Mr. Speaker, Professor Charles Castonguay has written an affidavit for SOS Montfort on the situation of francophones in Eastern Ontario.
The Liberal members from this region, who represent these French speaking Canadians, ought to read it.
We learn from this document that, in the nation's capital and surrounding area, the assimilation rate of francophones has grown from 13% in 1971 to 24% in 1996 overall and from 19% to 32% for people 25 to 34 years old.
“For the Ottawa—Carleton residents born in Ontario only, the net assimilation rate of young francophone adults reached 41% in 1996”, according to Professor Castonguay.