Official Languages Committee on Oct. 10th, 2024

[Mario Beaulieu, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

I assume that the shortage of teachers is having a major impact on you.

[Jean de Dieu Tuyishime]

Absolutely. This shortage affects us a lot, especially since we are still competing with French immersion schools. They are also looking for French-speaking teachers.

We are always looking for innovative ways to recruit teachers. Sometimes the funding is not necessarily enough to meet all the needs of those teaching professionals. Indeed, we are trying to be very creative in assisting them. For example, we invite teachers to visit the site, we help them find housing, which is very difficult, given the housing crisis. That may also be one of the reasons for the labour shortage in our region.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu and Mr. Tuyishime.

Our next questioner is from the New Democratic Party, Ms. Ashton.

The floor is yours for six minutes.

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, MB]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Tuyishime, thank you very much for your testimony.

You told us about a number of priorities in your region, which are the same in our regions, particularly in northern Manitoba.

Obviously, you also raised a number of the challenges that we heard from previous witnesses, as well as witnesses from French-language minority schools across the country.

However, I also want to point out the specific context of the north, which is the higher cost of living and the housing crisis, which is even more difficult in those regions. We must recognize that you need specific support that reflects this reality.

I also want to raise the issue of labour shortages in early childhood and education.

Could you tell us about the concrete impact of this shortage on your schools and on the quality of education?

[Jean de Dieu Tuyishime]

The effect is very real.

We have seen this shortage and have turned to international recruitment to counter it. However, it is very difficult to recruit staff. What's even more difficult is that parents run this day care. The parents' committee and the parents' board of directors are in charge. The load is increased when there's a very constant turnover of educators in this small day care. It's extremely difficult for parents. I would add that there's an endless waiting list, which is indeed very difficult.

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, MB]

Thank you for sharing that with us.

Parents obviously have a role to play, and school districts do indeed have a major role to play, but witnesses have told us that the labour shortage is a systemic challenge and that it has an impact on learning French from early childhood.

Given that reality, do you think the federal government should play a greater role in finding solutions to the labour shortage, including funding?

[Jean de Dieu Tuyishime]

I certainly think the federal government could play a major role.

I could point to one initiative. We are working with the Collège nordique francophone, a post-secondary institution, to offer courses to teachers. It's local and offered on site. However, of course, those colleges or institutions must be able to get funding for this type of program.

There is another thing. The work of teachers should also be valued. I don't know about other provinces and territories, but I know that salaries are not necessarily commensurate with the work those teachers do. So I think the funding should be targeted. As I said earlier, the amounts allocated in the agreements should be linked to language clauses. So it could be allocated based on language clauses.

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, MB]

You raised some very important points.

I would like to come back to the issue of funding for post-secondary education.

A number of francophone colleges and university representatives have told us that the federal government still hasn’t provided the $80 million a year in funding that it had promised. It's a promise that hasn't materialized. They told us it had a negative effect on them.

Do you support their request for stable, long-term funding of $80 million per year? Would that funding be important in order to find solutions to the challenges you are also facing?

[Jean de Dieu Tuyishime]

I do think that funding for post-secondary education in francophone minority communities would, for example, provide structured funding, which could increase access to programs and training in those post-secondary institutions.

As I always say, if we don't have the proper training and the people to provide that training, we won't have the basis for teaching our students, our children. They won't be well trained from the start.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Mr. Tuyishime and Ms. Ashton.

Mr. Tuyishime, thank you for taking part in this exercise. You were alone to face six-minute rounds of questions per political party, whereas there were four previous witnesses to do so.

If you have any additional information that would be useful to the committee's study, please feel free to send it to the clerk, who will forward it to all committee members. Thank you very much.

[Jean de Dieu Tuyishime]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Have a good day.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

We will now suspend the meeting and go in camera to discuss committee business.