Official Languages committee  A number of times, when I've tried speaking French, especially in Quebec or Ontario, people would respond in English. Every time I speak French— Now I live my life in French every day here in Alberta. My friends are francophone, I work in French, but when I leave the province—

Official Languages committee  Yes, and it's really sad, considering how long I spent studying French and becoming proficient. People correct me and sometimes make fun of my accent. It's completely normal to feel like this. I used to work at the ministry. It's sometimes hard to interact with people who come

Official Languages committee  I just wanted to add that while it's true that we are recruiting, retention is really hard. People often come here to have a bit of an adventure, but then they go back home. Building capacity in our school boards is therefore becoming problematic. There is constant turnover, and

Official Languages committee  I would like to come back to the point raised by Mr. Nolette. French immersion students should be recognized as second language learners. For example, most of the time I speak French and rarely do I speak English. Consequently, I am not recognized as someone eligible for the prog

Official Languages committee  Our school board was going to launch two new French immersion programs two years ago. We had to eliminate one simply because we did not have enough teachers to open a kindergarten to grade 6 school. Our board cannot even offer that.

Official Languages committee  No, I've never taken them. I know about the courses, but I don't think the vast majority of our teachers realize they can improve their language proficiency by going somewhere else.

Official Languages committee  Mr. Chair, members of the committee, my name is Sarah Fedoration, and I'm proud to be one of the 268,000 people who choose to live and work in French here, in Alberta. I'm delighted to be here today to speak to you about second language learning in French and, more specifically,