Official Languages Committee on Nov. 6th, 2025

[Marcel Larocque, President, Association canadienne d'éducation de langue française]

Good day, everyone.

On behalf of the Association canadienne d'éducation de langue française, of which I am the president, I want to thank you for having us. My name is Marcel Larocque and, naturally, I salute my executive director, Marie‑Hélène Tanguay, who will no doubt be of great help to me during the question period.

Our pan-Canadian network informs, trains and equips stakeholders in francophone education in every province and territory to foster identity building, meaning how individuals recognize themselves and act as members of a linguistic and cultural community.

The Association canadienne d'éducation de langue française helps strengthen the francophone minority-language education continuum, not only through its training programs and events, where participants at different stages of the continuum interact to build bridges between them, but also through the publication of the 15th issue of our booklet Comprendre la construction identitaire, entitled “Pour un continuum solide”. This booklet was developed with the members of a tripartite committee comprising representatives of the federal, provincial, and territorial governments, as well as representatives from the community and academic sectors with an interest in and a commitment to education. This booklet demonstrates that the continuum is not linear.

People say a picture is worth a thousand words, so allow me to draw an analogy. Let me describe the education continuum in minority-language communities to you as a house. The foundation represents the family, where individuals are first exposed to French. It's where our relationship with the language, culture and community begins. The front door represents early childhood. It opens onto the educational adventure in French and must be welcoming and solid so children can cross the threshold with confidence. The walls represent elementary and secondary schools. They provide structure and enrich the francophone experience by offering safe spaces conducive to rich and varied learning experiences. The roof represents continuing and post-secondary education. It protects, but above all, it opens onto the future so that the francophone identity can endure and thrive into adulthood. The windows represent informal and non-formal learning. They let in the fresh air of experiences acquired outside formal education. The land symbolizes the community, an essential space for building and supporting the house.

To ensure its long-term stability, the house needs a binding agent; in other words, it needs to be part of a complete ecosystem. This is where identity building comes in. The process is unique to each individual and is strongly influenced by their environment. This process is at the heart of the mission of French-language institutions in minority communities. Not only do they need to ensure the educational success of children and students, but they also have a responsibility to enable them to give French and francophone culture a true place in their lives. In this way, the house becomes a place that is alive, full of meaning and pride.

Identity building is not an isolated activity or a one-off project. It's an educational intention at every stage in the continuum. It gives meaning to learning, supports success and nourishes linguistic and cultural vitality. When individuals understand that learning to speak French allows them to take part in a history, a community and a collective future, the right based on section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms becomes a lived reality.

For a continuum to be vibrant and cohesive, several winning conditions are required. In particular, high-quality educational services are needed from early childhood onwards, within a cultural framework that fosters francophone identity. We also need French-language schools that fully embrace their identity mission by offering stimulating programs, a sense of belonging, and francophone role models. It also requires post-secondary institutions that are sensitive to the minority reality and offer initial training tailored to the unique needs of the communities. All stakeholders must have a shared vision and opportunities for cross-sector collaboration to build bridges. It is also essential to have resources adapted to the minority reality to promote identity building among children and students. Finally, above all, we need committed individuals, namely educational staff, families, administrators and community partners. The African proverb “It takes a village to raise a child” takes on its full meaning here.

The education continuum is not just a series of stages. It's a lifelong journey in French where we put identity building at the heart of our behaviour. We can have schools, services, and programs, but if francophone identity does not take root, we risk failing to achieve the goal of ensuring the vitality and sustainability of francophone communities in Canada.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

Thank you, Mr. Larocque.

Mr. Bouchard for five minutes.

[Éric Bouchard, Chief Executive Officer of Mouvement Québec français, 2014 to 2017, As an Individual]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Honourable members of the committee, I'll start by taking a few moments to tell you about my professional experience since 2009, which has allowed me to gain expertise on the anglicization of Quebec. Then, I will explain why Canada's Official Languages Act is a genocidal law when it comes to the French language, since it's based on the fallacious premise that anglophones in Quebec constitute a minority.

Between 2009 and 2012, I worked as a political staffer for MNA Pierre Curzi, for whom I wrote a study on Quebec's language situation at the time; the document was entitled Le grand Montréal s'anglicise. I also wrote a study on the need to apply the Charter of the French Language to college-level education. I then coordinated a study on the correlation between the anglicization of Montreal and the overfunding of anglophone universities in Quebec. Finally, I drafted Bill 593, which sought to improve the Charter of the French language and which Pierre Curzi introduced in 2012. Next, I was the chief executive officer of the Mouvement Québec français from 2013 to 2017. From 2017 to 2021, I took a break from the language file to sit on the City of Laval's executive committee and, for the past year, I have been drafting a paper on how the Canadian-English colonial regime assimilates francophones in an organized fashion via the Official Languages Act. According to my thesis, the notion of an anglophone minority in Quebec is a fallacious social construct that serves to develop tools to linguistically colonize the only region in which anglophones do not numerically outnumber francophones.

Let me give you the facts. On May 5, 1993, the United Nations Human Rights Committee rejected the request to recognize anglophones in Quebec as a minority. Referring to francophones in Quebec, the report indicated that “a group may constitute a majority in a province but still be a minority in a State”. The report adds “English speaking citizens of Canada cannot be considered a linguistic minority.” I will say it again, the UN stated that English-speaking Canadians cannot be considered a minority. Not only do the anglophones living in Quebec not belong to a minority requiring protection, but they are an integral part of the Canadian and continental majority. Furthermore, they speak the most powerful language in the history of humanity and which has dominated for over a century in all spheres of human activity.

In Quebec, there are nine francophones for every anglophone. Yet, this so-called minority absorbs half of all assimilation cases. That's high for a minority. In Quebec, there are more francophones assimilating to English than anglophones assimilating to French. If anglophones are a minority, how do they manage to assimilate speakers from what Canada calls the francophone majority? In Quebec and in Montreal, the percentage of language-of-use and mother-tongue francophones is declining while the percentages for anglophones are rising. In short, no linguistic minority on Earth has the assimilation power that anglophones in Quebec do. This unique situation exists nowhere else on Earth. If we speak frankly and truthfully, the anglophone minority only exists, then, as a concept to allow the development and deployment of the tools of assimilation by the Canadian-English colonial regime.

As for the education continuum of the Canadian English-speaking majority in Quebec, 8.8% of Quebec's population is anglophone with 8.8% of students in English-language elementary and secondary schools. However, once Bill 101 no longer applied, the percentage of students attending English-language institutions rose to 22%. How can minority institutions be so appealing? It's because Canada's Official Languages Act creates anglonormativity in Quebec. This contributes to the appeal of post-secondary education in English and, consequently, to the anglicization of the workplace, which has led to changing the language used at home in favour of English. In contrast, the francophone university network in Canada is so poor that 55% of francophones attend anglophone universities. The $100 million per year that the Canadian Parliament votes to anglicize Quebec should be entirely allocated to francophone institutions outside Quebec.

Finally, as Canadian parliamentarians now recognize that francophone minorities outside Quebec cannot be treated the same way as the Canadian-English speaking majority in Quebec, and since the anglicization of Quebec has been recognized, investing $100 million per year in anglicizing Quebec is an act of genocide on the French language.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

Thank you, Mr. Bouchard.

We will now move to questions from committee members.

Mr. Dalton, you have six minutes.

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

Mr. Bouchard, as a former chief executive officer of the Mouvement Québec français and generally speaking, based on all your experience, have you noticed a decline in the federal government efforts to promote French since 2015.

[Éric Bouchard]

Indeed, the promotion of French is Quebec is instead the promotion of English in every respect. Once again, $100 million is invested annually, through various programs under the Official Languages Act, including to fund anglophone lobby groups that spare no effort in ensuring that everyone in the Quebec health care sector speaks English. If they find a single nurse unable to speak English in a hospital department in Rimouski, which is a 100% francophone municipality, they will demand that this individual learn English so they can provide service in English, in case an anglophone unable to speak French turns up in Rimouski. That's a bit of a caricature, of course, to illustrate my point.

Ultimately, the $3.6 billion that has been invested over all these years to anglicize Quebec through the Official Languages Act has meant that it's now possible, throughout Quebec, to live without needing to learn French. Consequently, immigrants and people from other Canadian provinces who do not speak French and who come to Quebec can spend their lives there without needing to learn it. This way of doing things has helped to normalize the use of English throughout Quebec. We are becoming more and more like the people of Toronto and Ottawa, Canadian cities where it's normal to live in English. This is particularly true in Montreal, and it's expanding to Longueuil and Laval. Gatineau, which is attached to Ottawa, obviously, is another city where the society is subject to anglonormativity.

So, to answer your question, sir, what the federal government is doing in Quebec, is in no way promoting French.

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

Thank you very much.

Mr. Larocque, does the Association canadienne d'éducation de langue française represent other associations or it is just a single organization?

[Marcel Larocque]

The Association canadienne d'éducation de langue française is a pan-Canadian organization. Nonetheless, it's quite rare, in the francophonie, to see organizations that include all three territories and ten provinces. We are not a political movement, instead, we support everything being done in the area of learning, education and identity building.

What I really like about our organization is that we have an excellent network. Among others, we belong to the Table nationale sur l'éducation, where 12 organizations meet to talk about how to help students, young people and the community live their identity in a positive way, so that their identity building remains front and centre.

We are not a union network or any other type of organization that represents other groups, but we have many partners. The Table nationale sur l'éducation includes parents, art schools, universities, colleges and school boards, among others. We work with all stakeholders involved in francophone education. Our goal is to provide support. If young people can have positive experiences in French and enjoy living in French, I believe this becomes an added value across the country, whether in the Yukon, Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, here in Acadia, or in Quebec.

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

I really liked your analogy of the house to illustrate the minority-language education continuum. It's interesting. We could use it in our report.

I presume this situation is unequal across the country. For the remaining minute, could you tell us a little about these differences?

[Marcel Larocque]

Indeed, the situation varies greatly from one region to another. Even in the region where I live, in New Brunswick, people are considered to be perfectly bilingual. That is not the case where I come from. On the Acadian peninsula, French is really the priority; it is the language of the majority, to the point where some people think that we are a majority community, not a minority one.

The situations are not the same, but when we communicate with our colleagues from regions where French may be less prevalent, I am always amazed to see the desire, the will and the ability to work and create meaningful French-language experiences for young people. We are not at the same level, but when we network, we can learn from each other.

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

Perfect.

Have the Liberal government’s policies helped to strengthen the identity of young francophones, or have you noticed a weakening of their sense of belonging?

[Marcel Larocque]

People from all ministries of education sit on the tripartite committee of which we are a part. We therefore work in collaboration with them.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

Thank you, Mr. Dalton.

Before giving the floor to Ms. Chenette, I would ask my colleagues to be brief in their comments, given the time remaining and the number of members who wish to speak. I will try to be fairly strict with the time so that we can complete the question period. That way, I will not need to shorten the speaking time during the last round. I therefore ask for your co-operation.

Ms. Chenette, you have the floor for six minutes.

[Madeleine Chenette, Liberal, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I would like to welcome our guests.

Mr. Larocque, the house analogy you used effectively conveys a powerful image of the continuum in minority language education. I see that you are promoting the educational and identity success of francophones.

I would like to know what the criteria are for evaluating progress in terms of identity. How do you evaluate this identity logic?

[Marcel Larocque]

As you know, the francophonie is no longer the same as it was 10, 20 or 50 years ago. There is increasing talk of a plural francophonie.

At the Association canadienne d’éducation de langue française, we welcome and assist all French speakers, whether they are local, regional or from other countries. At the very least, we hope to contribute a little to the identity building. We accept them into our organization and ensure that everyone feels comfortable with their own culture. We promote accents because accents add colour. That’s the message we want to convey: You don’t need to speak uniform French, the important thing is to be happy.

It’s impressive to see the cultural diversity in schools. We also work with the new criteria of diversity, equity and inclusion to ensure that everyone is comfortable and happy.

[Madeleine Chenette, Liberal, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

Based on what you are saying, I would say that, ultimately, it is this cultural diversity and these accents that characterize your association.

We know that the world is changing. We have gone from two colonized peoples to a real openness to the world. This is what you have just highlighted when talking about cultural diversity.

In this context, what should the government do at all levels to strengthen not a defensive approach to protect itself from its colonial past, but rather to reinforce and highlight pride in our language and our identity in terms of the francophonie throughout Canada? What do you suggest we do more of, or stop doing?

[Marcel Larocque]

We are not really demanding as regards our mission. As I said, we focus more on preparing tools and support, and so on. However, we do engage in a lot of dialogue with people in the districts or school boards, as well as with people from the Ministry of Education, regardless of the region we are in. We promote our tools and our work. People are also part of our exchange committees, and for our part, it is important that all the work we do promotes education and identity. We don’t knock on the government’s door saying they should do more or less. We are fortunate to have Canada-wide funding, and within those parameters, we create and produce materials.

I don’t know if Ms. Tanguay, who works much more in the field than I do, would like to add a comment.

[Marie-Hélène Tanguay, Executive Director, Association canadienne d'éducation de langue française]

Thank you, Mr. Larocque.

In fact, among the opportunities we offer, we aim to enable people to meet within this diverse francophone community, now referred to as the “plural francophonie”, to enable people to meet and interact with one another. Reaching out to others can facilitate many aspects of this identity-building process and help people understand and appreciate this language and culture, as well as provide opportunities for exchange and places to meet. I think this is an essential part of identity building.

[Madeleine Chenette, Liberal, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

Thank you.

Mr. Bouchard, after what has just been said about the meetings and this strong French-speaking diversity in Canada, beyond the legal aspect, how do you see the situation evolving to promote the French-speaking community across Canada, taking advantage of this French-speaking community in Quebec?

[Éric Bouchard]

The Official Languages Act is designed in such a way that it divides francophones. It pits francophones against each other. The idea of symmetry—

[Madeleine Chenette, Liberal, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

My question was not necessarily about the legal aspect, but rather about other practices that could be implemented.

[Éric Bouchard]

I’m getting to it.

Conceptually, we say that it’s symmetrical, meaning that francophone minorities outside Quebec should be protected as much as the anglophone minority in Quebec. I know you don’t want to talk about the legal aspect, but when it comes to the legal side of things, francophones are fighting each other—

[Madeleine Chenette, Liberal, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

I insist, sir. We have little time for questions. I want to talk about the practical aspect, not the legal aspect.

[Éric Bouchard]

I’m getting to it.

When it comes to funding, if we allocate $100 million a year to anglicize Quebec, why not use that $100 million a year to make the university network for francophones outside Quebec as powerful as the university network for francophone universities in Quebec? All the money used under the Official Languages Act to anglicize Quebec could be used to improve all the infrastructure for francophones outside Quebec. However, that is not what we are doing. That is where we need to change the Official Languages Act. We must stop anglicizing Quebec with federal money and use that money to support French-language institutions in Canada.

[Madeleine Chenette, Liberal, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

Mr. Chair, do I have any time left?