My name is Bernard Généreux, and I represent the Quebec riding of Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, in the Lower St. Lawrence region. La Pocatière, a town in the riding, has an agreement with Campus Saint-Jean. Ms. Fedoration may have come to La Pocatière to study.
I'd like to start by thanking you all for your excellent presentations. It's not easy to change my mind, but you managed to make me rethink how I look at education on a number of levels. You have had to fight to get what you want. I commend you for all you've been doing for decades to help Canada's francophone community flourish.
Ms. Fedoration, I really want to say kudos to you for your presentation. I still have goosebumps. Your references to the Quebec of yore certainly made me smile.
Several of you, more than once, raised the possibility of amending the act, even the Constitution. Surely, you realize that's no small feat in Canada and tends to be a rare occurrence. Many people would like to see it happen, for all sorts of reasons, but even when it does, we won't be out of the woods. That said, as you know, education is in the provincial domain. The federal government has a say, of course, but, at the end of the day, provincial jurisdiction has to be respected.
Mr. Chair, I'm not going to ask my questions straightaway. Everything we've heard from the witnesses over the past two days leads me to think that the Standing Committee on Official Languages should consider organizing a meeting in Ottawa for members of the educational community, from across the country. I think we are at that stage. Provincial education representatives should be there as well—ideally, ministers, but at least senior officials. They could tell us how Ottawa and the provinces could work together to advance the French fact across the country.
Consider this my formal request. The time has come for us to go farther. I was really moved by your remarks. Nearly everyone shed a tear today. That doesn't happen every day. We are paying very close attention to what you have to say.
The Government of Canada just added $400 million to the upcoming roadmap. If the devil is in the details, as they say, it'll be important to see how the money is going to make its way to you—under what conditions, in what way, and so forth.
You mentioned the Official Languages Act, which will be studied over the next few months. We will no doubt have a hand in its development or, at the very least, its renewal. Any suggestions you have in that regard should be forwarded to the committee for consideration. Mr. Nolette, I believe you said you had some proposals for us.
I took many notes and have about 50,000 questions for you, especially regarding the official status you talked about.
What did you mean when you talked about the need for official status countrywide in relation to education and French immersion programs?