September 22, 2017 Charlottetown Stéphane Blanchard Youth

RDcE Prince Edward Island Your economic development council

September 22, 2017 Charlottetown Stéphane Blanchard Youth Economic Development Officer RDÉE Prince Edward Island RDcE Prince Edward Island Your economic development council

RDÉE Prince Edward Island, the provincial francophone economic development council, has consistently worked to promote life in French in P.E.I., especially in its efforts to foster economic development. We actively support the French presence when it comes to jobs and entrepreneurship. We work every day to impress upon small business owners that offering services in French will result in significantly higher sales not only to the local community, but also to tourists who come to PEI from other provinces, especially Quebec and New Brunswick. In addition, Francophone importers elsewhere in Canada and abroad have shown interest in our products. In fact, over the past few years, our sales missions in Montreal have been very successful and generated strong sales.

However, it is quite rare to find Island businesses that can operate exclusively in French. As a minority community, we simply do not have the critical mass necessary to help us ensure, by ourselves, the survival of many of our businesses.

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That is why a francophone business must actually be a bilingual business. That in no way diminishes the value of the French character of our enterprises. Our Acadian and francophone identity is strongly rooted in the hearts and minds of our people.

Our entrepreneurship training and seminars are often delivered in both languages because sometimes we have anglophone clients or our francophone audience wants to learn English terminology.

We regularly consult with anglophone specialists who share their expertise with us. We also deal with French-language organizations and businesses every day, and maintain good working relationships with all these partners.

We continue to impress upon our young clients that their bilingualism is an asset that will serve them well for a lifetime, not only in their careers, but also in their day-do-day lives.

We believe that it is vitally important to continue promoting and financing economic initiatives that foster bilingualism and the delivery of services in French. R�E Prince Edward Island Your economic development councils Our mission is to contribute actively to entrepreneurial and community economic development and to job creation within Acadian and francophone communities, while collaborating in growing the Island’s economy.

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Participants in the Jeunes millionnaires program, the French version of the Young Millionaires Program, have to attend workshops and receive training on: • Basic business skills and entrepreneurship • Bookkeeping • Marketing • Customer service • Public speaking

After taking the workshops, participants can present their business plan. Each then receives a non-repayable grant of up to $100 (or $150 for partnerships) to help launch his or her small business. ------·----

Roc'EPrince Edward Island Your economic development council

YOUTH SERVICES CO-OPS: WHAT ARE THEY?

A YSC is a co-operative with about fifteen young members aged 12 to 17. These youth pool their resources so they can offer a variety of services to their community by launching their own business. .

MISSION OF YOUTH SERVICES CO-OPS

The mission of YSCs is to help young people become more aware of their capabilities and collective responsibilities in order to transform their environment according to their needs and aspirations.

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www.percepe.ca RIJcE Prince Edward Island Your economic development council The PERCÉ program: what is it? • C'est un stage d'ete remunere dans le domaine d'etude du participant

• It is a paid summer internship in a student’s field of study and interest • It is an opportunity for young people under 30 to make connections with potential employers in their field • It is a way for an employer to receive financial support in exchange for •providing an enriching work experience • It is a success story that over its first 10 years has motivated 82% of former participants to return to and settle in Prince Edward Island after finishing their studies

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The next action plan for official languages should strengthen and guide the actions of the entire federal government to support the development and vitality of official language minority communities. The plan must also uphold three principles outlined in the most recent (June 2017) report of the Interim Commissioner of Official Languages, as follows:

• Increase access to services of equal quality in both official languages; • Seek to achieve substantive equality, taking into account the particular characteristics of official language communities; • Consider the remedial nature of language rights, including the fact that these rights are designed to counter the gradual decline of official language communities.

This government commitment will enable francophone and Acadian communities to make a greater contribution to Canada’s productivity and competitiveness abroad. RDcE Prince Edward Island Your economic development council

Reasons to learn the other official language In my view, there are two types of reasons 1. Psychological/emotional 2. Practical RDcE Prince Edward Island Your economic development council

Employment and future prospects for bilingual youth

According to Statistics Canada, being bilingual in Canada is associated with higher participation and employment rates as well as lower unemployment rates. ROSE Prince Edward Island Your economic development council

The CPE early childhood care challenges and impact on the Island’s francophone and Acadian community Not enough spaces in French-language CPEs (125 to 150 children on waiting lists) Reasons:

1. Lack of space (infrastructure) 2. Lack of educators (human resources)

The second reason is more critical than the first, because salaries for educators are relatively low, ranging between $11.25 per hour and $15.25 per hour.

Because these educators are bilingual, they are in demand and can get many other jobs that pay much better. That is why the turnover rate among CPE staff is very high. We must find a way to give these educators higher wages in order to strengthen early childhood development, at the base of the pyramid.

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