Official Languages committee  Mr. Chairman, members of the Standing Committee, I was pleased to accept the invitation to appear before your standing committee and to present my brief as part of your study of the vitality of the official language minority communities. I thank you for your cordial gesture to me

Official Languages committee  For example, recently cuts were made to the Court Challenges Program. That affects, even threatens our communities' vitality. Communities used that program considerably to claim our programs and services. That is one example of how our vitality is affected. I can think of other

Official Languages committee  This is how I interpret Bill S-3. Part VII of the Official Languages Act sets out the government's obligations towards our communities, and this obligation must be met in partnership with our communities, through consultations as to whether or not changes must be made. Therefor

Official Languages committee  As I indicated in my written submission, we want to see the action plan reflect these commitments in our communities. For the very first time, one positive spinoff of the action plan is that there's now mention of the immigration sector. I also wish to answer Mrs. Boucher's que

Official Languages committee  As a former Alberta community representative on the Steering Committee for Citizenship and Immigration Canada, I can tell you that Alberta has not reached the stage of recruiting from abroad, something that has become a primary objective. Demographic migration occurs interprovinc

Official Languages committee  It comes from the Official Languages Support Program.

Official Languages committee  Yes.

Official Languages committee  Currently, there are two of us. As of January, and thanks to Immigration Canada's Multiculturalism Program, we'll be hiring three new employees as part of the Caravan of Tolerance project, an anti-racism initiative which will be implemented throughout the province and which, amon

Official Languages committee  We mainly work with francophone immigrant families. There is a youth section and a female francophone immigrant section.

Official Languages committee  Yes, the organization always encourages partnerships.

Official Languages committee  That's right. I should add, in response to a question Mr. Murphy asked me about cutbacks made by the Department of Human Resources and Skills Development to programs to assist youth, those cutbacks did hurt us somewhat because youth crime continues to rise in Edmonton. When you