I will gladly tell you.
As we mentioned earlier, our schools represent the community. We care about that. We never say that we go to our children's school, we say that we go to our school.
We take that to heart. That's very important. In many cases, it's a place where families and people in the community attend events, receive health services or information on what is happening in their community or town, in the language that they are most comfortable with. A school brings people together. That's true for both anglophone minority communities in Quebec and for francophone minority communities outside Quebec. The francophone communities are growing for the simple reason that their community is important to them and the people are very engaged.
The fact that we are truly engaged is a real success of the anglophone public education system. In addition, since we are a small group, it is easier for us to opt for innovative services and programs. That's necessary. We are not funded in the same way and we are not all in the same city. Actually, we are often spread out across the vast area.
I mentioned the Sir Wilfrid Laurier school board because it has 35,000 square kilometres, but in the case of the Central Québec school board, we are talking about 400,000 square kilometres, the same size as Spain. So it's very important that those people work together and find a way to provide services.
I am an anglophone, but I don't walk around saying that. I am a Quebecker and am proud to be one. I'm also proud to be the mother of two Quebec children and I would like them to stay with me in my home for the rest of their lives. Being bilingual is important for them. It's a valuable asset. We believe in our province. That's what we teach in our schools. Perhaps it's special, but it's an asset.
We have to embrace it.
We have to make the most of it so that the graduates are bilingual. When you talk about Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, you can say that the Sir Wilfrid Laurier school board ranks first in the province for the ministry exams in French as a mother tongue.