Merci, Monsieur le President. The Northwest Territories is home to a strong Francophone presence that has long been part of our territory's diverse multilingual tapestry. Since the earliest days of the fur trade, the Franco-Ténois community has carried their legacy forward through generations of our shared northern history. This is no easy task in our smaller and more remote communities where French language services are often limited. Yet despite these challenges, Francophone families continue to pass on their language, culture, and pride, keeping this living heritage strong across the North.
One of our communities where Franco-Ténois have faced significant challenges in preserving their language and culture is Fort Smith where an association of Francophone families has been forced to take the territorial government to court to secure French language education, despite section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guaranteeing the rights of French speaking communities outside of Quebec. The Minister of ECE is disputing the number of rights holders in the community and suggesting they settle for French immersion classes instead.
[Translation] Mr. Speaker, Francophone residents in the Northwest Territories have a constitutional right to French education. That is to say first language education. It's unacceptable that families be obliged to leave Fort Smith simply because their children are unable to receive education in their first language. I would like to congratulate parents for the instruction in French they provided in Fort Smith, for their devotion, and for their perseverance. They are defending their rights, and these rights are enshrined in our constitution. I am convinced that they will succeed.
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Forcing families to go to court to secure the best education for their children places an undue burden on them and can have a chilling effect on the exercise of Charter rights. We should be developing models to deliver public services in as many of our official languages as possible. Whether you are Inuit, Metis, Dene, or Franco-Ténois, you should be able to maintain your culture and identity wherever you live in the Northwest Territories. This government seems more willing to risk costly court battles that they consistently lose rather than work collaboratively with communities from the outset. When will they end this expensive litigation and finally ensure the straightforward recognition of the rights and dignity of our language minority populations. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Members' statements. Member from Yellowknife North.
