I would like to go back to the multilateral early learning and child care framework.
Regardless of its terms, the framework does not offer either support or permanent protection for French-language education in early childhood.
You probably know that the CSF, the Fédération des parents francophones de Colombie-Britannique, and a number of co-applicant parents urged the Supreme Court of British Columbia to conclude that section 23 of the charter confers a right to early childhood services, which of course it refused to do. The court did, however, draw three promising conclusions with regard to early childhood, which we summarize in our brief.
The modest gains achieved before the courts in the area of early childhood underline the importance of the multilateral early learning and child care framework for the future of French. The framework provides close to $400 million annually for three years. However, our communities' needs are not a priority in this framework. There are only two references to obligations relating to language, and these are far from being prescriptive. On page 13 of our brief, you will find these two excerpts from the framework. Here are the two references in question: “[...] recognize the unique needs of French and English linguistic minority communities [...]”; and secondly, under the heading of inclusive services: “[...] Number of children benefiting from programs and/or a number of programs designed to serve children from diverse populations, which could include but is not limited to children from French and English linguistic minority communities [...]”. That is it.
Forgive me for doubting that British Columbia will in fact consider our needs in implementing this framework. Consider for instance that British Columbia is the only province that still does not have a policy on French-language services. I can only relate my experience with the province, which I have been fighting for over 20 years for French-language education.
By way of illustration, I can also mention the Canada—British Columbia agreement that was signed on February 23, 2018. Under this agreement, British Columbia earmarks 1.5% of its budget for bursaries for French-language early childhood educators. That is rather laughable amount. It is...