Evidence of meeting #8 for Official Languages in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was federal.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Bloc
Mario Beaulieu Bloc La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC
It was probably worse in the past. How has that evolved over time, and what is the provincial government's contribution compared with the federal government's contribution?
Executive Director, La Société de la garderie le Petit Voilier
Our province used the funding from the bilateral agreement to provide funding for major and minor infrastructure projects, but we weren't able to access it. Some centres had the opportunity to expand their facilities, but we weren't allowed to build new buildings to offer more services. We submitted an application to replace a building that needed a lot of renovations, but that was one of the 50‑space projects that our province rejected.
Bloc
Mario Beaulieu Bloc La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC
From what you're saying, the provincial government doesn't give much to francophones. Is it like in other provinces, that is to say that you're given old English-language schools, which means that you're treated like second-class citizens?
Executive Director, La Société de la garderie le Petit Voilier
Yes, I tend to agree with that statement. It's unfortunate, because we're really trying to develop our system so that we can offer more spaces. Obviously, once children have day care spaces in schools, they're guaranteed to be able to continue their education in French all the way to university. That's what we want for our youth, and we're lucky to have a French-language university here.
Bloc
Mario Beaulieu Bloc La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC
You're talking about Université Sainte‑Anne.
Earlier, you mentioned a number of children, 6,763 children. Is that the number of francophone rights holders?
Executive Director, La Société de la garderie le Petit Voilier
I'm talking about the number of rights holders who attend a school, according to data that was published in a school board report this week.
Bloc
Bloc
Executive Director, La Société de la garderie le Petit Voilier
Among children, yes.
Bloc
Mario Beaulieu Bloc La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC
Is the proportion of rights holders who have a space in a French-language preschool about the same, or one in four?
Executive Director, La Société de la garderie le Petit Voilier
I would say it's fewer than one in four, because the number of spaces is more limited. Ideally, all children who are rights holders would have access to day care in French so that it's easier for them to continue in the French-language system afterward. However, one of the problems is the distance between the schools. Some schools are inaccessible to certain families who live an hour's commute away, for example. That means they definitely aren't going to take their children to a day care in a school setting either. For that reason, it's important to find ways to increase the number of spaces in areas that don't have services.
Bloc
Mario Beaulieu Bloc La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC
That goes against section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which is supposed to guarantee equal rights. Those rights have existed for a very long time, and there has been legal action to uphold them. It seems, then, that the provincial government couldn't care less about the Constitution and the case law on the matter.
Executive Director, La Société de la garderie le Petit Voilier
I wouldn't go so far as to say that, but it has to be aware that—
Bloc
Mario Beaulieu Bloc La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC
Let's just say that it doesn't really comply with the courts' decisions.
Executive Director, La Société de la garderie le Petit Voilier
We would like to see more co-operation between the provincial government and the francophone community. Creating a solely anglophone entity to support English-language and French-language child care services wouldn't work for us. That's why we've proposed that the government create a separate francophone entity. To date, our request has always been denied. The government isn't ready to move forward, while we francophones are ready to do so. Thanks to funding from the action plan for official languages 2023–2028, we're able to do what we proposed in 2021. However, we don't know what will happen after March 31, 2028.
Bloc
Mario Beaulieu Bloc La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC
A friend of mine used to work at an educational centre in Nova Scotia. He told me that the government couldn't care less about Supreme Court decisions and that it was the federal government that had to fill the gaps, albeit not completely, because it was extremely expensive. Would you agree with that?
Actually, no, I won't force you to answer that question. You can't take a position like that. We'll come back to that later.
Executive Director, La Société de la garderie le Petit Voilier
Thank you.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Yvan Baker
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu.
Mr. Dalton, you have the floor for five minutes.
Conservative
Marc Dalton Conservative Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC
Thank you very much.
Thank you to the witnesses for their comments.
Mr. Morrow, I taught core French for about 15 years. I've also had the opportunity to teach a few French immersion courses at all levels.
You talked about something really important. In committee, we often talk about francophones in minority situations, but we sometimes forget the opportunity that we have as a country to promote and encourage the French language through core French education and immersion. That's important. However, it's sad to see former immersion students who, a few years later, don't speak much French. They're embarrassed to do so, because they don't have many opportunities to practise the language.
That's the committee's big challenge: How do we encourage young people so that they don't lose their French? It's really a gift for us. It's part of a vision. Parents want their children to learn French. Young people want to keep their French too, but they sometimes can't.
I didn't quite understand how we could help young people continue to speak French after their studies. Do you have any examples of measures that are working to achieve that goal?
Social Entrepreneur, As an Individual
Are you referring to how to pursue studies—
Conservative
Marc Dalton Conservative Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC
I'm referring to how to encourage students after they finish their studies.
Social Entrepreneur, As an Individual
That's exactly why I founded Canadian Youth for French, to support those students. As I mentioned, I'm appearing today as an individual, and I want to give the organization a chance to speak. I sincerely hope that you will invite it, because it has the perfect solutions to support those students.
Conservative
Marc Dalton Conservative Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC
Okay.
Ms. Williamson, is it hard to retain early childhood educators? Are elementary schools losing personnel, for example? We see it happening elsewhere, so is the situation the same in Nova Scotia?
Executive Director, La Société de la garderie le Petit Voilier
Yes. We're looking for the same skills, whether it's for a French-speaking day care educator or junior kindergarten teacher. That means our organizations are competing for the same people. However, we've worked out internal strategies to retain our staff, and we've noticed in the last few years that it's working. We're working really hard to keep those who come from elsewhere in the country or from abroad.