Official Languages committee  There's already the Accent program at the federal level. It's a student monitoring program. The students we sent on mobility in third year to Laval University, for example, also benefited from the Accent program. We could imagine a combination of those two programs in which the student, through the Explore program, studies his second language, but can also work in his mother tongue, perhaps on a part-time basis.

Official Languages committee  I'm citing that as an example—

Official Languages committee  So a program should be reintroduced—

Official Languages committee  There's also a benefit in working in your mother tongue. For example, we've had students who've worked in a summer camp in their second language in Quebec. You have to have imagination and try to offer those students different options. It's true that our students need to work. We know that.

Official Languages committee  Think of the parents who've invested a lot of energy in choosing to put their children in a French immersion program. At Simon Fraser University, the parents' mother tongue is not English. There we talk about multilingualism with two official languages. Think of those parents who don't speak a lot of English, who don't speak French at all, who speak an Asian language and so on.

Official Languages committee  For your information, there is a draft Canadian version of the European common framework. Some Canadian universities and school boards are testing it. So there's a Canadian version of this common frame of reference. That is to say that, from province to province, we'll know what is meant by an A, a B, a C...

Official Languages committee  ...somewhat like for a public service test.

Official Languages committee  I don't think so, but the people managing this project are from the University of Ottawa...

Official Languages committee  ...and it's just next door, so there's no doubt some consultation.

Official Languages committee  That's what we're proposing: we dream of a situation in which young anglophones would come and study French in Vancouver and vice versa. We're talking about mobility. We currently have conventions, agreements, with various European and Quebec universities, but why not imagine pan-Canadian mobility where young people would not only hear the other's language, but would know the other's culture and what Canada as a whole is.

Official Languages committee  The ideal, Mr. Nadeau, would be for all students to find themselves in francophone environments for more than one year. Based on the model we've selected, students spend two years with us—and we of course offer them language training during that period—and subsequently one year abroad.

Official Languages committee  —students take part in an exchange program. Simon Fraser University has established partnerships with francophone institutions in Quebec, France and Belgium. Based on the model of the European student mobility program Erasmus, third-year students have the opportunity to study in various cities.

Official Languages committee  A page? Oh no!

Official Languages committee  We were told we had a maximum of eight to 10 minutes. In 2008, Simon Fraser University produced its first bilingual graduates. Prospects for those young people are enormous. Some have opted for French-language teaching positions, others have been recruited by the federal public service in bilingual positions.

Official Languages committee  Thank you, Danielle. Ladies and gentlemen, in its study, your committee is focusing in particular on the manner in which the universities can train bilingual graduates so that the federal public service can respond to citizens in their mother tongue. I am pleased to inform you that, thanks to the financial support of the Department of Canadian Heritage, which is responsible for official languages, the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences is offering a program that specifically addresses the federal government's expectations.