Official Languages committee  As I was saying earlier, we were able to develop a number of special projects with support from Canadian Heritage. This was in partnership with others for the program I spoke about for teachers becoming available through the immigration process. The project was conducted jointly

Official Languages committee  I varies from one community to another, depending on the activities and services on offer, because there's more to going to school in Ontario than just teaching a curriculum, given our very specific mission. So we have noticed this change in direction, which is gradual. We lose

Official Languages committee  I don't want to be judgmental about immersion schools or immersion programs, because bilingualism is important in Canada. It's one of our country's and our province's values. Do people opt for immersion programs because French-language schools don't have the courses they would l

Official Languages committee  Not at the moment, but I was there not too long ago.

Official Languages committee  As we said earlier, if things don't change, the shortage of teachers will continue to get worse and the problems will pile up. Things aren't going to level out because there is a growing number of students in several Ontario regions. There have been times when the demographics ch

Official Languages committee  It's sometimes possible to obtain funding by other means. For example, we often obtain funds from the Department of Canadian heritage, sometimes by hiring new staff via immigration. There are collaboration initiatives, but these are always through special projects Is your questi

Official Languages committee  Okay. I just wanted to clarify that. There really is a problem insofar as over a period of several years now, funds have been cut here and there, drying up a little bit, and the problems have been escalating. We have therefore been trying to do more with less for a number of yea

Official Languages committee  No, they are not part of our organization. In Ontario, we have four teachers' unions. We, as we said, represent teachers in French-language elementary and secondary schools in Ontario, both Catholic and public. There are French immersion teachers from elementary and secondary sc

Official Languages committee  Yes, definitely. The federal government is responsible for assuring that educational systems in both official languages have comparable services, resources and course offerings. The concept of equity is often applied, but not necessarily that of equality. Ms. Adam referred earli

Official Languages committee  Funding is not necessarily part of my area of expertise. Perhaps Ms. Adam could answer that better than I. We feel that the federal government could do more to support what the provincial government is doing, or to compensate for what it is not doing. We are aware of this potent

Official Languages committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'd like to begin by thanking you for having invited the Association des enseignantes et des enseignants franco-ontariens to take part in this study. I am here today as the president of the AEFO, a francophone union that has approximately 12,000 members an