Regional Universities
Inquiry—Debate Continued
April 11, 2017
The Honorable Senator Raymonde Gagné:
Honourable senators, I enthusiastically add my voice to that of Senator Tardif with respect to the importance of small and medium-sized universities for our communities, regions, and all of Canada.
I would like to draw your attention to the reality, the importance and the specific needs of Canada's French-language colleges and universities, as well as to the contributions they make to inclusion and our country's prosperity. I believe that the federal government should give these colleges and universities more recognition and support.
I will explain how the role and needs of these educational institutions differ from those of the majority and give you some examples of the contributions they make to their respective communities.
The 21 French-language colleges and universities are all located in minority francophone communities outside of Quebec. For these communities, each institution is a true pillar that contributes to their continued economic and cultural advancement by training a highly qualified and bilingual workforce. As such, each French-language college and university plays an essential role in ensuring the vitality and sustainability of the community it serves.
Canada's French-language colleges and universities therefore play the role of standard bearer in promoting official languages, Canadian identity, inclusion, the vitality and resilience of these communities, and ultimately the prosperity of our country.
Many of these French-language or bilingual educational institutions are small and some are located in rural regions. They offer more than 1,150 programs in French, welcome over 42,600 students, and train over 10,000 graduates per year.
What sets Canada's French-language post-secondary educational institutions apart from the others is their two-fold mandate of offering quality post-secondary training programs and making a direct contribution to the vitality of their respective francophone minority communities.
In addition to this two-fold mandate, most of Canada's French-language colleges and universities also stand out because of their smaller cohorts of students, the stiff competition with the country's larger and more numerous English-language institutions, and the specific needs of their students with regard to recruitment, retention and success.
Their students include anyone who wants to continue their post-secondary education in French: young people, graduates of French-language schools and French immersion programs, French-speaking members of First Nations and Metis communities, immigrants, international students, and adults engaged in continuous learning and from the labour market.
Since 2009, the federal government has committed to an annual investment of $259.5 million in second-language learning at the elementary and secondary levels. A corresponding level of support, however, is not necessarily available at the post-secondary level. So while there are approximately 380,000 young Canadians that are currently registered in immersion programs at the K to 12 level, only 5,000 graduates of these programs currently attend French-language post-secondary institutions. There is thus much room for growth. With the proper resources and support, French-language colleges and universities can reach out and attract this large, untapped clientele within their ranks.
Canadian francophone colleges and universities provide training for a highly-skilled francophone and bilingual workforce. Mastering French and the professional terminology of a particular field in French also affords more opportunities related to the development of francophone-dominant foreign markets.
According to a recent study by Professor Kai Chan of the European Institute of Business Administration, French is the third most common language in the business world, and will remain among the most spoken languages in the world in 2050, with 750 million speakers. It goes without saying that two languages are good for business.
I would now like to talk about the internationalization of Canadian francophone colleges and universities. While it is true that our aging population is affecting the country as a whole, the demographic pressures on francophone minority communities are even greater. They run the risk of no longer having enough available workers to support a technology-based economy. Colleges and universities have recognized this reality and are adapting to it. Today the demographics of their student populations are changing and becoming much more diverse. In recent years, these colleges and universities have been welcoming more and more international students and have been offering a variety of training and employment programs to French-speaking immigrants who have come to settle in francophone minority communities.
For example, international students now represent 23 per cent of the entire student body at the Université de Moncton, in New Brunswick, more than 10 per cent at the Université Sainte-Anne, in Nova Scotia, and nearly 25 per cent at the Université de Saint-Boniface, in Manitoba.
Canadian French-language colleges and universities want to do more in terms of international education and immigration to ensure the socio-economic development of their communities. However, to do that, support services will need to be adapted to the needs of this student clientele that has different linguistic skills and a varied cultural background.
Canadian French-language post-secondary institutions generate large economic spinoffs for the communities and the home province. Consider for a moment the economic support from 600 employees, 1,500 regular students, and 4,200 adult students registered in continuing education at the Université de Saint-Boniface, my alma mater, in a community of roughly 110,000 francophones and francophiles. By all accounts, the university generates a considerable multiplier effect.
A recent economic impact study published on March 8, shows that the Université de Moncton, my second alma mater, contributes more than $1.6 billion to growth in New Brunswick and Canada. In 2015, that university generated more than $466 million in annual sales in the province and more than $237 million in Canada, while the contribution from graduates is estimated at nearly $900 million for the same year.
The basic and applied research done at Canadian French-language post-secondary teaching institutions make them centres of research and innovation. We already know that the most prosperous communities are those that were able to embrace the knowledge economy. The more the research capacity grows in these institutions, the more jobs are created in the francophone minority communities.
In this context, the high level of cooperation between postsecondary institutions and businesses of all sizes in their region and province deserves to be recognized.
Students, of course, greatly appreciate internships and student placements because it allows them to acquire and hone their skills. In minority francophone communities, such internships also allow businesses to overcome the difficulty of recruiting qualified francophone and bilingual employees. Internship programs, therefore, become a key factor in strengthening a community's economic base and facilitating the retention of graduates within the local francophone and bilingual private sector.
In addition to their contribution to the local and regional economy, these institutions actively participate in building the identity of community members through their efforts to serve the community. In addition to the cultural and sports infrastructure that they make available to the community, the members of the student body, the faculty and the administration of the colleges and universities develop programs that tangibly improve the lives of the citizens with respect to health, social services, cultural and artistic expression, and sustainable development.
Canada's francophone colleges and universities play an especially important role in health and justice, which are two areas of vital importance to francophone minority communities.
As you know, access to health and legal services in French is an additional challenge for these communities. In these two areas, service recipients are vulnerable and the language barrier makes their situation more difficult. It is therefore vitally important to train professionals who can provide services in both official languages.
Even though education and health are provincial and territorial jurisdictions, federal funding is essential for these communities because it is an important lever in the provinces. The establishment in 2003 of the Consortium national de formation en santé (CNFS), which is the umbrella organization for 11 of the 21 francophone colleges and universities, is evidence of this.
Thanks to the financial support of Health Canada and provincial governments, the Consortium has overseen the creation of 73 new postsecondary health programs in French and the enhancement of about thirty existing programs. More than 6,700 graduates of these programs will be providing health services in French and, according to a recent survey, 94 per cent of them are working in Francophone minority communities and 91 per cent are working in their province of origin. These numbers speak volumes.
In the field of justice, I want to highlight the creation in February 2014 of the Réseau national de formation en justice, a national network for justice training made up of nine post-secondary institutions that belong to the Canadian francophonie plus other organizations. With support from the federal government, the network has dramatically increased the number of graduates from French-language post-secondary justice programs, participation in on-the-job training, and the production of and access to legal and jurilinguistic tools for jurilinguists, justice professionals, and litigants.
Building on their success in the fields of health and justice, the 21 francophone and bilingual colleges and universities joined forces in 2015 to form the Association des collèges et universités de la francophonie canadienne, the ACUFC, whose goal is to improve access to post-secondary education in French across the country, thereby offering a true continuum of French-language education from early childhood to post-secondary.
The ACUFC carries out collaborative pan-Canadian projects, shares resources, and makes significant economies of scale possible. These projects would never have happened without the ACUFC and federal government support.
It is clear that colleges and universities belonging to the Canadian francophonie play a unique and structural role as well as an essential leadership role in minority francophone communities. Nevertheless, they can accomplish their mission only by partnering with other players, including federal, provincial and territorial governments.
Esteemed colleagues, by strengthening colleges and universities that belong to Canada's francophonie, the government can achieve its goals related to bilingualism and the vitality of minority francophone communities.
To that end, I am joining the Association des collèges et universités de la francophonie canadienne in calling for the development of public policy to strengthen the capacity of these teaching institutions as they strive to fulfill their dual mandate and boost their human, social, cultural and economic development impact in the communities they serve.
This public policy can become an effective lever, a tool to align federal ministerial roles and responsibilities towards francophone minority communities and provide managers and government officials with a strategic tool to frame their actions.
Honourable senators, Canadian French-language colleges and universities play a vital role in the creation and dissemination of knowledge, two factors that contribute considerably to economic growth and social progress. Their dual mandate also assigns them the duty of ensuring the vitality and sustainability of the francophone minority communities they serve.
Thank you for your attention.