"What will the next act of Canadian linguistic duality be?"

What will the next act be? We are indebted to Pierre Elliott Trudeau for the first one, which opened with the Official Languages Act of 1969. The second one centred on another great achievement by Pierre Elliott Trudeau, the entrenchment of language rights in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in 1982, notably section 23 dealing with minority language educational rights. For this, we are indebted to the then Justice Minister, whom you all know well.

Today, March 12, 2003, we can thank our Prime Minister, the Right Honourable Jean Chrétien, for giving Canadians the opportunity to write the next act of our linguistic duality.

This is what Canadians are asking for. In polls and in their comments, especially from young people, a very large majority of Canadians are saying how much they want to have access to this part of their heritage – the English and French languages – these two widely spoken international languages that open us to the world.

In this next act, which begins today, Canadians of all origins, from all provinces and the three territories will work together to implement an Action Plan that includes ambitious but realistic objectives.

This next act, to which we are committed, has been well prepared. Much ground was covered by the previous acts: the Act of 1969 – amended in 1988 – and the Charter of 1982. We can see a tangible demonstration right here at La Cité collégiale. Remember that this wonderful college did not exist before 1990 and that its permanent campus was opened by our Prime Minister in September 1995. Remember also that before 1982, before the Charter, half the provinces did not have French schools: today, French schools and minority school management for communities are in place in all the provinces and the three territories. Look how far we have come! In so doing, we find the determination needed to give new momentum to our linguistic duality.

The next act will rely on implementing an Action Plan comprised of measures that build on each other, thus creating a synergy that guarantees success. Here again, our host today, La Cité collégiale, is an inspiring example. It reflects the integrated and multi-dimensional approach our Plan takes. In effect, La Cité successfully combines the vocations of an educational institution serving the Franco-Ontarian community, an institution serving Anglophones who want to learn French by immersion, and a component of the national consortium for training Francophone professionals in the field of health, which the Action Plan will help to expand and build.

This Action Plan has also been advanced through tangible initiatives by the Government of Canada over the past two years to accelerate the promotion of our linguistic duality, notably helping the new City of Ottawa develop a bilingualism policy. Such measures, as those undertaken to support the Government of New Brunswick were important in themselves, but not part of an Action Plan. From now on, they will be.

The Government of Canada has developed this Action Plan after listening to Canadians and talking with students, parents, teachers, health professionals, community members and leaders, its provincial and territorial counterparts, experts and academics, Members of Parliament, Senators and the Commissioner of Official Languages, Ms. Dyane Adam.

Bolstered by those consultations, a team of ministers designed the Plan. We will implement it as a team as well, together with you and with all Canadians.

The Government is providing the financial resources needed to implement this Plan. As I have always said, to justify substantial funding, an overall plan is required. For a good plan to be implemented, the required funding has to be there.

The Action Plan is contained in the policy statement that is being released today, a document of more than 80 pages. This document includes a clear analysis of the current situation and presents the main directions that will guide us. Each minister will develop the section or sections that relate to his or her particular department. In addition, a number of measures will be refined in the course of continuing consultations with communities and the negotiations of agreements that will need to be concluded with our partners, the provinces and territories. But the main directions of the Action Plan are clearly set out in the policy statement.

Those main directions are in line with the ones I announced to Anglophone and Francophone communities in my speeches in Whitehorse on June 22, 2002, and in Quebec City on October 20, 2002.

We find first an accountability and coordination framework. What is an accountability framework? Those of you who were so adamant that the Government develop one know what it is. It is an official document in which the Government assigns responsibilities for official languages and establishes a decision-making process which ensures that they are always part of their priorities. The document is in some ways a checklist, a commitment by the Government to consult with minority communities. It is also a coordination mechanism that will bring together ministers and officials as a team dedicated to the implementation, evaluation and success of the Action Plan for Official Languages. There will even be a minister, the Minister responsible for official languages, to manage the file on a day-to-day basis. For more information, you could read Chapter 2 of the Action Plan, which describes the accountability framework, and Annex A, where it appears in its entirety.

In addition to the accountability framework, the Action Plan is built on three pillars: education, community development, and bilingualism in the federal public service.

The first pillar is education. Within ten years we need to increase the proportion of eligible students enrolled in French schools outside Quebec, from 68% today to 80%. We need to double the proportion of young Canadians who know both official languages, from 24% to 50% within ten years. One out of every two young Canadians will speak both English and French within a decade. It is possible.

We need to ensure better-quality instruction, both for official language communities in minority situations – Francophone as well as Anglophone – and for training in the second language. We must make this instruction more accessible, increase the number of qualified instructors, enhance access to postsecondary studies, offer more exchange programs and bursaries, and increase the number of second-language monitors.

To this end, the Government of Canada is investing $381.5 million in additional funding over five years, with the lion’s share going to a new fund of $209 million for teaching in the language of the minority community, Anglophone or Francophone.

Another new fund, for second-language instruction, will receive $137 million.

The second pillar, community development, aims to ensure that communities use their language not only at school, but throughout their daily lives. To that end, the Government is investing in the following key areas:

• Support to early childhood development – $22 million. It is so important to start at an early age.

• In the field of health – a $119 million investment, including $75 million for training, $30 million for primary health care and $14 million for networking geared to facilitating exchanges between health care professionals. Communities have called for this kind of investment.

• Added to that is $44.4 million for economic development, $43 million for access to justice in both official languages, and $9 million for immigrant integration.

Other measures described in the policy statement will help build on the Government of Canada’s partnership with the provinces, territories and communities. This will bring the Government’s total investment for community development to $269.3 million over five years.

For the whole Action Plan, including assistance targeting the language industries and funding for new measures for bilingualism in the public service that Madame Robillard is about to describe, the Government is funding this new momentum for Canada’s linguistic duality by more than $751 million over five years.

In addition to this $751 million investment, the Plan will prompt further initiatives from other governments, the private sector, communities and other partners.

But money is nothing without will and team spirit. Canadians also possess this team spirit, especially our young people, who want to benefit fully from their country’s dual linguistic heritage. The Government of Canada is responding to the demands of Canadians through this Action Plan. It is inviting them to write the next act of the fascinating adventure of our bilingual country.

That team is also made up of all our devoted public officials. They will be led by the most valiant of captains, the President of the Treasury Board, my esteemed colleague Madame Lucienne Robillard, who will address us shortly.