P.E.I. francophone group has access, consultation at top of mind in campaign - Action News
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PEIPEI Votes

P.E.I. francophone group has access, consultation at top of mind in campaign

There are some election issues almost all Islanders can agree on. But the French-speaking community in P.E.I. has a few other concerns, says a spokesman.

Association wants politicians to consider how actions affect French-speaking Islanders

A man in a black jacket and glasses stands in a room with flags hanging from the ceiling.
Interim president of SAF'le Charles Duguay says there should be more transparency when it comes to spending on French resources in P.E.I. (Gabrielle Drummond/Radio Canada)

There are some election issues almost all Islanders can agree on, like the health care crisis andthe rising cost of living. But each community also has unique challenges and priorities, including P.E.I.'s French-speaking community.

Charles Duguay is interim president of SAF'le, or the Socit Acadienne et Francophone de l'le-du-Prince-douard, a non-partisan group that promotes French language and culture on the Island.

He says politicians should always be thinking about how the issues of the day affectthe French-speaking community.

"It should be in the back of your mind," he said. "If you do that from the onset, then you're going to, I guess minimize the negative consequences in the long, long run."

Duguay says he's pleased with how many candidates in this election can speak French, even if they aren't francophone.

"To me, sometimes they're the best ambassador," he said. "Sometimes it resonates differently as opposed to a francophone."

But even with that, there are still occasions that the French community feels it hasn't been consulted on decisions that affect it. One is the renovation work being done atcole Franois-Buotein Charlottetown.

"What we would like to see is more communication, open communication with SAF'le or the francophone community," he said. "Because those schools are not only a regular school, they're also a community centre, and the community is using the school, like, all the time."

'A never-ending job'

Equal language access to provincial serviceslike health careis a priority that the four major parties say they share.

A man in a grey jacket sits at a desk with his hands holding a pen, smiling at the camera.
PC candidate in District 24 Gilles Arsenault says having French-speaking staff at long-term care homes is a priority for him. (Sally Pitt/CBC)

In District 24, Progressive Conservativecandidate Gilles Arsenault says he'd like to see an expansion of the availability of French-speaking workers inlong-term care, but he thinks the current services are well-received.

"What we need to do is to make sure that we maintain what we have in French-language services," he said. "It's a never-ending job to make sure that we maintain that and the services that we offer presently,I think, are crucial."

A woman in a blue blazer sits on a couch looking off to the side of the camera.
Adina Nault says she's running in District 9 because she thinks there should be more representation from Acadian candidates. (Gabrielle Drummond/Radio Canada)

Green party candidate Adine Nault is running in District 9. She says she'd like to see more Acadian representation in the legislature, and wants to improve access to French-language childcare.

"We have [a] wonderful early-years centre, but we can't accept all of our families, unfortunately, because of a lack of space," she said. "And because of this, what happens is that they start creating their relationships in the anglophone community and we lose those children to the anglophone community."

Access a priority

A man in a grey jacket and grey turtleneck smiles at the camera.
Liberal candidate in District 14 Gordon McNeilly says he wants to speak more about francophone issues in the legislature if he's re-elected. (Gabrielle Drummond/Radio Canada)

District 14 Liberal candidate GordMcNeilly says he plans to speak more in the legislature about offering services in French if he's re-elected including bilingual access to health care.

"I will continue to try to represent or speak for the Acadian community, because I love the Acadian community," he said. "I think it's a fantastic community and they have a distinct language that we have to try better to utilize."

A man in a grey sweater smiles at the camera in front of a wall of certificates.
NDP candidate in District 12 Joe Byrne says he's seen the benefits of French immersion in his own family. (Gabrielle Drummond/Radio Canada)

The NDP candidate in District 12, Joe Byrne, says many issues for francophone Islanders are the same as for anglophones. He thinks adding more interpreters when government services are providedcould help.

"When we need doctors or nurses or radiologists or lab technologists, we look first for the professional qualifications," he said. "If they don't have the language skills, we should go then and look to the community to provide the interpretive skills that are needed so that citizens and residents that are using those services can get the information in the language of their choice."

Whichever party is elected to lead Prince Edward Island, SAF'le would like more transparency and accountability when it comes to government spending as well. If the government doesn't provide equal services in French, Duguay says it falls on the community to fill in the gaps.

with files from Gabrielle Drummond