Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
My name is Alain Laberge, and I'm executive director of the Division scolaire franco-manitobaine. This is the only French-language school division in Manitoba, and it has nearly 6,000 students.
I want to acknowledge that we are on the lands covered by treaties 1 to 5 and on the homelands of Louis Riel and the Red River Métis.
I would like to thank the Standing Committee on Official Languages for allowing me to speak this morning about the opportunities and challenges arising from increased immigration and settlement needs issues, especially at the school level.
There are five important factors, the first being recruitment. The education sector, like many others, is no stranger to the phenomenon of labour scarcity and shortages. In this respect, recruitment is the first important element in the revitalization of a French-speaking minority environment. We can no longer be reactive; we have to be proactive. We believe that the government should allow professional cultural exchanges; international school cultural exchanges; the recognition of high school and university diplomas and credits; embassies and a government that promote and accelerate the process of granting Canadian citizenship; scholarships for school internships; transferability of credits; work scholarships in northern rural regions and a premium for distance from major centres, given that the cost of living is much higher in northern environments.
It must also be taken into consideration that, although education is a provincial jurisdiction, it is necessary, if not imperative, that the immigration, education and health sectors work together to facilitate a positive transition.
The second factor is reception. This is probably one of the most important factors in the success of a smooth integration. This one shouldn't be limited to the workplace welcome. Newcomers need to tour the village, get to know the active offer of French-language services and establish ties with other francophones in the area. We need to expand the francophone space.
The reception service offered is too often limited to a few weeks. In reality, a new family needs support and guidance in all areas of life in Manitoba or elsewhere in Canada. They need to apply for a health insurance card, find a family doctor and dentist, apply for a driver's licence, apply for a social insurance card and a library card, for example. You have to be able to do all this work in less than six months to guarantee a very successful reception.
The third factor is integration. To ensure successful integration, there is an obligation to support new arrivals. Like reception, integration takes time, depending on the family, location, community and many other factors. For children, it starts with the school, which sets up structures to verify all learning outcomes in relation to the Manitoba program. For parents, it means ensuring that they have access to federal and provincial services in the language of their choice.
The fourth factor is the language barrier. With the exception of New Brunswick, which is, in principle, a designated bilingual province, which I somewhat doubt, that said without irony, many French-speaking newcomers are under the impression that Canada is a bilingual country. They are therefore bitterly disappointed when they realize that they have little chance of living in French in Manitoba or anywhere else in Canada except Quebec. This is a real problem if we say that Canada is a country that promotes both languages. We lose many workers every year, simply because the majority of the Canadian population is unilingual English.
Once we've welcomed newcomers, we need to retain them. So the fifth factor is retention. One of the challenges facing school divisions in minority and rural areas is that, after a few years, people move to urban areas. So they're just passing through these small communities.
What can we do to improve the situation? We need to ensure that Canada works in partnership with its embassies to encourage economic immigration; that all our regions offer support services for families; that the federal government supports the provinces in funding community schools; that family members can quickly obtain permanent resident status; that Canada recognizes diplomas earned in foreign countries; that school divisions obtain funding to support newcomers and ensure they stay in rural areas; that these families can access a personal health care system as well as a home ownership plan.
It's important to adequately fund minority communities in order to counter assimilation. Economically and educationally, immigration would breathe new life into our economy while giving a new face to intercultural pedagogy.
I'd like to thank the Standing Committee on Official Languages once again for allowing the Division scolaire franco-manitobaine to provide some food for thought.
I am ready to answer any questions committee members may have.