Official Languages committee  I'm not sure I understood your question correctly. At Université Sainte-Anne, everything is done in French. We are in the business of school management, as they refer to it in the public schools. All of our programs and courses are given in French. When I talk about immersion students, I am talking about public school immersion students who are francophiles or francophones.

Official Languages committee  That is what I'm trying to explain. We don't have an immersion program per se, other than the summer programs for anglophones who want to learn French. Those are courses that we offer during the summer for a period of five weeks. During the normal school year, a student who wants to do a bachelor of education, for example, must have the necessary French skills to take the program at our university.

Official Languages committee  As I said, about 30% of our students are international students, mainly from African countries, and depending on the year, about 25% of our students are anglophones who speak French really well. The other students are Acadians or francophones, mainly from the Maritimes but also from elsewhere in Canada.

Official Languages committee  That's a good question. The simple answer is that, like many provinces in Canada, Nova Scotia is facing a major labour shortage, particularly when it comes to French language teachers and French immersion teachers. We are unable to recruit enough students to fill the number of spaces in the program for various reasons.

Official Languages committee  No, these categories do not exist. There is only basic funding. We have an agreement with the province of Nova Scotia that allocates overall funding of $380 million. A formula is applied to divide this funding between 10 universities. As I mentioned, we are the only one of these 10 universities that is francophone, and it is very small.

Official Languages committee  They have a major impact on our institution because they represent 30% of our population. As I mentioned, since we are a very small university, only a very limited number of students are accepted into our programs. Immersion students make up about 25% of our student body, and it is very important for our university to add these foreign students and immersion students to our Acadian and francophone population.

Official Languages committee  I am not sure that we have tangible tools, but the act does contain some tools that we can benefit from. We are certainly still waiting to see the regulations. When I was in government, it was always the details in the legislation that mattered. We are still waiting for those details.

Official Languages committee  Okay. I wanted to say that the more the role of the province, the territory, the federal government is clarified—I think you already noted this—the better off we will be. It is so divided that it is hard for us, as a client, to navigate between the province and the federal level and its different departments.

Official Languages committee  Would you like me to add something?

Official Languages committee  We are putting on a presentation on community anchoring at a conference next week. I am currently on the main campus of Université Sainte‑Anne. I have a view of Baie Sainte‑Marie and I can see a lighthouse. Our university is the only one that has a lighthouse on campus, so keep in mind that we are in a very rural area.

Official Languages committee  I think that you have already heard that the largest universities are more apt to get research funding since English is the dominant language in this field. On one hand, that makes it harder for our researchers to request funding and, on the other hand, in many cases, they get the impression that they are more likely to be heard if they write or apply in English.

Official Languages committee  I imagine you're talking about the broader network. We belong to a number of national organizations, some of which I've chaired. The same challenges often come up. I think that consultation is important because, in many cases, the federal government and the various agencies and departments are disconnected from the provinces and territories.

Official Languages committee  I could speak at length about the impact of Université Sainte-Anne on Pointe-de-l'Église, a community of fewer than 10,000 people. If the university did not exist, the community would be entirely different on the social, cultural and economic levels. I've been president of the university for 13 years.

Official Languages committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Members of the committee, thank you for having us today and for this extremely important study you are doing of Canada's French-language post-secondary sector. As the chair has already mentioned, I'm the president and vice-chancellor of Université Sainte-Anne, the only French-language post-secondary institution in Nova Scotia.

Science and Research committee  I would like to clarify something on the subject of isolation. With the technology that exists today, we don't feel so isolated. In any event, we are less so than in the past. Our institution's five campuses are to a large extent technology-driven. As well, we have close ties with the other universities in the Canadian francophonie outside and inside Quebec.