benefits from that instead. It would be interesting to get hold of data on the number of immigrants receiving French language training. I think that is essential information to have.
As I said earlier, you can answer me now or send me a brief on the subject.
9:30 a.m.
Director General, Réseau des cégeps et des collèges francophones du Canada
I have some answers for you.
9:30 a.m.
Liberal
Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS
All right. I am going to ask you the last question and then you can answer it.
What are you doing in the cégeps and within RCCFC to recruit immigrant students?
9:30 a.m.
Director General, Réseau des cégeps et des collèges francophones du Canada
First, I will give you the answer regarding the number of international students. There are 501 of them at the colleges outside Quebec. I am not talking about Quebec.
9:30 a.m.
Director General, Réseau des cégeps et des collèges francophones du Canada
There are 501 in French. That is not a lot.
9:30 a.m.
Director General, Réseau des cégeps et des collèges francophones du Canada
It could be more.
There are 2,612 at the universities. That means a total of 3,100 persons studying in French.
9:30 a.m.
Liberal
Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS
So that is the total number at the francophone cégeps and universities.
9:30 a.m.
Director General, Réseau des cégeps et des collèges francophones du Canada
They are not at the cégeps, but rather at the colleges.
9:30 a.m.
Director General, Réseau des cégeps et des collèges francophones du Canada
The colleges outside Quebec.
9:30 a.m.
Liberal
Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS
Oh, I see.
However, that does not include the secondary schools.
9:30 a.m.
Director General, Réseau des cégeps et des collèges francophones du Canada
No.
9:30 a.m.
Director General, Réseau des cégeps et des collèges francophones du Canada
I also want to tell you that 275 college students come from immersion programs. There are 4,186 at the universities. There are a lot more at the universities.
What can we do? For example, we have just submitted an offer to the colleges and cégeps to go and recruit in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. We have received no response. No one wants to take part.
9:30 a.m.
Liberal
Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS
When you say “no one”, who are you talking about?
9:30 a.m.
Director General, Réseau des cégeps et des collèges francophones du Canada
I am talking about the colleges and cégeps.
