Okay.
Evidence of meeting #90 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 organizations.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #90 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 organizations.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:10 p.m.
As an Individual
I think, at least part of the problem that existed in the sector was created by federal interventions.
The federal government was pushing organizations to say that they had to be addressing jobs and employability in order to get literacy funding. All of the organizations, whether it was part of their mission or a mandate or not, began to insert that into their proposals that came in, and then after three or four years, people at the federal government said, “Well, you all look like you're doing the same thing.”
4:10 p.m.
As an Individual
But the language was language that had been provided to us by the federal funders.
4:10 p.m.
Liberal
Paul Lefebvre Liberal Sudbury, ON
I guess, to be pragmatic here and be practical, what specific action can the federal government do today to help literacy in English Quebec?
4:10 p.m.
As an Individual
I'm going to pick up what Mr. Choquette said before. I don't think that what comes next is going to look like what came before. I think what came before is gone. I think that there needs to be, at least, some kind of effort to try not to lose some of what still exists, because there's an awful lot that's been lost that is still needed, and it's not there.
If there's something that can be salvaged, I think it should be salvaged, but I think, right now, you probably need to work with some of the networks and structures that already exist in the provinces. Certainly in Quebec, there are several organizations that already have networks, structures, and trust, and I think that if somehow you can bring together some of those collaboratively, you could probably build a new kind of infrastructure that maybe didn't need the same forms of support that we saw in the past.
February 12th, 2018 / 4:10 p.m.
Liberal
Paul Lefebvre Liberal Sudbury, ON
Thank you.
Interestingly for Quebec, I think it may have been Margo Legault or Madam Shohet who alluded in opening remarks to the province changing a bit and being more open. Certainly, they named a Minister of—
4:10 p.m.
Liberal
Paul Lefebvre Liberal Sudbury, ON
What are your thoughts? How can this help you and maybe provincial-federal relations when it comes to funding?
4:10 p.m.
As an Individual
I think that it's a very positive move, and I would hope that it would give some openings for some renewed federal-provincial dialogue, some of which hasn't happened that much in the last few years. I see that as one of the opportunities.
4:15 p.m.
Liberal
Paul Lefebvre Liberal Sudbury, ON
That's something that your organization, Madam Legault, would want to see this new ministry support, certainly, English literacy in Quebec. How could you do that?
4:15 p.m.
Executive Director, Literacy Quebec
Madam Weil had some consultations in rural areas, and our members participated to explain the situation of English speakers in their areas. We see it as a very positive step, and it allows us to voice our concerns to a specific advocate.
4:15 p.m.
Liberal
Paul Lefebvre Liberal Sudbury, ON
I want to ask you again, just to make sure, because this committee will be providing a report to the minister responsible. What would you like to see as a recommendation in the report to the minister?
4:15 p.m.
As an Individual
I'm not going to go into great detail because some of the recommendations that I think we've been making are coming in the report that we're preparing for the the Office of Literacy and Essential Skills, and we're doing that in two weeks. They asked me not to share the recommendations.
4:15 p.m.
As an Individual
Of course, but it does link back to what I said. I think that there are some entities inside the province. Margo's is the one most directly dealing with literacy. The school boards.... There's a network of community learning centres in Quebec that is very important now to the population of Quebec, and they've got 86 centres across the province in different schools. They're very well located, very trusted, and they have expertise. They haven't been able to do much with adults and adult literacy in the last few years because there hasn't been funding to support it. They've already got infrastructure, so again, if you can build the partnerships with providers, with the school boards, there are already various pieces in place that right now are just very isolated.
4:15 p.m.
Conservative
Alupa Clarke Conservative Beauport—Limoilou, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and bonjour, Mesdames. Thank you for being here with us this afternoon.
I want to emphasize on this side that if you have any recommendations you want included in our report, you can always send them in written form to the committee.
I met with Jean-Marc Fournier a month and a half ago, and I was asking him if Quebec directly helps francophone groups outside Quebec and across Canada. I was wondering if there are any provinces outside Quebec that send money to the English groups in Quebec to help you.
