Official Languages committee  You have to view that from a historical perspective of the development of francophone communities across the country. I'm going to cite the example of British Columbia. We've only had a francophone school board in the province for the past 12 years. Now that we have well-established francophone schools and we have the resources to correct...

Official Languages committee  It's a chapter of the organization Canadian Parents for French, that you no doubt know. I believe that representatives of that organization have come to testify before this committee. These are local associations of parents whose children are in immersion. They support the efforts of the schools that enrich the cultural program.

Official Languages committee  In fact, we've developed that theme a little. I think all my colleagues from the other universities have emphasized the importance of having mobility scholarships, whether it be pan-Canadian or reciprocal, to permit exchanges between anglophones and francophones from regions of Canada, but also exchanges within the francophone world, to reinforce second-language learning ability.

Official Languages committee  I may have another answer, Mr. Gravelle. Francophones are actively recruited him in all immersion programs in Canada. What happens is that they are very attached to Quebec, to Quebec culture and to their families. They don't necessarily stay very long. Consequently, there's a problem retaining these teachers.

Official Languages committee  I think that teacher experience outside the country is very important. One thing we have done at the faculty of education is organize a short four-week practicum in a country. We've been to Cuba. We've developed relationships with teachers and universities there who train their teachers to teach French and English, and our students spend some time with them, preparing lessons, teaching in the schools.

Official Languages committee  At the Faculty of Education, the Explore program is linked up with the initial training program. The generalists in the anglophone class are first given an introductory course to the teaching of French as a second language. In fact, we teach them French by showing them how to teach it.

Official Languages committee  I simply want to repeat the argument Mr. Ipperciel advanced earlier. One of our primary concerns, when we send our students to another institution, is to know whether they'll be welcomed in an appropriate, rich environment that will enable them to develop the skills we want them to acquire.

Official Languages committee  Our efforts to provide people with core French training are significant, and that's a large part of what we do in the context of initial training. I don't think the idea is to correct so much as to supplement. Curricula are now very demanding in many fields, at the elementary and secondary levels.

Official Languages committee  Merci, Claire. Today we would like to answer the questions put to us by this committee concerning, first, specific programs at SFU in support of official languages; second, about possible initiatives post-secondary institutions could take; and third, the role of the federal government in support of post-secondary institutions.