Official Languages Committee on Nov. 4th, 2025

[Justin Morrow]

Yes.

[Louis Villeneuve, Liberal, Brome—Missisquoi, QC]

If you had one wish to express to the government, just one, what would be the first measure that you'd like to implement?

[Justin Morrow]

Did you say “measure”?

[Louis Villeneuve, Liberal, Brome—Missisquoi, QC]

Yes, I'm talking about a measure to be able to get a better return on investment.

[Justin Morrow]

The measure to improve that return would be to increase the retention rate for French as a second language, five years after high school. That's it.

[Louis Villeneuve, Liberal, Brome—Missisquoi, QC]

Okay. Thank you very much.

Ms. Williamson, in 2023, our government announced an $8.2‑million investment to build a community centre for francophones on the Halifax peninsula, I believe. Is that correct?

[Jane Williamson]

Yes, that's right.

[Louis Villeneuve, Liberal, Brome—Missisquoi, QC]

How will that investment increase your capacity in terms of early childhood services?

[Jane Williamson]

As I mentioned earlier, in the new school, we'll have a 42‑space day care, which will be built in the Halifax area thanks to that funding.

[Louis Villeneuve, Liberal, Brome—Missisquoi, QC]

That gives you 42 net spaces.

[Jane Williamson]

Yes. That's how many spaces we were given. We maximized the area as much as possible.

[Louis Villeneuve, Liberal, Brome—Missisquoi, QC]

That's great.

I also heard you talking about a shortage of francophone staff earlier. Recruiting and retaining staff is obviously a major challenge for you. What strategy has your organization put in place to attract or retain francophone staff?

[Jane Williamson]

We have developed a recruitment strategy that's working well at the moment. We've done trips with Destination Canada. We've connected with schools and institutions outside of Canada to get more applicants. We've also created provincial programs, including a welcome program for immigrants.

People can volunteer to try helping us out in our centres and see whether it's a job that they would like to get involved in. We do recruitment across Canada, but we also try to do it internationally. The goal is to recruit young people who will go to schools in the Conseil scolaire acadien provincial and who will pursue studies in early childhood to come and work in our centres. The main goal is to be able to recruit here in Nova Scotia.

[Louis Villeneuve, Liberal, Brome—Missisquoi, QC]

Okay. Thank you.

As we've seen, Le Petit Voilier serves the Halifax region and surrounding areas. From what I understand, though, the francophone community is dispersed. How does that geographic reality affect access to child care services in French?

[Jane Williamson]

Our child care services are actually integrated into the school board's schools. All of our infrastructure is in the schools, so it's a good use of public funds. However, that limits us somewhat. Every time the school board receives funding to build a school, we have to apply for community spaces. That means we depend on the infrastructure that's built for our school board.

Under the bilateral agreement, our province has freed up funding for major infrastructure. Unfortunately, the two projects we submitted were rejected. Only one francophone project was accepted, and that's the 40‑space project I was telling you about for the Pomquet region, which doesn't have child care services at the moment.

[Louis Villeneuve, Liberal, Brome—Missisquoi, QC]

Were you given any explanation as to why those projects were rejected, despite the needs?

[Jane Williamson]

There was a shortage of funding for the infrastructure we were requesting.

[Louis Villeneuve, Liberal, Brome—Missisquoi, QC]

Okay.

In a context where many French-speaking families come from exogamous or completely anglophone backgrounds, how do you work with parents to strengthen the transmission of French at home?

[Jane Williamson]

We communicate with them in French. Families are also offered French courses through a francophone organization that has a program called Family Literacy First. That way, the parents of children who attend our French-language day cares or schools can learn French to better support their children.

[Louis Villeneuve, Liberal, Brome—Missisquoi, QC]

Thank you.

Mr. Morrow, as you said, young francophones in various anglophone regions of the country are reluctant to continue their studies in French. How can we increase the appeal of French-language studies? Is that still a matter of follow-up?

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

Please answer briefly, as there are about 15 seconds left.

[Justin Morrow]

Okay.

I imagine you're talking about post-secondary education. Students will choose where they want to go. Things can be built in the long term to make French-language universities and colleges more attractive, but, in the short term, it's important to support these young people when they choose to study in English. They shouldn't be excluded from the system. They have to be included, even if they study in English.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve.

I now give the floor to Mr. Beaulieu for six minutes.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to our guests.

Ms. Williamson, you talked about structural underfunding of education by and for francophones. Could you tell us more about that?

[Jane Williamson]

Yes. First, I can mention the limited availability of educational material in French, as well as the exponential increase in the costs associated with translating documents. Second, when it comes to infrastructure, we obviously have to wait for schools to be built to provide child care services, and funding is limited. There's also an increase in costs. When our project was about to be approved, the cost had increased by $3 million compared with the original cost. That's what structural underfunding looks like.