Why did Premier Ghiz show for photo-op with Gail Shea on “Multi-Year Agreement on French Language Services” but miss groundbreaking for L’école Saint-Augustin in Rustico ?
Federal Minister of Fisheries Gail Shea and PEI Premier Robert Ghiz, MIA on French school in Rustico (image, Brian Simpson)
July 20th, 2010 Federal Minister of Fisheries Gail Shea and PEI Premier Robert Ghiz signed the Multi-Year Agreement on French Language Services.
It has not gone without observation in the Acadian community that Ghiz and his ministers did not show up for a photo-op at the groundbreaking for L’école Saint-Augustin in Rustico, PEI.
No sign of the coming construction adorns on the site, as though the Ghiz government is embarrassed by the project. When governments at all levels are anxious to trumpet their spending, the silence in Rustico is deafening.
The 4 year agreement commits $11.8 million from both governments to “support the development and implementation of concrete measures to strengthen the province’s capacity to provide its Acadian and Francophone communities with French-language services in key sectors.” PEI Press Services
The money is to be spent ensuring the improvement of French language services to Acadians including cultural activities for young people. <
The money is being committed under the joint Federal and Provincial agreement Roadmap for Canada’s Linguistic Duality 2008-2013: Acting for the Future”
The agreement acknowledges the importance of French language instruction and cultural events in maintaining the French language on PEI. Yet we know the PEI government is dragging its heels on the new French school in Rustico.
Field of dreams for French parents on PEI, future site of Acadian school Rustico
In a fit of pique and local politics, Health Minister (and former Francophone Minister) Carolyn Bertram has issued adamant instructions that the school will be so small that no cultural activities can take place within its walls.
The conflict goes back to the Cymbria Lions Club who were getting a $90,000 annual subsidy to house the French school temporarily. Bertram promised the Lions the school would not be built. Now that Ghiz has taken that responsibility from her, she still wields a big stick in keeping the school downsized to what some Acadians have dubbed the “smelt-shack.”
Other French schools in Summerside and Charlottetown have been built on the model that the school, like it is for English students, is the hub for community culture. However, if Ghiz continues to stall the planning process with smaller and smaller building sizes and restrictions, there won’t be room for a cloak room in Rustico, according to Acadian parents supporting the new school.
Federal agreement supports schools as academic and cultural centres
The need for a cultural part is explicitly stated in the Agreement that Premier Ghiz signed and under which he will receive $6.2 million dollars from the Federal government.
“The Government will continue to invest in the instruction of both languages and in initiatives outside the classroom. The young are at the heart of the Government of Canada’s priorities: within minority communities, their parents have strived (sp) to preserve their language; it is now important for them to become fully aware of the wealth being passed along, and to make the most of it.”
“In the classroom, the Roadmap will continue to support provincial and territorial programs aimed at education in the language of official-language minority communities, and in second-language education, including bursary and official-language monitor programs. Through agreements, the Government of Canada will continue to invest in education, maintaining its planned investments and building on its enduring collaboration with the provinces and territories. For young Canadians, this will mean continued capacity to learn in school in their own official language, or to learn the other official language.”
“But school is not the only means of learning: the Government will continue to support initiatives that allow young Canadians to put the languages they have learned to use – in cultural, sport or other activities outside the classroom. Measures are also planned to support community radio and other local media that promote cultural and community activities among youth.” Canadian Heritage Roadmap
It couldn’t be clearer. The previous Conservative government of Pat Binns understood what building a French school meant.
Will Ghiz play dumb on this forever or will he meet his commitment to the Acadian community?
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