Mr. Speaker, today I want to congratulate the French-Canadian community for two initiatives to provide French language health services.
First, I want to congratulate the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada for successfully culminating its work on French language health services with the foundation, in early December, of the Société Santé en français. Under the leadership of Hubert Gauthier, president and CEO of the St-Boniface General Hospital, this organization will develop a national network for cooperation to help francophones in Canada gain access to French language health services.
Second, I want to congratulate the French Language Health Services Network of Eastern Ontario, which is celebrating its fifth anniversary. I want to salute the co-chairs of the interim committee, Pierre de Blois and Rolande Faucher, and the network's chairs, Jean-Claude LeBlanc, Jacques Schryburt and Edgar Gallant, as well as its executive directors, Jocelyne Lalonde and Normand Dupasquier.
I am very proud to see that French Canadians are creating their own networks and organizations, a sign of their vitality and their determination to obtain the services they deserve.