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.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
Yes, exactly, and by the way, I went into some schools in my riding, and now it has been three years since they have changed the system. Now they have started to learn in the second or third grade or something like that.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
The kids were impressive in English and I was very surprised. I'm in the most French riding in Canada, probably, so that was interesting.
Executive Director, Quebec English School Boards Association
Maybe I'm older than most of you, but when I went to elementary school we got 45 minutes a week in French. Today up to 90% of a student's day may be in French. So we are creating bilingual students, absolutely. It's a goal that all of our school boards have.
As you know from your riding, we have a lot of mixed families—one parent French, one parent English. A lot of those families don't even know they're rights holders.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
Well, I'm about the only one in my riding, so....
Executive Director, Quebec English School Boards Association
The reason we're asking for this type of data is that many people don't know they have a rights holder in the family, so they never even look to the English system. We need to know who is out there, and right now we don't have that information.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Good morning.
Welcome. I am very happy that you are here with us today.
I'll speak to you in French, because it's easier for me to ask you specific questions.
Are you able to determine how many rights holders can attend English-language schools? Do you know the exact number?
Executive Director, Quebec English School Boards Association
We have 100,000 students in our system already; somewhere between 15,000 and 20,000 students attend French-language school because that is what their parents chose.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Do those figures come from Statistics Canada or the Quebec government?
Executive Director, Quebec English School Boards Association
They come from the Quebec government, which tells us what our population size is, including how many children with certificates of eligibility are in the French-language system. Those are the only numbers we have.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Earlier, you mentioned the possibility of including exogamous couples, where one parent is anglophone and one is francophone. Do you think the children of those families are among the 120,000 students?
Executive Director, Quebec English School Boards Association
A portion of them may be, but many families do not know they have a rights-holder. That is the case even today, even though Bill 101 has long been in force. A lot of people just don't know.
Vice-President, Quebec Community Groups Network
We are calling for the collection of more accurate figures, scientifically speaking, precisely because the numbers are not reliable.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
At a meeting this week, representatives of the French-speaking community outside Quebec told us that it was hard to get reliable data from the census. Unless I'm mistaken, you would like the census to include more detailed questions to ensure that it takes everyone into account.
Executive Director, Quebec English School Boards Association
It's very important to us that we know how many people there are. We need the real figures. It's a matter of planning for us. There are numerous cases.
We have 340 schools, and more than two-thirds of them have fewer than 200 students. Those 200 schools with fewer than 200 students are at risk of being closed. Many schools are facing closures.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
You know, my riding is home to McCaig Elementary School, Rosemere High School, and Lake of Two Mountains High School. I have these schools in my riding, but I have to say that the English-speaking population is large enough that it sends its students there. As soon as you get into the Upper Laurentians and the Lanaudière region, it's a problem.
Executive Director, Quebec English School Boards Association
Laval is an exception.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
I didn't mention Laval because I know things are fine there.
Executive Director, Quebec English School Boards Association
The Laval area is an exception to the rule.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Are you familiar with the Survey on the Vitality of Official-Language Minorities, conducted in 2006?
Liberal
Sylvia Martin-Laforge Director General, Quebec Community Groups Network
I am familiar with it, having worked in the federal government at the time.
Are you referring to the post-census survey?
