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Location: What's New > Minister's Office > Speeches > June 3, 2005
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Address by The Honourable Madeleine Meilleur,
Minister Responsible for Francophone Affairs and
Minister of Culture
to the Sommet des intervenants et des intervenantes en éducation dans la mise en oeuvre de l'article 23 en milieu francophone minoritaire
Arts Pavilion, Delta Hotel, Ottawa, Ontario
Friday, May 6, 2005
Ladies and Gentlemen, good evening. I would first like to thank the organizers of this Sommet des intervenants et des intervenantes en éducation dans la mise en oeuvre de l'article 23 en milieu francophone minoritaire.
I am thrilled to have been asked to speak on a subject that is so close to my heart.
As we know, the progress of Francophone minority communities depends first and foremost on the existence of a solid and well-designed education system.
Education is at the heart of the development of our modern societies, but it is even more crucial to minority communities – as a tool for their survival and development.
Our modern society – highly media driven, increasingly urban, and very pluralistic – makes openness to the outside world an unavoidable reality and offers unprecedented potential.
At the same time, this society is undermining the foundations of a bygone era that saw isolation and homogeneity as key to guaranteeing the survival and replication of French-Canadian language and culture in minority contexts.
The omnipresence of English, through its demographic weight in North America and Canada but also through the planetary reach it has acquired via new technology, has, as we know, made the challenge of maintaining and developing the French language and culture even more difficult.
Having the ability to create and manage our own institutions is one of the conditions essential to the Francization of our communities across Canada.
In the face of globalization and disappearing borders, we have a duty to ensure that in Ontario, French language and culture are in tune to the 21st century, that French is a language associated with success, a "wired" language which, while co-existing with English – satisfies the aspirations of youth in various fields, a language and culture that take their rightful place within a context of demographic diversity.
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Much effort has been made in recent decades to establish institutions in various fields of activity that are crucial to the development and advancement of our communities.
These include fields such as elementary, secondary and postsecondary education, the justice system, and health.
Francophones have, over the years, moved forward in these areas in the wake of the Official Languages Act (1969 and 1988), the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (1982), and, in Ontario, the French Language Services Act (1986).
A review of how the education system serving Canada's French-language minority has evolved in recent decades indicates that the progress achieved, in just two decades, has been nothing short of spectacular.
Indeed, change accelerated following the adoption of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in 1982 – especially in response to the famous section 23 setting out minority-language education rights. Across Canada, Francophone school governance has taken root.
During the 1990s, officials responsible for Francophone and Acadian education established school governance in the nine provinces and three territories where Francophones are in the minority.
In 2005, the next step in the educational development of Francophone and Acadian communities is well underway – the implementation of a comprehensive educational project tailored to these communities.
Today, 31 French-language school boards are, through their efforts in the education sector, shouldering responsibility for an essential component in the development of Canada's Francophone and Acadian communities.
Until quite recently, the Francophone and Acadian communities played the role of "petitioners" in the educational field. Now, however, they have become players and decision-makers.
The significance of this paradigm shift cannot be overstated. This change calls not only for new and different approaches but also initiative and creativity in the development of Francophone and Acadian education.
An increasingly broad consensus is forming around the idea that it is essential to continue designing an educational project truly tailored to Francophones' characteristics, needs and expectations, within the context of their minority language status. This means developing an educational project that is relevant and modern, that has vitality and vision, that provides solid initial training, and that prepares people for lifelong learning. In other words, a project solidly rooted in our contemporary reality but resolutely turned toward the future.
Over the years, we have learned that our schools must be more than inward-looking microcosms of education delivered in French.
I find it particularly interesting to note that the conclusions we have reached in Ontario are in perfect harmony with the conclusions of the study conducted by the Fédération nationale des conseils scolaires francophones.
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This leads me to consider the issue of aménagement linguistique, or language development, in the education sector.
The primary objective of this new French-language education policy introduced in Ontario last fall is to build a shared vision of French-language education and to mobilize the various components of all local communities in working together toward a common goal.
This aménagement linguistique policy is a first in Canada. Of course, it has been designed around the Francophone reality in Ontario, but I think that you will find, as I do, that its principles very much echo your work and discussions underway at this summit.
This policy includes intervention in five areas:
Language learning, identity development, participatory leadership, parental and community involvement, and institutional vitality.
My remarks will focus primarily on the fifth area, institutional vitality, since the priority here is to maintain and even increase enrolments so that French-language schools enjoy a promising future and promote the Francization of French-language communities.
Aménagement linguistique is, in many respects, one of the keys to the future of Francophone communities in minority contexts.
It provides the framework required for intervention measures that both promote the recruitment and retention of students with French-language education rights and strengthen Francization for children and youth facing assimilation.
At the same time, aménagement linguistique will definitely involve engaging parents, whether they are French-speaking or not, in a discussion of pedagogy, to make them more aware of the mission of French-language schools and invite them to participate fully in school life.
It is desirable for aménagement linguistique to reach beyond the province's boundaries and become a model that guides and supports French-language communities across the country.
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For this to occur, it is also necessary for the broader Francophone community to become a stakeholder in this educational mission and for schools to tap into associations, in all their diversity, the business world, and, of course, the leadership of parents and youth.
It is desirable for the 31 school boards to continue expanding their joint efforts with key partners in the service of the Francophonie.
Who are these key partners? Of course, we immediately think of major provincial, territorial and national organizations, economic players, including credit unions and various business organizations, numerous cultural organizations, and postsecondary institutions.
However, stakeholders such as municipalities, community media, health professionals, and social service providers must not be allowed to slip through the cracks.
Furthermore, have conditions not become more supportive of closer ties between the 31 French-language school boards and the officials in various governments responsible for French-language services?
By drawing on a solid institutional network, whose efforts will be felt well beyond the traditional limits and boundaries passed down to us by history and geography, sustainable development and advancements will inevitably result.
When educational players join forces with others, the benefits to individuals and the greater community can take on unexpected dimensions.
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Of course, the 31 French-language school boards are focused on education. However, it should be remembered that they also represent a major economic force within Canada's Francophone and Acadian communities.
As an employer, for example, your boards greatly contribute to developing many local communities, in education, of course, but also in a series of other fields: human resources, transportation, real estate, communications, finance, technology, administration, and project management, to name only a few.
In the fulfillment of their everyday responsibilities, they promote the development of "Francophone" skills, both generic and specific in nature.
Collectively, the 31 boards constitute a formidable motor of development. They make a major contribution to the "sustainable" development of all aspects of Francophone and Acadian communities.
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The Government of Ontario recognizes of the challenges associated with French as a language and culture.
Since arriving at Queen's Park, we have demonstrated our determination to support the development of French, not only as a language for accessing public services but also as a source of social, economic and cultural vitality.
The priorities of the Government of Ontario are testament to this commitment to Francophone interests.
We are making progress on several issues of importance to Francophones, but the primary focus of our efforts has been education, at all levels, from early childhood to postsecondary education.
We think it is important to promote the recruitment and Francization of children in French-language schools, to facilitate access to postsecondary studies, and to increase the selection and quality of programs for Francophones.
I know that your respective organizations have been making considerable efforts and that progress is evident in various fields. I would like to take this opportunity to salute in the clearest possible terms your commitment and determination, without which such significant advancements could never have been possible.
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The role of education is key to the development of societies in general and to the development, in the short, medium and long term, of minority societies in particular.
Within minority societies, educational activity has an impact well beyond that felt in majority societies.
In fact, education simultaneously represents many things – a way of interpreting the world, a springboard toward successful social and cultural integration, a preparation for a satisfying personal and professional life, a place to live and grow, and a guarantee of a community's continuity and renewal.
The Stratégie pour compléter le système d'éducation en français langue première au Canada that you are adopting today will undoubtedly lead to success and major progress.
This strategy is a call to action in fields that count, in fields that can bring development and progress for one and all.
It will involve measures that target several fronts at the same time: human resources, physical infrastructure, educational staff, educational programs and resources, recruitment and retention of students and staff, early childhood education services, and linguistic and cultural support.
The scope of these measures prove that this strategy is intended to support the implementation of a true societal project.
In the education field, the strategy will foster a culture of concerted action, cooperation, and shared responsibility within the Francophone and Acadian communities.
Although you represent many communities and several sets of circumstances and development, you possess a shared willingness to act, move forward, and build a better future.
Long live this "educational spring" within Canada's Francophone and Acadian communities! Spring is only the beginning... The future remains to be built and it is off to a most promising start.
It is my wish that, individually and collectively, each and every one of us meets the challenges we face with courage, conviction, generosity, and, of course, success!
Thank you!
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