INTRODUCTION The number of members belonging to the National Capital Freenet / Libertel de la Capitale nationale has been problematic ever since the end of the boon years after the network came on line in February 1993. Indeed from a peak of around 60,000 members in the early days (we were the only kid on the block!), NCF has now only 6,823 members (Executive Director's report at the June 2002 Board meeting). Furthermore, the Executive Director reported that for the first time this year, the number of new members (122) was below the targeted number (235). This is a serious deficiency which the Board has addressed with due dispatch since less members means less revenues to meet NCF's operational costs. The purpose of this presentation is to bring to the attention of the Board a demographic sector of the Ottawa-Gatineau metropolitan area that has been neglected for the recruitment of members: The Francophone community. Ever since the demise of NCF's infamous francophone sub-committee (in 1995-96), that demographic sector has simply been forgotten. And things have been going downhill ever since... Some of our site plan had been translated into French. Unfortunately, when NCF redesigned its Homepage (for PPP users), French went by the wayside in the explanation introductions of sub-directories. For instance, "Babillards" (Newsgroups) is explained in English only; in "Groupes communautaires" (Community Groups - Organizations and businesses Websites hosted by NCF), the introduction is only in English, though there are French associations listed - bizarrely the first site listed is "Ado", a francophone site for a dance academy in the Outaouais... Some years ago, I personally translated at the request of then Executive Director Chris Cope some important chapters as "How to become a member?" and "How to make a donation?", etc. To this day, I still translate important announcements that our new ED Ian MacEachern sends me. But one man cannot an army be! Principally, I would like to bring the Board's attention this demographic section of our population as potential Libertel / NCF members. The numbers are impressive. DEMOGRAPHICS By population: The population of the combined metropolitan centres of Ottawa (the new city) and Gatineau (the new city) is 1,063,664 according to Statistic Canada's 2001 census, an increase of 6.5% on the total of 998,718 recorded in 1996. The break down for each city is: Ottawa (new city) 837,854 inhabitants* Gatineau (new city) 226,696 inhabitants* * Adding the numbers in this break down does not equal the total given for the Ottawa-Gatineau number of inhabitants given in the first paragraph. I pointed this anomaly to Statistics Canada. I was told that an officer would get back to me. I do not expect an answer before the Board's meeting on Tuesday. -rr. By languages : The Commissioner of Official Languages states in her 2001 annual report that 20% of the population of Ottawa is francophone and notes that Ottawa has elected four francophones to its City Council. The Ontario Government Office for Francophone Affairs 2001 annual report states that 5% (542,000) of the province's population is francophone. 123,595 live in Ottawa. In the 1996 Statistic Canada census (figures for 2001 are not yet available) the language composition for Ottawa-Hull-Gatineau-Aylmer- Buckingham was: English: 516,990 French : 331,700 Non-official : 133,710 (Chinese: 15,945 Italian: 11,625 etc.) By the education system : The young are the ones more prone to use new technology as has been witnessed with the Walkman and M3P crowds. Maybe they can't afford an ASDL hook-up to the Internet, but they still want to access it. They are the best potential Libertel / NCF market. A look at our local education institutions' enrolment (universities, colleges, high schools, CEGEPs and primary schools) can help gauge an important francophone potential market for Libertel / NCF membership. University of Ottawa: 25,915 students French : 8,951* English: 16,964* *Numbers do not equate with following tables because out-of-town students are included in above figures. Ottawa-Carleton students: French: 3,545 English: 9,500 Hull-Gatineau students: French: 2,191 English: 377 Université du Québec à Hull: 4,599 students Cité collégiale: 3,250 students Ottawa French public schools: 10,326 students High school: 4,021 Primary: 6,305 Ottawa French separate schools: 16,500 students High school: 4,016 Primary: 12,484 * Figures were not available for the Commission scolaire des Portages-de-l'Outaouais (responsible for primary schools and CEGEPs in Hull-Aylmer-Gatineau) because their offices are closed for the summer holidays. A guess estimate would be at least a fifth of the population of 226.000+ or about 45,000 students. If one subtracts the number of students at both universities and the Cité collégiale, because students have their own Internet accounts, one comes to a total of 13,159 francophone students in primary and high schools on the Ottawa side of the river only! Then there is the estimate of about 45,000 francophone students on the Québec side of the river... That makes for about 60,000 children who need to rely on their parents for an Internet connection! CONCLUSIONS: The market potential for recruiting francophone members for NCF is there. There are two main obstacles to overcome: Ignorance or lack of knowledge that Libertel / NCF exists and a not too friendly French environment if a francophone surfs our network. Ignorance / Lack of knowledge: Ever since the demise of the francophone sub-committee, the francophone media has completely ignored Le Libertel / NCF. Schools do not know that there is this safe environment network available for their students at practically no cost to the user. Same goes for libraries, PTAs, etc. As for the francophone general public, people are not even aware of Le Libertel, let alone that the National Capital Freenet, exists... If they are connected to the Internet, it's done through French-translated AOL, French-translated Sympatico or other small francophone ISPs. Environment: Let's face it! Le Libertel de la Capitale nationale is an unfriendly site for francophones! Granted our Main page is available in French, but that's about it! Our French Main Page does not even have a link to the new city of Gatineau, let alone a link to LeDroit as is done in English page for the city of Ottawa, the Ottawa Citizen and the Ottawa Sun and others... We are facing here a catch-22 situation. We don't attract francophone members because there is no French - and - there is no French because there are hardly any francophone members. In both cases - Ignorance / Lack of knowledge and Environment -- we are remiss to our Mission statement which states that NCF / Libertel must reflect our community. Obviously, we are not! A solution must be found for this conundrum. OBSERVATIONS: * Our Office Coordinator Sheila Alder mentioned to me that in the VolNet project nearly 50% of the participants were francophones (associations, agencies, etc.). If NCF was appealing to them then, what happened to that membership? Those people found out about us from somewhere considering the francophone media has ignored Libertel / NCF... * Though we do not ask on the membership form, is there a way that we can approximate how many francophones and / or francophiles are now members of NCF and make a special appeal to them to participate in French? -- Some months ago, I posted bilingually (one paragraph in English, one in French) on ncf.board-speakers-corner. I got kudos but nothing came out of it! * A Board member (or someone on the Executive) should oversee Le Libertel and foster francophone participation. * Friends and acquaintances have acknowledged just inserting the AOL CD-ROM mailed to them, not knowing that there were other possibilities (NCF). I would like to point out that one needs a credit card to become a member of AOL. Many people do not have or don't care to have a credit card... and the AOL fees are somewhat higher(!) comparing to NCF's donation system. * Affordability. Unlike commercial ISP who charge as much as the market will allow, NCF financing and ownership could be a selling point. Members make an annual/monthly donation(s) as they can afford -- those who can't are not turned away - and they do not receive a monthly bill. * Most of all, being a Libertel / Freenet member means that members are not clients... They own the network as a stockholders do in any commercial company and, as such, they are part of the decision-making process. Not only can they vote at the annual meeting, they can run for a position on the Board of Director, even get elected president! * Information kits in French - such as the brochure that was done a few years ago - should be again printed and distributed to school boards, parent and community associations, libraries, etc. * Spotlight should be shone on the community aspect - agora type - of our network where features such as local newsgroups, webmail, easy dial-up connection, spam assassin, a safe family environment, Thin Client advantages, text connection (Lynx) if one wishes, members helping members -- all available on Libertel / NCF and that with just a click on the mouse members can surf the whole Internet. * Just because one owns an old computer (even just an old DOS - type 186) does not mean that one cannot access the Internet. Le Libertel / the National Capital Freenet can meet their needs. Le Libertel / Freenet does not need minimum requirements for their computer to connect. * Modem speeds on any computer are unimportant since Le Libertel / NCF modems can shake hands from the most modest/oldest modems up to 33.6 kbps. * As we are about to launch our Thin Client project, we could emphasize all the latest platforms (Word, Corel, web tools, etc.) that will be available to members to use free of charge from their own home computers. After all families with kids cannot all afford to update their word processing programs to meet the latest school requirements for home works or write a jazzy résumé. Robert Rattey ac866