The Vitality of the Communities
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Cultural Dimension
The cultural capital of OLMCs often appears as the lowest common denominator associated with minority status. Some observers expect that the survival of minorities will occur through the preservation of their cultural traits (Bernard, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992), while others expect that minority communities will construct cultural meanings for themselves (Martel, 2003). In this latter perspective, which is predominant today, the emphasis is on creation and innovation in the cultural field. Economist Albert Breton (1999: 115) states that it is indispensable to the survival of a language to ensure that local cultures are solid and vibrant, hence the importance of investing resources in creativity–a form of human capital that yields both a personal and a social return. Promotion of cultural activities in communities, and especially in schools, is one way to achieve this (Haentjens and Chagnon–Lampron, 2004; Fédération nationale des conseils scolaires francophones, 2005).
Community and government players recognize the importance of cultural networks that provide access to the resources of creation, production, dissemination and appreciation of arts and culture, including both professional and amateur activities. In order to gain a better appreciation of culture-related challenges and practices, several studies, such as those by the Quebec Drama Federation (1991) and the Groupe de recherche en gestion des arts (1991), have explored the theatre networks of OLMCs, or the issue of Francophone cultural and community centres in Ontario and Alberta (Groupe de recherche en gestion des arts, 1991; Piché and Robitaille, 1991; Farmer, 2003). Recently, several organizations have decided to undertake a joint study on the links between language, culture and education in order to influence the formulation of government policies in this area (Haentjens and Chagnon-Lampron, 2004).
On the other hand, the development of the heritage resources of OLMCs appears to be neglected by the arts and culture sector as well as by the various levels of government. No report exists on the situation, and there is no pan-Canadian network for the Francophone heritage sector (Doucet, 2000). In Quebec, however, the heritage organizations have formed the Quebec Anglophone Heritage Network. There are also regional initiatives involving Anglophone and Francophone OLMCs that link tourism to artistic, cultural and heritage events, for example, the Corridor francophone in the West and the Circuit Champlain in Ontario. These initiatives have significant potential for mobilizing cultural and heritage resources for community development and hence vitality.
In Quebec, the Community Development Plan for the English-speaking Communities of Quebec identifies cultural identity as the first point of its strategy (Quebec Community Groups Network, 2005). The Anglophone community is caught between the cultural vitality of Francophone Quebec and the intensity of American cultural penetration. Its plan embarks on a redefinition of the Anglo-Quebec cultural identity in the context of the new demographic realities of multiculturalism, bilingualism and integration.
Those active in OLMCs both inside and outside Quebec are aware of and are concerned about the major role assigned to schools and to the school system in the production and transmission of identity and culture. A number of studies analyse the mission and responsibility of the schools (Bernard, 1991; Martel, 2001; Landry and Rousselle, 2003). Some recent works formulate an action plan to fully develop the school systems for the Francophone minority across Canada, while emphasizing the different functions of the school, such as cultural leadership, arts education and, more broadly, the development of identity (Gilbert et al., 2004; Fédération nationale des conseils scolaires francophones, 2005; Canada, Senate Standing Committee on Official Languages, 2005).
Schools are viewed as a key player in the area of cultural resources: "School is replacing home and community as the primary site for the production and distribution of French as a language resource" (Heller, 1999). According to Landry and Allard (1999), the Frenchlanguage educational system "is an essential component of the ethnolinguistic vitality of Francophone minorities in Canada."
There is no shortage of models of the school as a cultural resource centre, such as the pedagogy of actualization (Landry and Rousselle, 2003), the constructivist model (Martel, 2003), and schools open to experimentation and multicultural expression around a standard language (Heller, 1999). It is, however, by no means certain that schools really have the resources or the competence to respond to such expectations (Thériault, 2000). Clearly, the acquisition of a language and the associated culture results from an effort in education and learning that is shared between the family, the school and the community (Bernard, 1988; Landry and Rousselle, 2003; Landry, Allard and Deveau, 2006). The school-community centres have displayed positive results in this regard (Alain and Basque, 2003, 2005; Bisson, 2003; Magord, Landry and Allard, 2002), though this is achieved through interaction with the local community's economic, social and cultural resources.
In Quebec, the importance of English-language schools is also clearly seen in the Chambers report (1992) 10 years on. Although the context of the Anglophone population in Quebec varies considerably between the cultural diversity of Montréal and a degree of homogeneity that persists in the regions, Jedwab observes, in addition to the growing proportion of allophones, an increasing and substantial proportion of Anglophone rights holders who speak French and who enable English-language schools to maintain their numbers, while posing challenges raised by the number of students from exogamous families where French predominates (Jedwab, 2002b).
The communities are also concerned about the media as a cultural space in which information circulates about local circumstances, contributing to the building of a community identity while maintaining and revitalizing language and culture in daily life. The resources of community radio and community press networks are clearly cultural capital resources, which have a tangible impact on the presence and use of the language in public and private space (Boudreau and Dubois, 2003), on information regarding community activities and services, and on the promotion of cultural goods and services for consumption within OLMCs. Access to CBC/SRC media services on a nation-wide basis, particularly regional programming including quality information content regarding the cultural production of OLMCs, is periodically the subject of studies and briefs (Canada, Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, 2003).
