Official Languages Committee on Nov. 21st, 2024

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

Would you say—

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

You have only five seconds left, Mr. Beaulieu.

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

Okay.

Are you meeting the demand for French schools, or are you short a lot of spaces?

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Mr. Laberge, please answer yes or no.

[Yvon Laberge]

No. We're not meeting the demand.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Mr. Laberge. We can come back to that. I apologize.

For the next round of questions, I will give the floor to Leila Dance from the NDP.

Ms. Dance, first of all, congratulations on your victory.

She is, I would say, the youngest MP in the House of Commons.

Congratulations.

[Leila Dance, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

She won the by-election last September. She is the youngest MP in the House of Commons.

Welcome to this committee, Ms. Dance.

The floor is yours for six minutes.

[Leila Dance, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

Thank you very much.

I will ask my questions in English.

I am not that great in French, yet.

I'll start with Ms. Maisonneuve.

You spoke about the serious labour shortage, including teachers and support staff across the board. We heard about the lack of post-secondary training available.

Do you think that if the federal government were to invest more in French language post-secondary education it would help solve some of the issues you're seeing in your area?

[Sylvianne Maisonneuve]

That's a very valid question and a very valid solution.

As we mentioned in the presentation, Alberta has a double credit system. Having better programs at the secondary level would certainly help. Our students could explore a larger variety of careers in their language. We all know that when people are formed locally, or close to locally, there are more chances of them staying, so that would definitely help.

[Leila Dance, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

You mentioned online and virtual classes a bit.

I'll ask you whether you think those would allow people from your community to train. Then I'll go back to Monsieur Laberge and ask him if he's offering any online classes that might be available.

[Sylvianne Maisonneuve]

Yes, I think online classes would be a great addition. Our region is quite removed and rural. We're five hours north of Edmonton, which is where our francophone post-secondary education institutions are. Also, some people pursue that post-secondary education in later years, during adult training, as we said, for our éducatrices. They're working full time.

Being able to access these courses online is a great advantage.

[Leila Dance, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

Mr. Laberge.

[Yvon Laberge]

Yes. All of our college-level programs are offered online, because the francophone population in British Columbia is very spread out across the province. There are no enclaves or francophone communities, as you may have in Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba. People are very spread out everywhere. That's our bread and butter when it comes to college-level programming. It's distance education.

[Leila Dance, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

Okay.

In my riding of Elmwood—Transcona, we have quite a few French immersion schools. I actually graduated from one of them. However, I know that right now they are overflowing with students. Some are being turned away and are not getting that opportunity. We only have one French university in Winnipeg, Université de Saint-Boniface. Again, that's another one that has to turn away students because of access.

I wonder if we could use this province to province, whether you could take online classes at the Université de Saint-Boniface and move it over to different rural and remote areas, as Madam Maisonneuve was talking about.

Do you know whether any of your staff or other people are accessing stuff that way?

[Yvon Laberge]

Are you posing the question to me or to Madam Maisonneuve?

[Leila Dance, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

Oh, I'm sorry. It's for Madam Maisonneuve.

[Sylvianne Maisonneuve]

I'm sorry. I missed the question.

[Leila Dance, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

Do you have anybody accessing online services through the Université de Saint-Boniface, which is in Winnipeg, or in other provinces?

[Sylvianne Maisonneuve]

Not that I know of....

I will allow Madam Kropielnicki to answer this question.

I believe there are provincial restrictions on certification.

Go ahead.

[Brigitte Kropielnicki]

No. All of our early-learning educators are doing it online with anglophones because of the practicum certification.

[Leila Dance, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

Okay.

Do you think it would be beneficial to do something to open it up across Canada, if it's province to province?

[Brigitte Kropielnicki]

It would be great.

[Leila Dance, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

That's interesting. I'm learning as I go. Thank you so much for that.

I know we also talked a bit about day care spaces.

I'm very proud of what the NDP has done. My colleague Leah Gazan introduced an amendment ensuring that francophones in majority situations have access to child care services in French.

I want to know whether that's something you think has been helpful in putting some of those in some of the different schools.

[Sylvianne Maisonneuve]

I think it has been absolutely helpful. As we know, early intervention is the key to language acquisition and the enhancement of transmission of culture. It has made a real difference, as I presented earlier. These services did not exist before $10-day care options. We've developed all of these programs in the last couple of years, and they're well attended. They're at full capacity and highly appreciated by our parents.