Official Languages committee  There is a consistency issue we should not forget. Given the provinces' responsibility for education, immersion programs and French-language education, in order to be consistent, we have to see to it that these agreements are accepted by the provinces.

Official Languages committee  In fact, we are separating the roles, that is to say the role of watchdog and the role of champion. We think that the commissioner must maintain his role as an investigator and champion, and continue to promote official languages. We propose that an administrative tribunal deal w

Official Languages committee  Here again, I think what is needed is that you maintain a sustained dialogue with the provinces. There is a natural conflict around jurisdictional issues between the provinces and the federal government. That said, the provinces often forget that they have jurisdictions and respo

Official Languages committee  There is going to be some, without a doubt, but there has already been progress in other areas when agreements were concluded. With respect to early childhood, the inclusion of language clauses in the agreements with the provinces was quite successful, notably in Alberta. For my

Official Languages committee  There is no doubt that if our country advocates bilingualism and promotes the fact that we are bilingual, while being aware that this is not quite today's reality, but that this corresponds to our vision, I think that we have everything to gain from that at the international leve

Official Languages committee  Yes.

Official Languages committee  No. It's important that the complaint doesn't remain outstanding.

Official Languages committee  I'll let Mr. Dupuis answer it.

Official Languages committee  It's important to know why an official languages act was adopted in the first place. The purpose of the act is to protect official language minority communities, but we must go beyond protection. These communities must be empowered to take their full place and space. We are at a

Official Languages committee  We relied largely on the briefs that have been submitted. It isn't our responsibility to visit each of our communities to consult them. In our opinion, this work is the responsibility of the government. We got the briefs and statements that our members had made before the Standi

Official Languages committee  Yes, every 10 years.

Official Languages committee  Reviewing the act will help to bring the notion of two official languages in Canada back in the public eye. First, it is important that linguistic duality be discussed in the public arena. Second, in the case of an act, 10 years can be a very long time. In fact, we must anticipa

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, honourable senators. First, I want to thank you for having invited the FCFA to testify before you today. The federation has existed since 1975. It is the national voice for French-language minority communities in nine provinces and three territories. In to

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I will answer briefly. Perhaps Mr. Dupuis would like to add something afterwards. There are two challenging factors. For the [technical difficulties] communities, it's a big challenge for our communities. There is an additional challenge...

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I was saying that the francophone communities face two challenges. First, in the rural regions, the situation is even more difficult. Our two colleagues have just spoken about the rural issue. In addition, there are even fewer people and that's also a problem. Mr. Dupuis, did yo