Good afternoon, everyone.

It's a pleasure for me to be here today to discuss the education continuum and, in particular, the role of early childhood in it. First of all, I think it's important to define what early childhood services are. The Fédération des parents de la francophonie manitobaine and its partners believe it is important to provide two types of services on the minority education continuum.

First, we offer Manitoba's francophone families a network of childhood educational resource centres, family centres that provide French-language services and programming for children and their parents. In Manitoba, these centres are located in the schools of the Division scolaire franco-manitobaine, and they are the children's first steppingstone to their future education. The centres are full of important information, and they promote networking and convey that information to the parents.

The second service, which will definitely be of greater interest to you is the range of early childhood day care and learning services. This includes learning centres, such as early childhood centres and day cares, as well as day care services in a family setting. These services make it possible for parents to go back to work or back to school while their children continue to grow and develop through play, learning and making new friends. Providing children in the early childhood range with high-quality learning services has an enormous impact on both the children and society. These services may also have a considerable impact on the health, economic and legal systems and are thus a worthwhile investment. In a minority setting, these services also have a major impact on the development of francophone communities.

I'd like to discuss several challenges with you, but I'll limit myself to issues pertaining partnerships, accessibility, structure and funding.

To ensure a successful transition through the various parts of the continuum, we need to emphasize how important it is to promote sound partnerships and constant dialogue among the continuum's actors. The various education partners in Manitoba frequently meet to discuss the continuum, the needs of each of its components, how best to help each other and, especially, major challenges.

With regard to the challenge of accessibility in Manitoba, not all francophone families have access to a day care service or childhood educational resource centre. According to the last survey, which was conducted this past summer as part of our strategic planning, the most urgent need among families is for access to a space in a day care service. In our view, this lack of access could have a major impact on the rest of the continuum and within the francophonie as a whole.

The last challenge concerns structure and funding. It is clear from a comparison between the early childhood sector and the school board and post-secondary institutions sector that the former isn't as structured or funded as the latter. The research clearly shows that early childhood is a critical time for brain and language development. It seems to me that, if we want a genuine education continuum, we have to invest in new types of structures and early childhood services, which include early childhood professionals and related services that make it possible to manage that structure.

Thank you very much for listening. I will be happy to answer your questions.

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