Official Languages committee  Exactly.

Official Languages committee  Exactly.

Official Languages committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, honourable members, good morning. My name is Gillian Anderson and I am the president of the Commission nationale des parents francophones, or CNPF. Founded in 1988, our network of 12 organizations represents parents living in a minority situation who choose to include French in their lives and that of their children.

Official Languages committee  I think all schools should be on the same footing. It’s interesting, because I’ve lived my entire life in Alberta, and my parents both live in Manitoba. So I find this compelling. I have children in high school and one in university. I see them choosing programs in English-language schools because they are better funded, given that the anglophone majority attends them.

Official Languages committee  Absolutely, without a doubt. This has always been the case, and I think it will remain so. It’s not fair to fund French-language schools on the same level as English-language schools. When there is a smaller number of francophone students, more resources are required to create the same type of programs in French.

Official Languages committee  The longer things drag on before the bill is passed, the more consequences there will be. However, as Mr. Racine mentioned earlier, it’s very important to take into account the different recommendations we proposed. I think it’s in the near future…

Official Languages committee  Exactly. However, it must be done as quickly as possible.

Official Languages committee  In Alberta, where I am, the way funds are spent when the federal government sends them to provinces and territories changes depending on the party in power. When sending these funds, if the federal government could require them to be earmarked for francophone minority communities, not used to subsidize something else, that would help us significantly.

Official Languages committee  I completely agree. Provinces and territories must definitely be required to negotiate these agreements, through the establishment of rules or laws that require the negotiation of linguistic clauses that are favourable to francophone minority communities. Without those clauses, our culture and language will gradually disappear because we do not have access to the same services as anglophones.

Official Languages committee  I will begin, and Mr. Racine will follow. We firmly believe that Canada is a bilingual country. We have to maintain that belief and hope that the federal government will always support the country's two official languages. We have no other option than to believe that things will change, that the act will truly recognize the value of francophones and the importance of investing in the francophone minority and moving forward.

Official Languages committee  Linguistic clauses specifically for francophone minority communities are essential, as our executive director said earlier. I will hand it over to him now, in case he has something else to add.

Official Languages committee  I will let Mr. Racine answer that.

Official Languages committee  I will begin, and will then hand it over to my excellent executive director. As to the continuum in education, it is clearly very important for linguistic clauses to be incorporated into the agreements as quickly as possible. We must strengthen the continuum in education starting with early childhood, because the young people we are losing now will not come back later on.

Official Languages committee  Mr. Chair, members of the committee, I am delighted to appear before you today, on behalf of the Commission nationale des parents francophones, to discuss Bill C‑13. We are very glad that the new Official Languages Act will finally be passed soon. The reform of the Official Languages Act is of the utmost importance to francophone minority communities.