Evidence of meeting #113 for Official Languages in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was funding.
A recording is available from Parliament.
President, Association des conseils scolaires des écoles publiques de l'Ontario
Thank you for your question.
For the Association des conseils scolaires des écoles publiques de l'Ontario, the number of students has doubled over the past 20 years. We now have 35,000 students in our schools. At one time, it was 12,000 to 15,000. So it is a success story. We promote our schools and young people register.
Conservative
Marc Dalton Conservative Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC
Thank you.
You also talked about the shortage of teachers. Normally, universities offer programs based on enrolment. Do a significant number of students finish high school and enrol in a university program in French to become teachers? Is that number going down or is it going up?
President, Association des conseils scolaires des écoles publiques de l'Ontario
The department has increased enrolment for students wishing to become teachers. However, I'd like to point out that becoming a teacher is not financially attractive to students. That's one of the big problems.
The second issue is that the government recently mandated grade 9 and 10 students to take a skilled trades course. So we have to go and find specialists and teachers who can teach welding, plumbing and so on. We don't have any.
We also don't have the necessary locations. The major English-language school boards have all the locations they need to offer workshops, but for us francophones, it's an ongoing battle and a heavy burden.
Liberal
Liberal
Annie Koutrakis Liberal Vimy, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
We don't have a lot of time. So what do you think is the most important recommendation, the one we absolutely must include in our report?
President, Association des conseils scolaires des écoles publiques de l'Ontario
We need a clear action plan with specific points on funding, and we need to consult the associations, at the very least.
President, Commission nationale des parents francophones
We have to make sure that specific points are included in the action plans to ensure that francophones have ongoing and stable funding.
Liberal
Annie Koutrakis Liberal Vimy, QC
Have the various levels of government consulted you about the action plan for official languages?
President, Commission nationale des parents francophones
Are you talking about the provincial government?
Liberal
Annie Koutrakis Liberal Vimy, QC
Yes, but I also want to know if the federal government consults you.
President, Commission nationale des parents francophones
For the federal government, the answer is yes, but for the provinces and territories, it depends.
President, Association des conseils scolaires des écoles publiques de l'Ontario
We have a good relationship with the minister, but there could be more consultation—
Liberal
The Chair Liberal René Arseneault
Which minister are you referring to, Mr. Labelle? The question was about federal and provincial.
President, Association des conseils scolaires des écoles publiques de l'Ontario
I'm talking about the provincial government. In the last three months, we've had three different education ministers. So it's difficult to establish a foundation. However, an action plan with very clear terms and conditions that would be approved by both parties, federal and provincial, would definitely make our lives easier.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal René Arseneault
That completes our first round of questions.
Thank you very much to the witnesses for taking part in this exercise. It's extremely valuable to us. This has helped us get off to a good start on the ambitious study we want to do. We could talk about it for hours, but we never have enough time.
If you think of any additional information that it would be important for us to receive, send it to our clerk, who can forward it to all committee members.
Are you clear on the information that Mr. Serré asked you to provide to the committee?
People seem to have understood correctly, so I won't go back over that.
We will now take a break so the witnesses can leave the room, and then we will move on to committee business in public.
Liberal
Bloc
Mario Beaulieu Bloc La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC
I'd like to move a motion about the Governor General of Canada.
Since you have the wording, I won't reread the motion in its entirety. In summary, on September 25, the media reminded us that the Governor General of Canada, Mary Simon, was still unable to converse in French during her visit to a community organization in Lévis. She had to cancel some of her activities while she was in Quebec City.
We certainly strongly question Justin Trudeau's decision to appoint Ms. Simon to the position of Governor General. I believe it was a voluntary decision. I don't think the federal government rushes things through when it appoints governors general without first considering its options. In my opinion, it deliberately appointed someone who did not speak French. It shows a willingness to challenge bilingualism in Canada's central agencies at the federal level.
I would also like to draw your attention to an article by Patrick Moreau published in Le Devoir on October 4 that was really quite interesting. It's entitled “What Mary Simon's bilingualism tells us”. We see it as exploitation of indigenous peoples to weaken the conditions for French-language services. Normally, the Governor General must know both official languages.
In a sense, this situation is a way of trivializing French, of seeing it as just one more language among others. This is somewhat the result of Canadian multiculturalism, according to which Quebeckers or Acadians are not necessarily peoples or nations, but one of many other cultural communities. That's the impact of this appointment by Mr. Trudeau. I think it's important that we say we disagree and ask that the committee report on it.
I yield the floor to Mr. Godin. I believe he has some amendments.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal René Arseneault
To put us in context, this is a notice of motion that was duly sent to us. It's on time, so admissibility is not at issue. Are there any questions on the motion? Has everyone seen it?
Mr. Beaulieu, did we receive it last week?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal René Arseneault
So it was September 26. You can look at your P9 email account for that. The notice is completely in order.
Do you want to speak to this motion, Mr. Godin?
The floor is yours.
Conservative
Joël Godin Conservative Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
Mr. Chair, the spirit of my colleague's motion is legitimate, in my opinion. However, I think he's on the wrong track. I think he's aiming at the wrong target. In my opinion, the person who holds the position of Governor General should not be targeted by this question and this blunder by the current government.
I think we need to look at the appointment process. My colleague talks about intention, will, and I agree with him on that. A lot of people were ready to take on this position. However, we have to put ourselves in the shoes of the person who was appointed.
If you are appointed Governor General of Canada, you will certainly be grateful and commit to learning Canada's second official language, in this case French, to hold this position of representation. The Governor General, who holds the highest office in Canada, obviously has an obligation to speak both of Canada's official languages. It was entirely legitimate for her to react by saying that she was going to learn French. I would have done exactly the same thing.