Welcome to the continuation of this meeting of the Standing Committee on Official Languages.
First, I want to say that we are very happy to be here with you today in Edmonton.
This is a very special day. Earlier, I was given the text of the proclamation of Alberta Francophonie Month. This is quite extraordinary. I would like to read the document, not in its entirety, but I will read the three last paragraphs:
WHEREAS in March of every year Les Rendez-vous de la Francophonie are celebrated across Canada by 10 million French-speaking Canadians, including more than 268,000 in Alberta; and WHEREAS on March 20 of every year, International Francophonie Day is celebrated around the world by more than 270 million French- speakers; THEREFORE the Lieutenant Governor in Council orders that a Proclamation issue proclaiming the month of March of each year as Alberta Francophonie Month.
It is signed by the Honourable Rachel Notley, Premier of Alberta.
I think this is a really important gesture for Alberta. I simply wanted to highlight it.
We just visited a day care. This morning we pointed out how important it is for youngsters to learn French early in life. It is in this quite extraordinary context that we meet with you here today, and we are very pleased about it.
I'd like to welcome the various stakeholders we are receiving today. First, we have, as an individual, Ms. Martine Cavanagh, who is a professor at the Campus Saint-Jean of the University of Alberta; Ms. Katherine Mueller, who is an instructor at the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, and Mr. Steven Urquhart, associate professor of French and Chair of the Department of modern languages, University of Lethbridge. We also welcome Mr. Albert Nolette, from the Association canadienne-française de l'Alberta. We also have with us Ms. Kate Peters, national board member of Canadian Parents for French; she is accompanied by her baby, whom I also welcome. We also have with us Ms. Victoria Wishart and Mr. Michael Tryon, from Canadian Parents for French in Alberta; Ms. Sarah Fedoration, assistant principal of the Grandin Catholic Elementary School, Edmonton Catholic Schools, and Ms. Tamie Beattie, the French program coordinator of the Edmonton Public School Board.
I welcome all of you.
I want to extend particular thanks to Mr. Albert Nolette, who has been in a way the organizing spirit behind this day.
I don't think I forgot anyone.
We are going to proceed in the following way. You will each have five minutes at your disposal. I am going to be somewhat strict as to the length of interventions, since we want to be able to hear all of you. If some of you take too much time, others will have less. That is why you should try to limit yourselves to five minutes. If you go over your time, I will let you know. We will hear all of you, and then the members of the committee will take part with you in a comments and questions period.
I thank you for taking part in this meeting.
We will begin immediately with Ms. Martine Cavanagh.