Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I am pleased to be here, more especially today. First, I want to announce to you that the education agreements were signed last night. I've previously said that the entire matter was completed on March 31, that the texts had been finalized and approved by Jean-Marc Fournier, the Quebec minister and Chair of the Council of Ministers of Education Canada, and by officials. As promised, it was done on March 31. Now we need only ratify the Protocol so that we can finally have a comprehensive framework. All the provinces and territories have signed it. Nunavut was the last to sign. I personally spoke to the representatives of the Northwest Territories. It's done. A news release will be issued this morning. This is a four-year agreement. It appears that the provinces and territories are very satisfied with it.
Now I'll move on to my official text because it also concerns accountability mechanisms. That's why the Protocol is so important. It also concerns the accountability mechanism and mandatory consultations with the community.
I'm particularly happy to be here today to speak to you about education and Canada's official languages in education agreements. I'm particularly happy to announce this first to the Standing Committee on Official Languages. You're the first to know. Accountability is one of the main principles that guides us in this area. That is why I thank you for this opportunity to share the progress made in education since we last met.
As you know, the lion's share of the Government of Canada's action plan for official languages funding is dedicated to education. Education is the key to community development and to the community's ability to deal with the challenges that face it and those associated with our knowledge-based society. Learning a second official language in school is also an important way in which we support linguistic duality in Canada.
Education is a provincial-territorial jurisdiction, yet a remarkable partnership has existed in this regard between the two levels of government for the past 35 years.
At the multilateral level, the Minister of Canadian Heritage negotiates a Protocol of Agreement with the Council of Ministers of Education. That's what we've just completed.
I have already announced that elements of the next Protocol will be settled by March 31, 2005. As I told you, it's done. All of the provinces and territories have given their approval for the framework of the future Protocol.
Today, we are making an important step towards a strengthening of our collaboration with provinces and territories in order to provide young Canadians with a better access to minority language education and second-language learning. We are proud to count on the renewed commitment of provincial and territorial partners towards linguistic duality. With this agreement, we are making significant progress towards the objectives of Canada's Official Languages Action Plan. I'll come back to the significance of this very important step towards the pursuit of our objectives in education and official languages.
Let me explain in general terms what this Protocol consists of.
The Protocol is a document that covers four years. It outlines the general collaborative mechanisms for official languages education and establishes the amount of the federal contributions earmarked for each province and territory. Using the Protocol as a basis, the Minister of Canadian Heritage concludes bilateral cost-shared agreements with each of the provinces and territories. These agreements are matched with action plans describing provinces' and territories' specific projects and uses for the funding.
Over the last several years, significant progress has been accomplished with respect to minority-language education. Today, young Canadians, Anglophones or Francophones living in a minority situation, have the right to a quality education in their first official language. Thanks to court cases initiated as a result of section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and with federal-provincial support for education and official languages, today, there are Francophone school management structures in place in each province and territory. Francophones manage their own schools.
Post-secondary education has also made a considerable leap over the last years with, notably, the creation of a network of Francophone community colleges in Ontario. The Association des universités de la francophonie canadienne groups together 13 institutions in Atlantic Canada, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and in Alberta. The number of young Francophones in minority official-language communities who have a university-level degree can now be advantageously compared to the Canadian average.
With respect to second-language education, right now, 24 percent of young Canadians ages 15 to 19 know the other official language. In addition, 47 percent of the total school population is registered in second-language programs at the elementary and secondary levels. That's one out of two young people who have the chance to learn their second official language at school.
Obviously, progress made identifies what is left to be done. The witnesses that you have heard up until now have not hidden the amount of work yet to be done. I will mention some of the challenges.
It is a fact, for example, in comparing results of some reading tests, that the level of performance of Francophone schools in minority situations compared to the results of majority schools should be improved. We also realize that we must encourage the provinces and territories who wish to increase their efforts in the area of early childhood development and preparation for schooling. Other tasks await us at the elementary and secondary levels: promotion of access, upgrading linguistic skills, improving the quality of programs and cultural enrichment of the education milieu are all sectors for investment which require urgent intervention.
Finally, support for the development of the French-language post-secondary education network remains a priority as well. Moreover, in order for more Canadians to have the chance to master their second official language, we must improve core and immersion programs and increase the number of qualified teachers while at the same time providing young people with more possibilities to use their linguistic skills.
All of these questions are at the top of our list of funding priorities in terms of our discussions with the provincial and territorial governments.
All of these challenges are at the heart of the Government of Canada's action plan for official languages, which was announced two years ago. Why is this plan so important? In fact, the action plan is innovative in three ways.
First, the plan encompasses our work plan over 10 years. With respect to education, there are no miracle solutions. Results take time to achieve, especially when they are dependent on the concerted effort of a number of players.
Secondly, the action plan establishes targets that are national, clear, and measurable. For second language instruction, the plan is to raise the proportion of bilingual francophones and anglophones in the 15-year-old to 19-year-old age group to 50% by 2013. For minority education, 80% of eligible students should be registered at French schools. These objectives allow us to change the way we do things. They pave the way to more rigorous accountability measures, which are important to the Canadian population and which have been requested by the communities.
Finally, the action plan adds targeted funds in amounts well above regular funding for maintenance and improvement of programs. For minority official language education, this means $209 million over five years, as well as a separate envelope of $137 million over five years for second language instruction. In addition, $35 million over five years will be used to increase participation in the very popular summer language bursary and official language monitor programs.
A 10-year vision does not come to life with ad hoc measures. That is why the Action Plan for Official Languages, which mobilizes significant resources and renews collaboration between all of the partners, was created. We want to encourage the provinces and territories to work together more on common projects. The CMEC has the mandate to facilitate horizontal collaboration between the provinces and territories.
Through the CMEC, pan-Canadian programs such as the Summer Language Bursary Program and the Official Language Monitor Program have become exemplary successes. This horizontal collaboration seems promising.
A concerted effort by several governments will be necessary to create pedagogical tools which are better adapted to the challenges found in the minority official-language community milieu, to promote research on official languages questions and to arm ourselves with adequate tools to measure results. The CMEC could become a very important forum with which to meet these challenges.
I know that many organizations that you have met have been upset by the delays in the negotiations. Real progress has been accomplished over the last few months and I would like to tell you about it.
With respect to what is happening on the ground in the current school year of 2004-05, 38 bilateral agreements were conducted by March 31 by provinces and territories. These include core funding agreements, targeted fund agreements, and auxiliary agreements for special projects such as infrastructure. It must also be remembered that the provinces and territories have until June 30 to spend these funds.
As I mentioned earlier, we have been negotiating with the Council of Ministers of Education Canada to renew our protocol. The protocol is the multi-year umbrella agreement with the provinces and territories on official languages in education. It provides a common framework of collaboration to meet the ultimate goals of Canada's action plan for official languages and paves the way for the negotiation of bilateral agreements where the specific concerns and challenges of each province and territory are taken into consideration.
As I mentioned earlier, it gives me pleasure to confirm that we have obtained consensus from all of the provinces and territories on the framework of the next Protocol.
It includes details on all of the questions that the Protocol should cover, including the following: implementation of the objectives of Canada's Action Plan; transparent, fair and equitable distribution of available budgetary envelopes among the provinces and territories; collaborative mechanisms that enhance the achievement of pan-Canadian initiatives; reinforcement of an accountability framework; consultation methods of groups and associations interested in minority official-language education and second official-language instruction.
This framework will serve as a basis for the next multi-year protocol, which governs the federal government's collaboration with the provinces and territories for the next cycle of bilateral agreements. We have given ourselves 90 days to complete and sign the protocol and the bilateral agreements.
Considering the progress made on the principles of a future Protocol, the consensus on the allocation of funds, and the fact that within the 2004-2005 bilateral agreements there are already many projects which are to be undertaken over the next few years, the road is paved towards advancing the objectives of the federal Action Plan for Official Languages in the area of education.
In short, we're working very hard to deliver on all our obligations and all our promises with respect to our official languages. Our commitment is strong, and much progress has been made.
Since my nomination as Minister of Canadian Heritage, I met with several ministers of education across the country, several community organizations including the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada, representatives of post-secondary organizations and school boards. I discussed education with the Commissioner of Official Languages on two occasions. I met the President of the Fédération nationale des conseils scolaires francophones who spoke to me about their Strategy to complete the French language education system in Canada, a remarkable initiative.
From all corners of the country and from all those I met, the same message was heard: our children's education is a priority; the challenges are huge, but we are ready to face them. I intend to work closely with all who wish to advance minority official-language education throughout Canada with me. I invite you to share your vision and ideas with me. Thank you again for inviting me to appear before you. I am now ready to take your questions.
I want to point out that Hubert Lussier and Eileen Sarkar are here with me. They are the two individuals who negotiated the Protocol in the field. At the same time, as I mentioned, I met with all the ministers of education. We're talking about some intense negotiations. I'm very pleased with the result today.