Foreign Affairs committee  I would mention two things. The study is about Canada's diplomatic capacities. As you said, public diplomacy and cultural diplomacy can provide enormous support to government diplomacy. For us,the strategy to promote Acadian artists internationally, called SPAASI, promoted artis

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you for that excellent question. Three million dollars were withheld from Canada's voluntary contribution to the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, the OIF, for the governments own reasons. It's known that a small portion of this amount, about $100,000, was tr

Foreign Affairs committee  It's true that not one of these recommendations was implemented. That was the purpose of our 2022 brief and it is why we are here to testify today. Everything Ms. Mallet has just explained makes me think of a Club Med advertisement: "Imagine having the means to get there!" Then

Foreign Affairs committee  Let me begin by reminding you that the foreign affairs department, whose role includes the promotion of French and English abroad, is mentioned for the first time, to my knowledge, in the new Official Languages Act. Canada's bilingualism is therefore something we should turn to o

Foreign Affairs committee  In much of what we do, we come up against the fact that foreigners believe that in Canada, French is only spoken in Quebec. They are often surprised to learn that French is also spoken elsewhere in Canada. I live in Halifax, Ms. Mallet lives in Moncton and we work hard internatio

Foreign Affairs committee  We are exploring that. For example, a great deal of recruitment is being done for African international students in our educational institutions, whether at Université de Moncton or Université Sainte-Anne. Not only that, but the Société nationale de l'Acadie manages the Comité at

Foreign Affairs committee  Good afternoon. Thank you for inviting us to come and explain the position of the Société nationale de l'Acadie, the SNA. The Société nationale de l'Acadie, is the dean of Canadian francophone organizations. Since 1881, it has been working to defend the interests of the Acadian

Finance committee  It is necessary. This is a demand that organizations and, even more broadly, official language minority communities have been making for years. At the Société nationale de l'Acadie, for example, last year we had to go from four permanent employees to three. All costs are going u

Finance committee  The act does not take inflation into account, but we were hopeful that it would be part of the action plan for official languages 2023‑2028. However, we're still waiting for official confirmation of funding for the current year. From what we've heard, it would be a 12.5% increase

Finance committee  Thank you.

Finance committee  I would like to add a nuance: The Société nationale de l'Acadie has not received any of that funding. We have done the work of promoting and advocating for that funding to be available for the communities. That said, the annual envelope is $500,000, and it is divided in two. Th

Finance committee  Yes, absolutely. It's major.

Finance committee  I will answer by asking the following question: What would happen if the same thing occurred to the people of Quebec? We have indeed done a lot of work. For example, there was a letter campaign. As I mentioned, 67 communities received funding last year. They sent more than 20 l

Finance committee  You have to understand that this is one angle of approach, but that there are a number of others. As I mentioned, the agreement between France and Acadia is the only bilateral agreement that the French government has with an entity that is not a government. We are the only ones

Finance committee  I have taken note of it. I'll follow up on this as well. Thank you.