Official Languages committee  How many?

Official Languages committee  You say 918,000?

Official Languages committee  You say there are 527,000 in Ontario?

Official Languages committee  Mr. Simard, I'll respond to your judicious comment by saying that what we observe in Canada outside Quebec is also being observed among Francophones in Quebec. Linguistic dominance in exogamous couples always, or nearly always, works in favour of... That's why we're telling the government that there's another issue and that it must therefore establish a genuine policy based on the promotion of French in both languages in a North American context.

Official Languages committee  Only 9% of English-speaking Canadians are bilingual. That's what the figures show. In French-speaking Canada, including Quebec, the rate is 45%. You can clearly see that the bilingualism policy has much more anglicizing effects on Francophones, which the statistics moreover show, since those effects go as far as assimilation, whereas it has virtually no effect on the Anglophone community.

Official Languages committee  In response to your first question, the statistics in Table 7 come from the 2004-2005 annual report of Treasury Board Canada. They aren't figures that we made up; they're figures that we took from a report by the federal government, by the Treasury Board. I invite you to consult the 2004-2005 annual report; you'll find these figures there.

Official Languages committee  I'm getting there. If university prospects are non-existent or virtually impossible for a Francophone, if access to postsecondary education is limited, you'll agree with us that the Francophone results on these four tests will be inferior. Prospects, access to postsecondary education, are limited in many cases in Canada outside Quebec, and Quebec's Anglophone universities receive 25% of funding for a Francophone population of 8%.

Official Languages committee  What I'm going to say will probably enlighten you. The 2003 International Adult Literacy and Skills Survey that Statistics Canada refers to was based on four tests, not study levels. Based on the results of those four tests, Levels 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 were established. Levels 3, 4 and 5 are equivalent to literacy.

Official Languages committee  As for the vitality of the French-language communities, the trend must necessarily be measured by means of indicators. It's not enough to develop policies; you also have to measure the results of those policies. In that regard, the most important indicator, although not the only one, is numbers.

Official Languages committee  That's the net balance, the net gains. The net gains are linguistic transfers. For example, in Quebec, according to the 2001 census, 591,000 citizens reported that their mother tongue was English, whereas 746,892 citizens declared that English was the language they used in the home, which shows what, in demographics, are called language transfers.

Official Languages committee  No. The comparison may come from Allophones who opt for English in the home and perhaps Francophones who opt for English as the language they use in the home. That's a net gain.

Official Languages committee  That's part of the assimilation phenomenon, because it's either Allophones or Francophones who are responsible for this increase.

Official Languages committee  Despite the requirement...

Official Languages committee  I think I can give you the explanation, Mr. Godin. In addition to the requirement imposed on immigration children by the French-language Charter of attending the French-language school system in Quebec, having regard to the North American context, you will understand that the asymmetry between the languages requires additional measures in Quebec and Canada to protect and promote French.

Official Languages committee  If you look at the statistics on the screen, you'll see that Francophone assimilation and defrancization are dramatic in all provinces outside Quebec. This has been going on for centuries. In 30 years, from one census to another, this trend has not declined, on the contrary. Despite the federal official languages policy, the situation has become even more dramatic.