Statement made on 05 March 2008 by Senator Maria Chaput
Hon. Maria Chaput:
My question is for the Leader of the Government in the Senate. I have already asked many questions about your government's support for official language minority communities.
I have also stressed many times in this chamber that it is very important for the government to support early childhood initiatives in official language minority communities.
You, as Leader of the Government, told us what your government was already doing in terms of support, and we have been given lists of initiatives and amounts of money that have been spent to implement these initiatives. We are very grateful.
However, having early childhood services for francophone children in minority communities means that we are providing a French environment at the preschool level.
Early childhood services for minority francophone communities include daycare services, junior kindergarten and kindergarten, associated with a French school, in the same building. This creates a certain climate, a certain atmosphere, a centre where our children can live, grow and develop in French.
I know that the provinces have some responsibility for providing these services. I also know that many provinces are taking their responsibility seriously. But I would like to give you a few examples of what happens when the federal government completely offloads the responsibility to a province and provides no support.
For example, the Government of Nova Scotia recently cancelled its pre-Primary program. Two Acadian schools were affected by these closures, including Rose-des-Vents in Greenwood, which members of the official languages committee have visited.
In Nova Scotia, we should remember, at least 60 per cent of these children require preschool francization at the pre-Primary stage because they have almost or completely lost their ability to speak French. We have to teach them French to prepare them for French school. This has become a battle against assimilation. It is, in fact, preschool francization.
What I am asking you to do today, Madam Leader of the Government in the Senate, is to recognize that French-language early childhood education services are vital to francophones in minority communities because they help fight assimilation, they contribute to children's linguistic development, and in the end, they help these children do better in school.
Will the Leader of the Government ask the Prime Minister and the minister responsible to include initiatives for French-language early childhood education in minority communities in the renewed Action Plan for Official Languages?
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