Mr. Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to respond to the question from the member for Gatineau about the court challenges program and the responsibilities of the Minister for la Francophonie and Official Languages with respect to official language minority communities.
As he knows very well, a case concerning the court challenges program is presently before the courts. Therefore, it would not be appropriate for me to comment at this time.
However, I would like to make a few comments about what our government has accomplished for official language minority communities throughout our country. I am convinced that this will be of great interest to the member for Gatineau.
Since taking office, the Minister for la Francophonie and Official Languages has made a point of meeting official language minority communities in all regions of the country.
For example, in April, she participated in a round table in New Brunswick with young Acadians discussing the concerns of and matters of interest to young people. These youths were very engaged and she was quite impressed by their enthusiasm. We firmly believe that it is important to strengthen relationships with young people in order to ensure the future of the official languages.
She also had the opportunity to meet with many members of the network of associations in New Brunswick, including the Société nationale des Acadiens, the Société des Acadiens et and the Fédération de la jeunesse francophone du Nouveau-Brunswick.
Because we believe that young people are important, the Government of Canada has signed improved four-year agreements with the 13 provinces and territories for minority language education and second language learning. These agreements reflect our desire to invest in the future of Canada's youth.
In addition, our government is continuing to support new school and community centres. Two examples come to mind.
First, our government and the Government of Saskatchewan have signed an agreement to build and renovate school and community centres for the École canadienne-française in Saskatoon. This two-year agreement, worth over $3 million, will help francophone youth get a good education in their own language.
Second, the Minister for la Francophonie and Official Languages recently signed a special agreement with New Brunswick to set up two school and community centres, one in Fredericton and one in St. John.
The concept of the school and community centre dates back to the late 1970s. There are currently about 20 such centres in the four Atlantic provinces, Ontario and the Prairies. These centres provide minority official language communities with a variety of activities and services in their language, which helps them preserve that language.
The Minister for la Francophonie and Official Languages also recently announced funding to set up an institute to support the development of second language learning across Canada. The institute is based at the University of New Brunswick, which makes perfect sense, considering how important linguistic duality is to that province.
The federal government is also partnering with the Government of New Brunswick to implement its—