Official Languages Committee on Feb. 26th, 2024

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

I call the meeting to order.

We're still having some technical difficulties for those participating in the meeting remotely.

One of our witnesses, Mr. Nadeau, is trying to join the meeting online, but he's having technical problems. We'll do the required sound tests once he manages to connect.

I just want to let you know that everyone participating in the meeting online has done the sound tests, and everything is in order.

Welcome to meeting number 88 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Official Languages.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(3) and the motion adopted by the committee on September 20, 2023, the committee is meeting to resume its study on the economic development of official language minority communities.

Here's a short version of the mike use instructions: Speak through the chair and mute your mike when you're not speaking. We're used to working on Zoom by now.

In accordance with our routine motions, as I said at the beginning, connection tests have been done and everything is working properly.

I would like to welcome Mr. Nadeau from the Haut-Madawaska Chamber of Commerce, whom we are expecting shortly by videoconference; Marie-Eve Michon, from the Réseau de développement économique et d'employabilité du Nouveau-Brunswick, or RDEE, who's here in the room; and Mylène Letellier, from the Société de développement économique de la Colombie-Britannique, who is joining us by videoconference.

Good afternoon, Ms. Letellier. You're kind of far away, but we can see you up close here. Hurray for technology.

As usual, I'll give each witness five minutes for their presentation, and then we'll move on to six minutes of questions for each party, and so on.

I am very strict about speaking time. That's part of my job. The stricter I am, the more questions people can ask, and that's better for everyone.

I see that Mr. Nadeau is logging in.

Can you hear us, Mr. Nadeau?

[Reginald Nadeau, President, Haut Madawaska Chamber of Commerce]

Yes, I can hear you very well, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Mr. Nadeau, I'll let you do your sound check.

Ms. Michon just arrived in person.

Ms. Michon, I'll have you start. You have five minutes.

[Marie-Eve Michon, Director, Réseau de développement économique et d'employabilité du Nouveau-Brunswick]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I'd like to thank the committee for the opportunity to testify and contribute to your study, which I feel is very important.

My name is Marie-Eve Michon. I am the director of the Réseau de développement économique et d'employabilité du Nouveau-Brunswick, the New Brunswick RDEE, which was founded in 2000. You've met with a number of our counterparts over the course of your study, so I won't try to reinvent the wheel. We create and support strategies and initiatives that meet the economic development needs of francophone and Acadian communities in order to contribute to New Brunswick's economy, among other things.

The New Brunswick RDEE has 19 employees and two offices, one in Paquetville, a rural community in northern New Brunswick, and another in Moncton, an urban setting.

We focus on economic development, which includes entrepreneurship, business takeovers by women and sustainable development; and employability, which includes economic immigration and skills development.

I would like to share an overview of some of the New Brunswick RDEE's flagship projects to give you an idea of what we do, the scope of our projects and how we connect with communities in all the ways I just mentioned.

The New Brunswick RDEE spearheads Impact, a program that helps francophone businesses in all four Atlantic provinces take steps toward sustainable development. We're all working together to help these businesses adopt greener, more sustainable practices.

Innover par l’amélioration des processus is another project designed to support businesses by helping them become more productive and competitive. We provide non-repayable financial assistance of up to $50,000 per business to help boost productivity and ensure longevity. The program is ending on March 31. We've helped 31 francophone businesses benefit from this program, and 77% of them are in the manufacturing sector.

Solution Repreneuriat is a program that helps women who want to buy an existing business. We do a lot to support start-ups, but we also wanted to provide support for takeovers. We know that women who want to buy a business don't face the same challenges as men. This program was set up with Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada under the leadership of the New Brunswick RDEE. It includes the four Atlantic provinces and Saskatchewan. It has been running in New Brunswick for three years and has helped 200 women, 97 of whom have received personalized coaching to help them through the process of buying a company from start to finish.

Our Mode d'emploi program is designed to support newcomers and permanent residents by helping them learn about the characteristics of Canada's labour market generally and New Brunswick's in particular. So far this year, our small team has supported 280 clients and delivered 400 employability services, including webinars, workshops and training.

In closing, I should say that we're funded by the Enabling Fund for Official Language Minority Communities, which is crucial to delivering francophone services and initiatives in New Brunswick. This funding provides tremendous leverage because it enables us to secure other opportunities and funds. For example, over the past five years, the New Brunswick RDEE has worked with 2,800 partners. We've used our own funding to leverage $12 million in cash and $4 million in kind, benefiting over 70,000 recipients in New Brunswick with 255 projects.

We're very excited about the new $208-million fund for employment assistance services. I look forward to seeing what happens next. We are very much looking forward to working together, as this will enable us to accomplish even more with our projects.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you very much, Ms. Michon.

Ms. Letellier, you have the floor for five minutes.

[Mylène Letellier, Executive Director, Société de développement économique de la Colombie-Britannique]

Mr. Chair and members of Parliament, on behalf of the Société de développement économique de la Colombie-Britannique, the SDECB, thank you for your invitation.

My name is Mylène Letellier. I am the executive director of the SDECB, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.

As part of its mission to promote the economic development of the francophone community throughout British Columbia, the SDECB operates in three main areas: entrepreneurship, particularly women entrepreneurs; employability among young people, immigrants and employers; and community economic development, specifically in the fields of tourism and sustainable development and through the management of the western Canadian francophone economic development fund for the Pacific region.

My colleague from the Réseau de développement économique et d'employabilité du Nouveau-Brunswick talked about some flagship projects, but I would like to talk to you about the challenges the SDECB faces in its three areas of intervention.

Here's how we see the main challenges in entrepreneurship. While funding to support our employability initiatives has increased over the years, thanks to funding from Employment and Social Development Canada and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, funding for entrepreneurship has not gone up in 20 years. The funding we get from PacifiCan, the Pacific Economic Development Agency of Canada, has not changed in 20 years. The fact that this funding is not indexed is a major challenge in the current inflationary context.

Nevertheless, PacifiCan funding has enabled us to deliver personalized coaching services, mentoring, training and networking activities in Vancouver and Kelowna, as well as activities for women entrepreneurs. We would like to expand our services to other regions and offer more programs to support things like business takeovers and interprovincial economic missions or missions to Africa.

With respect to employability, more and more employers are relying on our organization to recruit bilingual talent. That means we have to draw from francophone foreign countries. However, our current funding requires us to limit our efforts to participating in Destination Canada, which is funded by Employment and Social Development Canada.

Until now, the SDECB had little control over employment services offered to Canadians from other provinces; they had to turn to provincial employment centres offering certain services in French. We therefore welcome Employment and Social Development Canada's announcement of funding for employment centres run by and for francophones. That funding will be available to the SDECB.

Here are the challenges we face in community economic development. The SDECB is missing opportunities to promote francophone tourism because our province doesn't prioritize francophone tourism, the funding criteria for federal government programs are not in sync with our reality, and we lack financial and human resources.

The French fact and bilingualism drive economic growth in communities such as ours. Enabling anglophone tourism businesses to provide services in French, promoting francophone tourism and optimizing investment opportunities are initiatives that offer excellent opportunities for growth.

Francophone countries in Africa represent opportunities for francophone businesses looking for new markets and for provinces able to attract investors, visitors and job seekers from there.

Another opportunity to raise the francophone community's profile is coming up with the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will attract many visitors from francophone countries in Africa and elsewhere to Vancouver. All we need is a commitment from the federal government to launch a project that will galvanize people, engage the community, stimulate the economy and spotlight our culture.

Generally speaking, the federal government's latest funding opportunities have increasingly emphasized bilingualism. Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada's Women Entrepreneurship Strategy is one example. Economic organizations in minority language communities sometimes have trouble competing with majority language organizations responding to calls for funding because they're addressed to all francophone and anglophone stakeholders in Canada. Organizations like ours often have to rely on the good will of anglophone partners or partners in Quebec to work collaboratively in an equitable manner. This approach isn't “by and for francophones”.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Ms. Letellier, please wrap up in under 20 seconds.

[Mylène Letellier]

In closing, I would like to point out that the SDECB is part of a national network, the Réseau de développement économique et d'employabilité, whose mission is to promote prosperity and economic development. In 2023, they produced a white paper with some great recommendations. I invite you to read it.

Thank you for your attention, and I'm available to answer your questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you very much.

Mr. Nadeau, you have the floor for five minutes.

[Reginald Nadeau]

Good morning, Mr. Chair. Thank you for inviting me to take part in this meeting.

I didn't prepare a fancy speech like my colleagues. As you'll see, I'm a businessman and I don't have the jargon and turns of phrase of a public servant, but I will be clear and to the point.

As you mentioned, I live in the wonderful city of Haut-Madawaska, the most beautiful city in Canada. I am the president of the Haut-Madawaska Chamber of Commerce, and I also belong to other committees in the region.

The main purpose of my presentation today is to explain how Haut-Madawaska Chamber of Commerce members see the francophonie's opportunities and challenges. I'll go over the points we decided to focus on as a result of the steps we've taken with chamber of commerce members and other stakeholders.

One of the biggest issues in our region is recruiting workers, and one of our main economic activities is the poultry sector. We know chicken farming. I believe our region is the nation's leader in raising, slaughtering and processing chickens, as well as wood processing. Those two sectors are extremely important to us. Because we are in a small remote area, we recruit workers from Canada and from other countries. Our entrepreneurs actively recruit francophone workers. We are in a francophone region, and preserving our language is important to us.

Our companies compete for workers with Quebec City, Montreal and southern New Brunswick, mainly. Many of the workers we recruit from outside our region want to go to those large francophone centres. However, once they set foot in our region, they realize that, compared to big cities, the quality of life here is exceptional. Young families that settle here are well served.

The chamber of commerce runs a few projects, including the community incentive plan. Funded by three leading members of the chamber of commerce, this plan helps subsidize newcomers and their families who want to come and settle in our region.

I'd like to talk about some of the challenges our businesses are facing. First of all, credential recognition programs can be very onerous because there is too much bureaucracy. They are also extremely expensive for our workers. Second, like everywhere else in Canada, we lack housing to accommodate new workers and new families. Chamber of commerce members and the City of Haut-Madawaska are trying to tackle this problem. The situation should be rectified in a few years.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

You have 30 seconds left.

[Reginald Nadeau]

Okay.

Anything to do with communications, such as Internet access and the cell network, is another problem in our sector.

As you can see, I'm not an expert, but I will answer all your questions to the best of my ability.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Mr. Nadeau, Ms. Michon and Ms. Letellier.

During the first round of interactive questions, each party will have six minutes.

We're going to start with the Conservatives.

Mr. Dalton, you have six minutes.

[Marc Dalton, Conservative, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC]

I thank the witnesses for their comments.

As a member from British Columbia, I'd like to start by saying that I visited a number of francophone organizations in Vancouver last week together with a few colleagues, including Mr. Godin. I want to congratulate Mr. Godin, our vice-chair, on receiving the Kermode award from the Fédération des francophones de la Colombie-Britannique for his efforts to advance the French fact in minority language communities.

Ms. Letellier, we visited the Chambre de commerce francophone de Vancouver and met with some 60 business people.

Do you have a relationship with that chamber of commerce?

[Mylène Letellier]

Good afternoon, Mr. Dalton and Mr. Godin. I did indeed have the pleasure of meeting you last week at the award ceremony.

Unfortunately, I did not attend the latest meeting of the Chambre de commerce francophone de Vancouver because I was at the reception in honour of Mr. Godin. We do work closely with them, though. Their mandate is local, and ours is provincial. Our mandate is to set up meetings and facilitate networking among entrepreneurs. We often refer entrepreneurs seeking counselling services to the chamber of commerce for networking activities. In return, the chamber of commerce refers entrepreneurs to us when they need support for more specific services, such as training.

In fact, as I said in my presentation, we also manage the fund previously called the Fonds de développement économique francophone de l'Ouest, or FDEFO. It's part of the Economic Development Initiative, the EDI, and it enables us to redistribute that money to francophone community organizations for community economic development projects. Over the past two years, the chamber of commerce has benefited from that source of funding, which we manage.

[Marc Dalton, Conservative, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC]

Do you communicate with anglophone businesses to make sure they're aware of francophones' services and needs? Do you work with other organizations?

Also, in your work, do companies generally come to you or do you go to them? Or both?

[Mylène Letellier]

We work closely with anglophone organizations in the business community. For example, we work with Women's Enterprise because our mentorship programs for women are from the Women's Enterprise Organizations of Canada program.

We also work with the Community Futures Network of Canada because they offer services in the regions such as business takeovers, which we don't offer. We work closely with that network to keep tabs on businesses for sale throughout the region. We also work with InnovateBC on the Intellectual Property Program. We make our community and the needs of our francophone entrepreneurs known by finding more and more opportunities to work with businesses that offer essentially the same services as we do, but to the anglophone community.

[Marc Dalton, Conservative, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC]

Your organization is celebrating its 25th anniversary. Thank you for the work you do in the province.

It's always a battle, but is it getting harder and harder? How would you describe your progress and the challenges?

[Mylène Letellier]

Let me see. I think the main challenge for our organization is that needs are growing, be it in entrepreneurship, in employability or in economic and community development. We're getting more and more requests for partnerships and projects, but we don't necessarily have enough funding. We have core funding, but to do more, we sometimes need project funding. I think that's the issue.

We could do a lot more, but we don't always have the funding to do more.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Mr. Dalton. Thank you as well, Ms. Letellier.

I'll now give the floor to Annie Koutrakis, from the Liberal Party.

You have the floor for six minutes, Annie.

[Annie Koutrakis, Liberal, Vimy, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I would also like to thank the witnesses who are with us today for sharing their comments on this very important study.

I'll start with you, Ms. Michon. New Brunswick is the only officially bilingual province. It's quite unique, linguistically speaking. Although the two languages are equal, what measures have your Acadian businesses adopted to better promote and affirm French as the language of work and trade?

[Marie-Eve Michon]

Being the only officially bilingual province is definitely a double‑edged sword, as they say. Obviously, the language of business is English. There's no denying that. I think francophone businesses recognize that bilingualism is a strength that makes it possible to integrate other markets. For our part, we're trying to point out that French has the same power as English in business. Through the Conseil économique du Nouveau-Brunswick and all its francophone members, we try to show our business network that doing business in French is as powerful as doing business in English.

We're also working on a project that brings together the four Atlantic provinces in order to develop business relations with Saint‑Pierre‑et‑Miquelon. There are francophone businesses there that want to expand their services. We're trying to develop exchanges and promote francophone entrepreneurship to some extent.

I don't know if that answers your question.

[Annie Koutrakis, Liberal, Vimy, QC]

Thank you very much.

My next question is for Mr. Nadeau.

Could you tell us about the specific case of the Haut-Madawaska region and its linguistic profile?

In addition, are there tricks you could share with us that could also be used in regions where francophones are in the majority?

[Reginald Nadeau]

Yes.

We are mainly francophones in our sector. That's good to say. As Ms. Michon mentioned, even if we are completely francophone in our sector, or 95% of us, the language of business is also English.

New Brunswick and the northwest of the province are production and export regions. Naturally, English is therefore important.

Even though the French language is the language most used by all our fellow citizens and workers, businesses want to protect the French fact while ensuring a certain level of bilingualism so that they can continue to do business.

In terms of tricks, the programs we've developed at the Haut-Madawaska Chamber of Commerce are mainly focused on recruiting and retaining our fellow citizens and people from the outside, speaking French as much as possible, so that they can settle in our territory. Hence the community incentive plan, known as PIC, as I mentioned earlier, which is an investment program designed to encourage people from outside to come and settle in our territory.

In terms of foreign recruitment, the process for obtaining permanent residence is quite long and arduous. So it is a challenge for us to get these people to participate in the PIC program. However, that program is now available. It has been in place for five years and about 20 families have come to settle in our territory so far. If memory serves, a family is in the process of obtaining citizenship or permanent residence and intends to take part in this program.

So it bodes well and it gives our businesses some breathing room. Naturally, we also have to think about housing these people. This is extremely important.

The federal programs that appear to be unveiled in this area will certainly help us a great deal.

However, in terms of French, it must also be said that organizations in our region provide training in French. However, the main disadvantage our members mention is that people who want to take courses and learn French have to do so within a fairly limited time frame. Since the courses are normally given during the day, the people who work don't have access to them. Therefore, we are asking for some flexibility so that the training can be offered in the evenings or on the weekends so that as many people as possible can take French courses intended mainly for adults.

The children of young families are already in francophone classes in our schools, which helps a great deal with integration. Having had an experience this week, I can say that the integration of these young people who come from outside the country is fantastic. It's a different generation. This is a generation of young people who are much more open to difference. We certainly notice that. In one of the schools in our territory, the student population from outside has represented nearly 40% in the past two years. That's huge.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Mr. Nadeau.

You will be able to continue as other questions are put to you.

The next speaker will be Mario Beaulieu, the second vice‑chair of this standing committee, representing the Bloc Québécois.

You have the floor for six minutes.