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    Firstly, the end of the sixties witnessed the creation, by the Federal government of the day, of the Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism. In 1971 myself (Gerald Thomas) accompanied three members of the commission on a visit, made at my suggestion, to the West Coast. Knowing, from census returns, that there were francophones in Newfoundland, the commission members had gone to St. John's, hoping to find them there. Doubts and disappointment were dispelled by their findings on the West Coast, which prompted them to recommend, in their 1975 report, the establishment there of a federal bilingual district.

    While this recommendation was never followed through, it was nonetheless a sign of growing activity and interest in the fate of French Newfoundlanders. Already, in 1971, supported by the Secretary of State's Social Animation division, French Newfoundlanders had founded the Association des Terre-Neuviens Français at Cape St. George. In 1974, the French were provided with a French language television station, by satellite relay from Montreal. In September 1975 a bilingual school was established at Cape St. George, which offered the French, for the first time ever, education in their mother tongue. And since 1970 my own research in the traditional culture of French Newfoundlanders has not only established the existence of a very rich folklore, it has also helped French Newfoundlanders give new value to their language and traditions.