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.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Do you have an example of a PRECEPT-F project that has been implemented?
Director General, Réseau des cégeps et des collèges francophones du Canada
Consider, for example, a study program for auxiliary nurses. A cégep may work with Université Sainte-Anne, in Nova Scotia, which has a college section. They may work together and come up the necessary tools to have their training recognized. Together they may determine how to have the credentials of auxiliary nurses recognized and determine what they would need to become registered nurses. That is one example.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
A good example.
You said it was easier to have credentials recognized between Quebec and France than among the provinces and territories. That seems to me to be a problem.
Director General, Réseau des cégeps et des collèges francophones du Canada
That is also the case among the provinces and territories, not just with Quebec. The same situation may arise between New Brunswick and Ontario.
In fact, for France, we have developed equivalencies based on projects, but there is no mobility within Canada. There is very little mobility among colleges in Canada, and there are few opportunities for a student from British Columbia, for example, to go and study for a year in Quebec, or vice versa. We have not developed that possibility. Nor have we developed any recognition of programs. A great deal remains to be done.
There is also a problem where professional associations are involved because that situation is more complicated. They do not operate that way in France, and there are no professional associations. So we are able—
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Does the fact that the interprovincial recognition of credentials is so difficult discourage young people from studying in French in minority communities?
Director General, Réseau des cégeps et des collèges francophones du Canada
No, the same thing happens in English.
Director General, Réseau des cégeps et des collèges francophones du Canada
The situation does not change. The professional associations complicate matters.
A bill that will make this even more difficult it is currently being debated in Quebec. It provides that the professional associations will have a bigger role to play in the recognition of credentials.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Since we do not have much time, I will turn the floor over to my colleague.
Liberal
René Arseneault Liberal Madawaska—Restigouche, NB
Mr. Harvey, I am going to continue along the same lines as Ms. Lapointe.
In a national context, the largest minority community, if you will allow me that contrast-based play on words, is the francophone education community. Does your organization conduct studies to determine whether we can ensure there are equivalencies among the various francophone minority colleges and universities across Canada? Are we studying ways to facilitate student mobility?
Director General, Réseau des cégeps et des collèges francophones du Canada
Unfortunately, no, that is not currently the case. As I mentioned earlier, some work could be done as part of certain PRECEPT-F projects.
In fact, the recognition of credentials as such is not done by the director but rather by the teaching teams working on the exact content of the programs. There has to be a reason to do it. It does not get done if the workplace does not ask us to do it.
Liberal
René Arseneault Liberal Madawaska—Restigouche, NB
For you who work in the field, could broader equivalencies in the minority francophone community help increase enrolment in minority francophone postsecondary institutions?
Director General, Réseau des cégeps et des collèges francophones du Canada
Yes, absolutely.
For example, knowing that their French-language credentials were recognized across the country, students would be aware they would have greater mobility. However, that does not mean there is currently no mobility. An employer could tell a student he would hire her even if she has an Ontario degree, knowing she is qualified.
The problem, I repeat, is with the professional associations. That is where matters get complicated. Strictly speaking, among colleges, we can solve the problem.
Liberal
François Choquette NDP Drummond, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Harvey.
The Liberal government is currently conducting an extensive consultation on official languages across Canada. Have you taken part in that consultation, or do you know people in the education sector who have?
Director General, Réseau des cégeps et des collèges francophones du Canada
I have taken part in it three times. I attended two webinars in Montreal and Sherbrooke, and I asked some questions from my office. We have also been consulted by Canadian Heritage and the Table nationale sur l'éducation. I have in hand briefs from my colleagues that we will be submitting. We are very active participants in this consultation.
NDP
François Choquette NDP Drummond, QC
Mr. Harvey, I am sure the committee would allow you to submit your briefs so that we can read them. As we conduct our study on immigration, we are reviewing the roadmap, which we now call the Action Plan for Official Languages. In that connection, you mention certain points that should be addressed.
You mentioned early childhood, for example. The Commissioner of Official Languages will shortly be presenting a report on early childhood. Could you tell us about the importance of children learning in their language, in French in this instance, so that they can continue their postsecondary studies in that same language? What could the roadmap provide to facilitate this situation?
Director General, Réseau des cégeps et des collèges francophones du Canada
Early childhood is being extensively discussed by the Table nationale sur l'éducation and other bodies, including the tripartite committee. Studies have been conducted on the subject. I cannot cite them from memory, but some have concluded that it is essential that identity building start in early childhood.
In fact, everything is determined before the age of six. That is even the title of a book. If the opportunity is missed in early childhood, young children run the risk of not building their francophone identity. Early childhood will be an important topic at the ACELF conference, which begins in Quebec City today. We must absolutely support measures that will help young children build their francophone identity.
Those measures may take the form of visits, people who come and meet the children, and shows by facilitators such as Arthur L'aventurier and others like him who speak to them. In short, we must absolutely reinforce identity building in order to help young children construct their identities. Educators must also work to that end. This is a major issue for the action plan and for the Table nationale sur l'éducation.
NDP
François Choquette NDP Drummond, QC
Of course, education must be the focus when we begin reviewing the action plan, but we will also have to consider that everything is determined starting in early childhood, as you said. That is a key period that, from what you say, will subsequently have positive consequences for postsecondary studies. As you said so well, the problem occurs when a child does not have enough self-confidence. That is why people are reluctant to pursue their postsecondary studies in French. Is my understanding correct?
Director General, Réseau des cégeps et des collèges francophones du Canada
Absolutely.
Those two pillars, identity building and language security, are, as it were, the basis of the future of the Canadian francophony.
NDP
François Choquette NDP Drummond, QC
You mentioned your funding sources. There is Canadian Heritage and other funding bodies. You briefly spoke about how hard it is to meet the specific criteria and mentioned that it was important to show creativity and flexibility. I am sure that one of your recommendations for the action plan is that we develop programs that show a little more flexibility and creativity.
You also said it would probably be important for you to try to diversify your funding. What exactly did you mean by that?
Director General, Réseau des cégeps et des collèges francophones du Canada
As our funding is very tight, in that we do not have a lot of money or room to manoeuvre, it is hard for us to show creativity or to do more. We know we could work harder to promote the Canadian francophony.
There are other organizations that do not exactly do the same thing as we do but that are similar and have large teams and can thus put personnel to work developing projects and looking for funding sources. We cannot do that.
That is why I repeat that, if we could do it, we would probably be able to focus our efforts more on promoting French in minority settings. I have to say that we have done our homework too. There are three of us organizations working more or less in the same field. We have already mentioned ACUFC. There is also Colleges and Institutes Canada, or CICAN, which represents English- and French-language colleges across the country.
Over the past year, we have decided to work together, hand in hand, to establish joint projects so as not to duplicate our efforts. I believe we are striving to become more efficient. For the moment, our way of doing that is to work in close cooperation with the other organizations. We ultimately have the same goal: to support francophone colleges.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Denis Paradis
Thank you, Mr. Choquette.
We will continue our debate with Paul Lefebvre.
Liberal
Paul Lefebvre Liberal Sudbury, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
With regard to the roadmap, how have the members of your organization been affected, and have they survived as a result of the investments available under the last two roadmaps?
Director General, Réseau des cégeps et des collèges francophones du Canada
I can give you the figures. Since 2002, we have distributed $1 million under our interprovincial cooperation program. In addition, $2 million has been distributed through PRECEPT-F. In other words, $3 million has been invested in francophone colleges and cégeps. The $2 million from PRECEPT-F has been available since 2005. So that is the first major financial impact. That grant has made it possible to implement 54 projects at more than 50 colleges. Those are quantitative results.