Official Languages committee  Thank you for your work. Goodbye.

Official Languages committee  Yes, we think it can be corrected and that it is important for that to happen. You must understand that when the Government of Canada and VANOC entered into agreements, those agreements were also binding for the partners. They are not only binding for VANOC. In that context, we were also talking about coverage of cultural events, and not just sporting events.

Official Languages committee  The latest information is that there are still two hotels that VANOC, the Canadian Foundation for Cross-Cultural Dialogue and the various stakeholders are continuing to try and convince of the importance of this issue. There are still a number of major hotels that have made no formal commitment in that regard.

Official Languages committee  There are Francophone tourists visiting Vancouver all the time, every month of the year, because of its pleasant climate. I can assure you that work is being done and has been ongoing for a very long time. Of course, it is easier to exert pressure when regulations come into play.

Official Languages committee  Yes, thank you.

Official Languages committee  That is a good question. It would certainly be possible to establish community viewing sites. Up until now, there has been no discussion of that possibility.

Official Languages committee  Well, the community of Maillardville is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. In terms of cultural, community and tourism promotion, the year preceding the Games is clearly critical for that community, as it is celebrating its own centenary.

Official Languages committee  Yes.

Official Languages committee  What is important to us is signage on the different sites and in the environs, as well as on the roads leading from one site to the next. We are wondering what kind of plans are in place to welcome and accommodate tourists in the province and the host cities of Whistler and Vancouver, and what kind of staff will be in the streets and at the sites where the celebrations are occurring to welcome everyone to the Games.

Official Languages committee  I am sorry; I am not sure I understand your question.

Official Languages committee  An associative movement has been around in British Columbia for quite a long time. The Federation is 65 years old, and our organizations in Victoria are almost 75 years old. Maillardville has been around for 100 years. The fact that an historical society has just been created will help us raise awareness of this and put it in context, in terms of how the province has evolved.

Official Languages committee  I am inclined to say that our relations with VANOC are excellent. We sit on an official working committee, a tripartite committee, which includes the Canadian Foundation for Cross-Cultural Dialogue, VANOC and the Fédération des francophones de Colombie-Britannique. Committee members meet several times a year.

Official Languages committee  Yes. As I mentioned previously, VANOC is doing a considerable amount of work behind the scenes. We see that as an encouraging sign in terms of what will be happening directly on the Olympic sites. However, as you can well imagine, everybody coming to see the Olympics from somewhere else will not necessarily be spending all their time at the competition sites.

Official Languages committee  In terms of our contact with the provincial government, we have set up a coordinating committee which includes one of our member organizations, the Société de développement économique, or SDE, which has long been one of the partners of the province of British Columbia when it comes to providing tourist information in French.

Official Languages committee  People outside of British Columbia are not always aware of our ongoing relations with other minority communities in the province. It is important to understand that these communities provide ongoing support to Francophones and consider linguistic duality to be one of Canada's fundamental values.