Official Languages Committee on Feb. 5th, 2024

[Mona Audet]

I can’t quite remember what I was saying.

I wanted to say that we have the resources and the potential, but we have to sit down with our partners and we have to make sure that we fund francophone communities properly. We need to give them the resources and the opportunity to work, including RESDAC.

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

Thank you.

Ms. Audet, earlier you mentioned funding from Skills for Success. Can you tell us what that is?

[Mona Audet]

That’s the Skills for Success program, an Employment and Social Development Canada program.

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

You receive funding from that department-led program, isn’t that so?

[Mona Audet]

Yes, absolutely. We’ve received funds from that department, and we are currently in the renewal process.

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

As I understand it, you are not receiving any contributions under the Official Languages Support Program for 2023–2028. Is that correct?

[Mona Audet]

There is funding for organizations that are members of RESDAC, but not for RESDAC itself.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Ms. Audet, Mr. Desgagné and Mr. Godin.

Mr. Serré has the floor for the final five minutes.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Audet and Mr. Desgagné, you’ve been working tirelessly for many years, and I’d like to thank you for that. I want to congratulate you on your work in adult literacy and recognition of prior learning. It’s very important work.

Indeed, there have been repercussions over the last 40 to 50 years. It’s clear that the assimilation of francophones outside Quebec is largely due to the fact that the federal and provincial governments didn’t necessarily fund RESDAC and its organizations. The onus was on the provinces, and we know that they don’t do much about it. So people rely on English-speaking organizations and translated documents. That doesn’t work.

First of all, I’d like to understand the breakdown of funding for the national network. In what proportion do the ten provinces and three territories fund services for francophones nationwide, compared to the portion paid by the federal government? Do you know?

[Mona Audet]

No.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Would it be possible to obtain a table showing these percentages? It would inform our discussions as we draft recommendations for economic development. It would be helpful to know if the federal share of funding is 80% or 90% and the provincial share is 5% or 2%, for example.

[Mona Audet]

Mr. Serré, I’ll take the liberty of answering that question.

As you know, there are agreements between the federal government and the provincial and territorial governments. But we have no idea how much is allocated for services to francophones. We have no way of knowing how much money is transferred from the federal government. We don’t know the amounts or the percentages.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Yes, but you know the amounts that your members receive.

[Mona Audet]

Yes, we do know those, absolutely.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

That’s what I’m asking.

[Mona Audet]

Oh, I see.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

I’d like to know what amount your members receive from the federal government, and what amount they receive from their province.

In the 1990s, the federal government delegated all responsibility for training to the provinces, which I think was a big mistake. We’re looking at how the federal government can strengthen training services for adults in official language minority communities across the country.

My second question has to do with tracking statistics. We have very little data, so what recommendations would you make about questions that Statistics Canada might ask?

We know that Statistics Canada is not an especially robust organization when it comes to collecting data on francophones. So it needs a little nudge and some recommendations from us, I’m sure.

[Denis Desgagné]

I can tell you that over the past few years, Statistics Canada has worked with us to better define which international studies are carried out and when. It has given us information that allows us to create our own dashboard.

That said, you are correct: I can provide you with questions that Statistics Canada could ask to obtain more precise data. That would be a tremendous help.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

That’s excellent. If you could suggest some questions, we could include them in our recommendations. That would be very good.

My next question—

[Mona Audet]

Mr. Serré, I can answer that.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

I’m listening.

[Mona Audet]

I’ll give you the example of “Mona Toba”. You remember that expression, don’t you?

I receive $124,670 from the Province of Manitoba for 13 literacy centres and I receive $25,000 from the Official Languages Support Program for 12 homework assistance centres. Those are my figures. We’ll find the other amounts for you.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Wonderful. Thank you very much.

I have a third question.

I’d like to talk about any programming or software available to literacy networks for adult and distance education, such as Contact North. Obviously, if you’re located in a big city, you can’t offer your services to adults in smaller centres.

Do you have any recommendations on how the federal government could help you with access to computer networks to use videoconferencing?

[Mona Audet]

Mr. Serré, I will gladly answer your question.

We have the Remote Training Program, or Programme F@D, which is implemented by COFA. We work with partners across the country. This has given us the opportunity to offer online training, train our facilitators and host people.

We’ve achieved great results. The statistics clearly demonstrate that. People have learned. That’s wonderful. Unfortunately, that program will not be funded.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Ms. Audet.