Evidence of meeting #47 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 schools.
A recording is available from Parliament.
12:30 p.m.
Conservative
12:30 p.m.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Thank you.
I have some great questions for you, but I am waiting for a call and I may have to leave.
I would like to talk about rights-holders who have not been captured in the census. If we succeed in getting better data through a credible third party, if we have the replies we were looking for and good data, will that help the QCGN obtain resources from the federal government, will the result be that it better recognizes rights-holders?
12:35 p.m.
Director General, Quebec Community Groups Network
It will certainly give a better overview of our situation. It helps us to build and to promote. The English-speaking community in Québec needs to be able to see itself into the future.
We don't have a lot of information unless it comes from the federal government. We use information from the federal government to make our case with the provincial government. You must understand that. There is no civil servant analyst with the Province of Quebec analyzing our situation.
12:35 p.m.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
I had another question but you have answered it I believe. I wanted to know how the federal government could help you but you just answered that, didn't you?
12:35 p.m.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
I have another question. You say that you cannot define questions in the census, but have you properly defined your needs? Have you worked with Statistics Canada to define your needs for information? As I understand it, you do work with Statistics Canada. Are you working to define your needs as an anglophone minority in Quebec?
12:35 p.m.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
You can speak in English. That's not a problem for me.
12:35 p.m.
Vice-President, Quebec Community Groups Network
I'll do both.
What we get from Statistics Canada now, what is already in the census, is extremely useful. We are not looking for all our needs for data to be met.
What we have now is the basis. As Sylvia said, there aren't other good sources, because the community is not defined in a way that is favourable to or that captures its character by research that's done on the provincial plan. Statistics Canada, and census data, is a huge resource for us. We are asking for a small increase, particularly focusing on the question of educational access, which will be useful to us. Creating the picture of the community, which we have to do in order to make our arguments, is only possible based on data from the census and from other Statistics Canada sources. The “first official language spoken and still understood” measure is not a measure of ethnic derivation, which is the device that's used by the provincial government, so there is a huge gap. It doesn't capture much of our community.
12:35 p.m.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Thank you.
Earlier, we were talking about future battles. You said that you were looking at your future battles and you were looking for ways to get help. You mentioned new Canadians. For example, if people from Britain or New Zealand who came to settle in Ontario decide to go to Quebec, do they have access to anglophone schools?
12:35 p.m.
Executive Director, Quebec English School Boards Association
If they have temporary work permits, they can have access to anglophone schools. But if they want to stay in Canada, to become permanent residents, that's it, they have no access.
12:35 p.m.
Liberal
12:35 p.m.
Executive Director, Quebec English School Boards Association
The moment they apply, their temporary rights to have access to anglophone schools comes to an end.
12:35 p.m.
Liberal
12:35 p.m.
Vice-President, Quebec Community Groups Network
Temporary permits last for three years and can be renewed for another three years. It is very often the case that, after staying for five years, a family says:
“Well, we like Canada, and we're established here. It's five years, and we're going to apply for citizenship”.
Very often, we require those students to go to another school, a francophone school, for their final year of high school. Just because of the fact that they decided to stay in the country, we require them to make that gesture of affiliation.
12:40 p.m.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
So that is an example of a battle to be fought in the future.
February 16th, 2017 / 12:40 p.m.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Okay. I have managed to find one at least.
Earlier, my colleague asked a question that really pricked up my ears. It’s about school dropouts. Francophone schools in the Basses-Laurentides area, where my constituency is located, have the second highest dropout rate after Nunavut.
You were saying just now that your students have a 90% success rate, meaning that 90% of them obtain a high school diploma at 16 or 17. Are you in a position to tell us how you manage that?
12:40 p.m.
Executive Director, Quebec English School Boards Association
We are always in a position to share our experiences with you.
12:40 p.m.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
You were saying that your students with ADHD were—
12:40 p.m.
Executive Director, Quebec English School Boards Association
I do not want to insult anyone, but have to say that, in the anglophone community, there is a particular philosophy. The importance of education is more of a factor in the minds of anglophone communities. As I said, I do not want to insult anyone. However, it is a reality.
12:40 p.m.
Executive Director, Quebec English School Boards Association
In the English community we prize education. We want our kids to go to school, stay in school, and do whatever. We don't have to have dinner tonight if it will help pay for our kids to stay in school and have their supplies.
We also treat our students more individually. Not every student learns at the same rate. Frankly, in my own philosophy, if young people graduate at 16 or at 17, there's no effect on their life. The important thing is to graduate, to have the access to post-secondary, and to have access to a good job. There's a different philosophy within our community, and we see that. It's a social phenomenon more than it is something special that we do. It's a support network.
As I said earlier, our schools really are at the centre of our communities. The idea of the school down the street does not exist in the anglophone community. We don’t really have schools down the street. So our schools have to provide a lot more services than francophone schools perhaps do.
There’s no big secret or magic wand involved.
12:40 p.m.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
I can see, in Two Mountains and Rosemère, volunteers who are everywhere.
