Official Languages Committee on Dec. 11th, 2023

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

People can make numbers say just about anything. It all depends on how—

[Nicholas Salter]

That's not really true. The numbers say what they say.

Here's an example relating to average income. If Bill Gates were in the room with us today and we calculated the average income of everyone here, it would look like we're all millionaires, but when I checked my bank account this morning, I didn't have millions of dollars.

Averages can skew data. There's a wide social and economic gap within the anglophone community, so that bumps the average up. We're not hiding that. We're saying there are some very poor people who need help. If we look only at the average, we can't target the people who need help and who have French language learning needs.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Mr. Salter.

If you have documents for us, please send them to our clerk so she can get them to all the committee members.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu.

Ms. Ashton, you have the floor.

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

Thank you.

My questions are about funding for early learning. The Senate adopted an amendment to Bill C‑35, which is now back in the House of Commons. The Senate clearly recognized the fact that there has to be targeted funding for child care in French outside Quebec. As we know, the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada, the FCFA, supported that recommendation.

I would like to ask Ms. Boutiyeb and Ms. Enayeh if the Alliance des femmes de la francophonie canadienne thinks this is an important amendment.

[Nour Enayeh]

Yes, I think it's very important. I've worked with refugee women, and the issues that came up all the time were child care and access to daycare. This amendment will definitely give francophone women across the country a break so they can focus on their lives and keep working.

Ms. Boutiyeb, would you like to add anything?

[Soukaina Boutiyeb]

It needs to be permanent. We can't have a universal child care system for five years and then tell women to figure it out on their own. It has to be permanent, and everyone has to have access to it no matter where they are in Canada.

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

Thank you very much.

We know that affordable housing is another challenge, especially given that we want to bring many francophone families from around the world to Canada.

Do you think the federal government should take concrete action on affordable housing?

[Nour Enayeh]

Yes, I do.

I live in Vancouver, so I'm very aware of the problems families are encountering, not only in British Columbia, but across the country, because of inflation. Inflation and the cost of living are hitting women harder than the general population.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

We can't hear you, Ms. Ashton.

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

Sorry.

I'd like to move a motion. I'll give it to the clerk, who can share it with the committee members.

The motion reads as follows:

Due to the announcement of significant job cuts at CBC/Radio-Canada, the committee expresses deep concern about the implications for access to information for Francophones across Canada and Quebecers, as well as for the workers who will be affected. The committee strongly condemns this decision and formally requests Catherine Tait, CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada, to testify for no longer than one session to provide clarification on the reasons behind and the strategic vision of CBC/Radio-Canada concerning these substantial cuts.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Ms. Ashton.

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

I'm looking forward to debating this motion.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Is this a notice of motion, Ms. Ashton?

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

Yes, that's right.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you very much.

Before we wrap up, I'd like to thank the Alliance des femmes de la francophonie canadienne, represented by Ms. Boutiyeb and Ms. Enayeh; and the Provincial Employment Roundtable, represented by Mr. Salter and Mr. Walcott. This was their first time here. I thank them for being here and participating in our deliberations. It was very interesting.

I wish you all a happy holiday.

Mr. Bernard Généreux, you have the floor.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

I just want to say a few words.

Ms. Boutiyeb, on behalf of Canadian men, I'd like to apologize for what happened to you at your office. I understand you received a suspicious package with a letter demanding that women go home.

You know that Canadian society has evolved considerably. We've come a long way from that now. You received a package demanding that you go home, possibly from men, but that doesn't represent the values of most Canadian men. We hope such a thing will never happen again.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you.

We'll suspend—

Mr. Beaulieu, you have the floor.

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

I think everyone here agrees on that.

Ms. Boutiyeb, I want you to know you have the support of the Bloc Québécois, even though my questions were mostly for Quebec organizations—

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

We can understand why.

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

Our focus is Quebec, but we absolutely support the cause of francophone women.

[Soukaina Boutiyeb]

I think support comes with concrete recommendations, so please don't hesitate to be in touch.

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you.

We'll suspend for a few minutes to bring in the new witnesses.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Good afternoon, we're resuming with new witnesses.

With us is Étienne Alary, Executive Director of the Conseil de développement économique de l'Alberta; and Elisa Brosseau, Chair of the Alberta Bilingual Municipalities Association. They will share their five minutes of speaking time.

We also have representatives of the Société de la francophonie manitobaine, Executive Director Daniel Boucher and President Angela Cassis. Unfortunately, Ms. Cassis doesn't have the right headset, so she can only support Mr. Boucher.

Mr. Alary and Ms. Brosseau, you have up to five minutes to share. I'm very strict about speaking time because I want to make sure we have time for two rounds of questions.

You have the floor for five minutes.

[Étienne Alary, Executive Director, Conseil de développement économique de l’Alberta]

Mr. Chair and members of the committee, thank you for having us this morning.

The Conseil de développement économique de l’Alberta, the CDÉA, was founded in 1997. If performs a number of functions for the Alberta francophonie. For businesses, the CDÉA offers services to existing and future small and medium-sized francophone businesses. The biggest challenge is still retaining those clients. Once they receive certain basic services to launch their business, they have to look to anglophone providers for financing.

That's why, for years, we've been calling for the creation of a fund to support francophone entrepreneurs in western Canada, similar to the Alberta women entrepreneurs loan program and the Black entrepreneurship loan fund created during the pandemic.

On the employment front, the CDÉA merged with Accès Emploi Alberta in 2023. Our merger will ensure better services for the francophone community because, most of the time, entrepreneurship and employability are inter-related, especially when it comes to issues around the bilingual labour shortage in our community.

The CDÉA's head office is in Edmonton, and we have an office in Calgary, but, as a provincial organization, there's demand for our services in rural areas too. Since its creation, our organization has had one employee to serve the province's northeast. We've also had a contract employee for about a decade in the province's northwest.

Because of that, we've have an impact on rural economic diversification. For rural areas, the youth exodus is a huge challenge. To address that, we've created various financial literacy and entrepreneurship workshops, as well as camps for young francophone entrepreneurs. Our initiatives have reached 2,500 elementary and high school students over the past year and led to the creation of a number of school-based businesses.

This year, the CDÉA is also managing the prairies francophone economic development fund, which has a $1.8 million envelope over three years. This is part of the economic development initiative in the prairie provinces, the EDI. It funds economic development initiatives, such as setting up a sewing co‑operative for African women or opening a café in a francophone visual arts centre.

Since I'm talking about rural communities, I'll hand things over to Elisa Brosseau, Chair of the Alberta Bilingual Municipalities Association.

[Elisa Brosseau, Chair, Alberta Bilingual Municipalities Association, Conseil de développement économique de l’Alberta]

Thank you.

The Alberta Bilingual Municipalities Association, the ABMA, is a not-for-profit association that represents member municipalities in Alberta. Its message is simple and clear: Bilingualism is a driver for economic growth. The ABMA plays a crucial role in Alberta's economic development because it knows that placing bilingualism at the core of municipal economic strategies can help communities create jobs, improve tourism and optimize investment opportunities.

Not surprisingly, Alberta's bilingual municipalities have a vast network of organizations, institutions and businesses that have achieved great success by offering services in French. However, we have to do more to put those networks and achievements on the national map for several reasons, the most important one being that very few people in our province and across Canada know how big and dynamic Alberta's francophone communities are.

The ABMA wants to ensure that municipalities have the tools and resources they need to respond to the needs of francophone newcomers, tourists and businesses. We also want to recognize our country's commitment to the two official languages and build a meaningful, collaborative relationship among francophone communities in Alberta to ensure that they remain economically sustainable for generations to come.

Bilingual communities are in the best position to identify opportunities for greater synergy and collaboration in order to optimize the scope and impact of services provided to the francophone population because they are closest to francophone businesses and residents. By working collaboratively with local and provincial governments, francophone communities across Alberta can develop new ideas, new solutions and a new perspective on what success means in Alberta.

Thank you.