Good afternoon, everyone. I would first like to thank you for inviting us to appear before this committee. My name is Jocelyne Michelle Coulibaly and I am a grade 12 student at the Collège catholique Franco-Ouest in Ottawa. I am currently completing a specialist high skills major in justice, and I am also an elected member of the Conseil de représentation de la Fédération de la jeunesse franco-ontarienne, the FESFO. I would also like to introduce Geneviève Latour, who is the manager of the programming team at the FESFO and is in charge of social justice programs.
The FESFO was created in 1975 to call for Franco-Ontario youth to be given a place and resources. The FESFO is the representative organization for 25,000 francophone youth who attend one of the 92 French-language secondary schools in Ontario. It is led by a provincial youth council elected by students, and provides youth with information, raises their awareness and mobilizes them so their voices and needs are heard by the various decision-makers.
Every year, nearly 11,000 young leaders participate in a variety of training placements or cultural animation days in the schools organized by the FESFO. Some of the FESFO's activities are designed to help young people discover their Franco-Ontarian identity and combat assimilation, while providing young leaders from all over Ontario with the tools they need.
The FESFO takes a feminist approach, which is recognized as a winning practice by everyone who works with youth and women. In fact, the FESFO has been approached by the UN to develop a series of manuals as part of the "A World of Difference" project. The manuals deal with issues that include violence, sexism, racism, communication and conflict resolution.
As well, this inclusive and welcoming approach means that girls who belong to the FESFO feel involved, and participate in large numbers in cultural activities and benefit from the political opportunities offered by the federation. Girls represent 60 per cent of participants, on average, both at activities and events and in positions of responsibility within the federation.
The mission of the FESFO is to ensure that Franco-Ontarian youth participate fully in the development of their community. To achieve this, young people have to be able to take advantage of opportunities that enable them to discover their identity; to realize the role that girls need to play in their community in order to define, evaluate and improve it; to have memorable positive experiences in French with other young people so they will be more open to the world; to play their role as francophones in their community; to engage in self-affirmation as Franco-Ontarians; and to take a position by engaging in self-affirming acts as francophones.
As well, and in particular when it comes to the status of women, the FESFO believes that investing in girls is investing in the economic and social well-being of society. Today, with the necessary skills, in their language, they are in a position to exercise leadership and to contribute to initiatives that are developed by and for them and that reflect their lives and their needs.
In 2004, for example, the FESFO created a tool to help girls position themselves and exercise leadership, after participating in a general assembly on the development of services in French relating to violence against women. One of the things the charter of rights for Franco-Ontarian students calls for is equality, the right of girls to be respected and to receive services in French. It also sets out, for example, the need to have and be an accessible model, the need to have access to self-affirmation workshops, and the need to know that boys are also part of the solution.