Official Languages committee  I haven't done any recent studies on that. It's more of a general principle related to vitality. As you can imagine, if child care from zero to four or five years—depending on when school starts—is in English, that undermines linguistic security, which is hard enough to maintain as it is, even when kids are fully educated in French.

Official Languages committee  That's why we need retention. Retention and demographic renewal are two sides of the same coin.

Official Languages committee  At the moment, there is no active offer of service in French, particularly for refugees. Even if the offer were there, there aren't enough resettlement services available in French. That's something that could boost allophones' interest in choosing French in Canada.

Official Languages committee  Language retention is, in part, about the enjoyment of speaking French and feeling that your French is good enough to go and work in French. That is heavily dependent on post-secondary education. Adequate funding for the education system, from early childhood to post-secondary, would help address the challenges related to language retention and language transfer.

Official Languages committee  I want to make sure I understand: are you talking about the language proficiency test that is required for permanent residency?

Official Languages committee  In fact, people are given extra points when they demonstrate their language skills in certain immigration programs. Often, extra points are given for French. Obviously, there are costs associated with these exams. Someone who has done all their schooling in French but doesn't check the box on their application indicating that they are a francophone will be obliged to take the test.

Official Languages committee  In this case, it's a report that's still in the writing stage, so I only have the preliminary data. Personally, I was assigned to the community of Yellowknife, where I had the opportunity to visit. I've seen great progress there, and it's not just due to the Welcoming Francophone Communities initiative.

Official Languages committee  It’s as if it were easier to turn to English. That’s why we’re here, after all. From what I read last weekend, 40% of those enrolled in university in Montreal this year are studying in English. So the problem is far from being solved. We can look at different data. If we focus on Francophone minority communities, the role of post-secondary institutions is crucial in cementing our interest and ability to live in French and pass French on to our children.

Official Languages committee  Thank you very much. I'd like to remind you that we rely a lot on immigration to address the labour shortage. However, proportionally speaking, right now, we're still welcoming a lot of professionals who speak English. As a result, the more Canadian demographics rely on immigration and the more anglophone immigrants we welcome, the less likely it will be for me as a francophone to run into someone who speaks French when I need health care or when I seek services in my municipality, for example.

Official Languages committee  Thank you for the question, Mr. Beaulieu. The study was commissioned by the Department of Canadian Heritage, and yes, there is quite a significant funding gap between the English-language college and university network in Quebec and French-language postsecondary institutions outside Quebec.

Official Languages committee  When we conducted our study, there was only one office processing applications from the many African countries with a francophone tradition, and it was located in Dakar. I haven't checked to see if things have changed since then. Why not open more offices? There are many in countries where anglophones are recruited.

Official Languages committee  Recruitment is done internationally. Are you talking about that? Are you asking me whether francophone communities travelling abroad to recruit has an impact on those specific communities?

Official Languages committee  I don't have specific data on that correlation. When we interview immigrants, many tell us that they travelled to Canada after interacting with Destination Canada. I can also add that there are fewer opportunities to advertise internationally, fewer francophone immigration recruitment activities and fewer offices to process applications in countries with a francophone tradition.

Official Languages committee  That's not the right word, I'm sorry. I would say that international promotional activities remain limited.

Official Languages committee  There's been an increase. We had that target for a long time, and we finally reached it because various programs were put in place. All indications are that we can reach that percentage again this year, because we haven't stopped any of the efforts we made in previous years. We've really achieved a higher percentage because measures were taken to target francophone immigrants.