Thank you very much.
My name is Darrell Samson. I am the only Acadian member of Parliament from Nova Scotia in Ottawa. That is a privilege. However, every privilege comes with a responsibility. I have to make sure that I contribute in francophone matters for the entire province. That was also my responsibility as the former executive director of all French schools in Nova Scotia, a position that I held for 11 years before I was elected.
My career in education lasted 30 years. At the beginning, I was responsible for core French and immersion in an English-language school board. There were no French-language school boards at that time. I even brought immersion teachers and core French teachers together so that they could start to talk to each other. It was not just the immersion classes that were considered elitist, the teachers were also. So I am offering you a little window into the future. The immersion teachers said that core French was not their problem, that they did not teach those taking it, that theirs was very difficult work and that they really had to be actors, much as you described. Even the core French teachers considered themselves inferior. I forced them into it, nicely, but successfully. The union was not happy, but they learned to live with it. Those who were qualified could teach immersion courses, but they also had to teach two core French courses, and vice versa. So those who were teaching core French also had to teach two immersion courses. That changed everything because the teachers began to talk to each other. The immersion teachers really needed core French teachers so that they could learn how to teach core French, because the approach is completely different.
None of that is my objective today.
My first reaction to your presentation can be summed up in one word: “impressive”! You have told us about your journey as anglophones and about the place you have reached today. I think you should make videos together. They would be shown all over Canada and the minister would be happy. It would also serve to put more value on immersion.
Mr. Cadez, you talked about research and you are so right. In Nova Scotia, there was a myth about French schools. Parents did not want to register their kids in a completely French school, a school with only French, because they were afraid that their children would lose their English. They were afraid that they would not be able to go to university in English or work in English. Research shows the contrary, of course. Today, moreover, not only do francophone students succeed very well in French but, in the same exams, they succeed better in English than the anglophone students. It is interesting.
You told us about another extremely interesting myth and again, you were perfectly right. You said that, if children are having difficulty, the parents think of sending them to an anglophone school. As you said, research clearly shows that children obtain much the same results in one language or another, once they possess the skills of the languages in question. It will be the same for children with learning difficulties. The worst thing about it was that the teachers were pushing the families to do so.
I am now going to ask you some quick questions, because you have gone through all this. Which positive changes have taken place over the last 20 years? What do you see on the horizon that could be improved?