I am not offended.
Evidence of meeting #25 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 immigrants.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #25 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 immigrants.
A recording is available from Parliament.
9:05 a.m.
President, Assemblée de la francophonie de l'Ontario
The fact remains that when I hear two people like Ms. Chagger and Mr. Saini—was that it, Mr. Boissonnault?
October 4th, 2016 / 9:05 a.m.
Liberal
9:05 a.m.
President, Assemblée de la francophonie de l'Ontario
Okay.
These immigrants said we should promote the official languages more to immigrants when they arrive in Canada. They want to be told about French and that French is spoken not only in Quebec.
That is my testimony. Do these people contribute to the economy? Yes.
9:10 a.m.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
What you are saying is that we should include in our report your statement that, when people want to immigrate to Canada, they should be informed of our linguistic duality, that we have two languages.
9:10 a.m.
President, Assemblée de la francophonie de l'Ontario
They must be told that it is possible to live in French in all parts of Canada.
9:10 a.m.
Liberal
9:10 a.m.
President, Assemblée de la francophonie de l'Ontario
I understand and I am not taking anything away from that.
9:10 a.m.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
I'm sorry.
I would like to go back to something you said earlier. You said that it was damaging and difficult for organizations such as yours when the funding for roadmap programs was frozen for 10 years.
9:10 a.m.
President, Assemblée de la francophonie de l'Ontario
Yes. If you connect that with immigration, something happened. It was in the roadmap at one point. Then it was transferred to what is now Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, or IRCC, and the community was no longer able to trace this funding. The funding freeze resulted in a decrease in our activities.
9:10 a.m.
Liberal
9:10 a.m.
NDP
François Choquette NDP Drummond, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Welcome, gentlemen.
I don't know if you have had time to review the new report by the Commissioner of Official Languages on early childhood. The report just came out, it is hot off the press.
You probably heard that the commissioner was conducting a study on this.
9:10 a.m.
NDP
François Choquette NDP Drummond, QC
It is quite interesting. He had mentioned to me that he was working on that.
The report points to the need for a new action plan, saying that education must never be forgotten. We are talking about education. Later on, I will of course get back to the university you want, which I think you deserve.
The commissioner said that, if we start from the foundations, if we want children to be able to choose French for primary school, then for high school, and to continue their education in French, it often starts in early childhood. He suggests that the next action plan on official languages should include sufficient, stable and long-term funding for early childhood development in francophone communities.
What do you think of the commissioner's recommendation that the action plan must provide for a strong start in French-language education, beginning in early childhood?
9:10 a.m.
President, Assemblée de la francophonie de l'Ontario
Can I tell you how happy I am that you asked that question? That is one of the new frontiers for francophones communities in Ontario, as far as I am concerned. Early childhood is the key.
Under section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, we gained the right to education and school governance, but there is still another issue. We are very pleased to see that provincial governments across the country are starting to include early childhood in the ministries of education. That is the case in Ontario, New Brunswick, and elsewhere. It goes by different names, but its importance is emerging.
For the survival of francophone communities outside Quebec, access to French-language early childhood services is crucial for French-language schools in the long term. We must focus on early childhood, because the assimilation we always talk about begins there.
9:10 a.m.
President, Assemblée de la francophonie de l'Ontario
I certainly subscribe to the commissioner's recommendation. We have to invest in our communities. For the smaller communities, we will likely have to support the school boards through the schools. I know there is shared federal-provincial jurisdiction here.
We have to find ways, through the OLEP and other programs, to create spaces in French for children, starting in early childhood. Even for exogamous families—where one parent speaks French and the other speaks English—, day care is obviously an important place for language development and especially for the survival of the language in order to access French-language education. I always say that, in Ontario, if we mess up public policies on early childhood education for francophones, we will lose our constitutional rights through the back door.
I am tremendously concerned about that. That is why when the commissioner says that we should invest in early childhood to support—
Let us recall that, in minority communities, English is dominant; we have to work against that. Mr. Landry, a researcher from the University of Moncton, always said that spaces to live in French have to be created. These spaces also help the anglophone community interested in learning a second language. It is an investment not only for the minority, but also for the majority who want to learn French. Those people are called francophiles. Mr. Boissonnault used the term “franco-curious”, which I like very much. I will use it without his permission.
This is crucially important.
9:15 a.m.
NDP
François Choquette NDP Drummond, QC
Could you make a brief comment about the French-language university?
9:15 a.m.
President, Assemblée de la francophonie de l'Ontario
A planning committee has been created, chaired by former official languages commissioner Dyane Adam. The community was hoping to be responsible. We wanted a provisional board of governors to make the decisions. The government's response was to create this planning committee. I have not met Ms. Adam, but I have reason to believe that if she agreed to chair the committee it is because she knows that we will ultimately have a Franco-Ontarian university. This prospect delights us.
9:15 a.m.
President, Assemblée de la francophonie de l'Ontario
We hope federal support will be provided as it was when our colleges and school boards were set up, in the 1990s. Major agreements were concluded at that time relating to infrastructure, not always through Canadian Heritage, but also through Industry Canada or other initiatives.
9:15 a.m.
Liberal
9:15 a.m.
Liberal
Paul Lefebvre Liberal Sudbury, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good morning, gentlemen. We are pleased to welcome you this morning.
Can you talk to us about the action plan in concrete terms? I would like to know what the AFO is proposing, what it would focus on in order to improve the current action plan.
