2002-06

PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION CANADA AND FRANCOPHONE MINORITY COMMUNITIES

OTTAWA, March 19, 2002 -- Denis Coderre, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), is participating today in the first meeting of the Citizenship and Immigration Canada-Francophone Minority Communities Steering Committee.

"By establishing this steering committee, the Department hopes to promote the recruitment, selection, reception and integration of newcomers in Francophone minority communities, in cooperation with various community, government and private sector stakeholders," noted Minister Coderre. "With this in mind, we have signed an agreement with Canadian Heritage to promote the development of Francophone communities through immigration. Under this agreement, commonly referred to as the Interdepartmental Partnership with the Official Language Communities (IPOLC), we are launching two research projects."

According to the Honourable Sheila Copps, Minister of Canadian Heritage and cosignatory of the IPOLC, "these people who choose to live among us clearly contribute to Canada's cultural wealth and diversity. It is up to us to meet the challenge of receiving them properly. This initiative is proof positive of the Canadian Government's commitment to enhancing the vitality of the Francophone minority communities."

For the Honourable Stéphane Dion, President of the Privy Council and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, "the openness of the Francophone and Acadian communities to newcomers and members of ethnic and cultural communities having French as a common language has benefits reaching far beyond demographic statistics."

The steering committee will be co-chaired by Marc Arnal, an educator, and Rosaline Frith, Director General of Integration for CIC. In Mr. Arnal's words, "this initiative with Citizenship and Immigration Canada is an opportunity to enrich our communities by drawing on the diversity of the international Francophone community and to offer these newcomers a Francophone space in Canada."

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For Information:

BACKGROUNDER

Citizenship and Immigration Canada-
Francophone Minority Communities
Steering Committee

PREAMBLE

Pursuant to s. 41 of the Official Languages Act, Citizenship and Immigration Canada has established a steering committee for the purpose of enhancing opportunities for the advancement of Francophone minority communities outside Canada and promoting the recruitment, selection and integration of newcomers within those communities.

Another purpose of the steering committee, established in partnership with Francophone minority communities, is to consider the interests of those communities when developing CIC policies and programs. The steering committee is composed, inter alia, of representatives of those communities, senior CIC officials and observers from other federal and provincial departments. Its first meeting will be held in Ottawa, March 19-20, 2002.

MANDATE OF THE STEERING COMMITTEE

• To collaborate in developing a strategy to raise awareness of immigration issues in Francophone minority communities and to increase their reception capacity.
• To collaborate in developing a strategy to raise awareness in employees, service providers and CIC clients within Canada and abroad in all matters related to Canada's bilingual nature, the desired results in terms of immigration, and the presence of official-language minority communities in each province and territory, in order to increase immigrant settlement within Francophone minority communities.
• To collaborate in developing a strategy to liaise with Francophone minority communities in order to promote their participation in CIC's public activities and consultations, thereby increasing their expertise in immigration matters.
• To collaborate in developing a promotion, recruitment and selection strategy in order to increase the number of immigrants who choose to settle within Francophone minority communities.
• To participate in the implementation of a new strategy to integrate immigrants within Francophone minority communities.
• To identify CIC priorities under the memorandum of understanding with Canadian Heritage for the implementation of the interdepartmental partnership with official-language communities.
• To provide for the development of studies and research on issues related to immigration within Francophone minority communities in order to ensure that strategies are developed.
• Other activities deemed essential by the steering committee members.

Mandate

Two years (with possibility of renewal)

Composition

Co-chairs:

For the Francophone minority communities: Marc C. Arnal
For CIC: Rosaline Frith, Director General, Integration

Community Representation:

Renée Champagne, Ontario
Michel Chartier, Manitoba
Lise Ouellette, New Brunswick
Michelle Rakotonaivo, British Columbia
Léonie Tchatat, Toronto, Ontario
Maxim Jean-Louis, Sudbury, Ontario
Luketa M'Pindou, Edmonton, Alberta
Zaïn Esseghaïer, Charlottetown, P.E.I.

CIC Representation:

Ann Ratcliffe, Director General, Strategic Policy, Planning and Research
Renald Dussault, Director General, Selection
Linda Landry, Director General, Human Resources
Daniel Therrien, Director General, Refugees
Peter Duschinsky, Delegate, International Region
Pierre Gaulin, Director, Ontario Settlement
Tony Marshall, Director General, Atlantic Region
Rob Vineberg, Director General, Prairies and Northwest Territories Region
Michel Smith, Director General, B.C. and Yukon Region

Observers:

Representative of Canadian Heritage
Representatives of the provincial and territorial governments
Representative of the Department of Human Resources Development
Representative of the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
Representative of the Privy Council
Other resource persons as required

Secretariat

For the communities: Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada

PROJECTS INITIATED

In January 2002, Citizenship and Immigration Canada signed a memorandum of understanding with Canadian Heritage under the Interdepartmental Partnership with the Official Language Communities (IPOLC).

Two projects have been funded under this agreement. The purpose of the first project is to assess the capacity of the Francophone communities in Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Sudbury, Ottawa and Moncton to receive and integrate newcomers. The purpose of the second project is to fund the initial phase of developing an action plan to increase the capacity of Francophone minority communities to receive and integrate the newcomers. Responsibility for coordinating both projects has been entrusted to the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada. Reports on the two projects will be tabled in the fall.

RELATION TO GOVERNMENT POLICIES

These initiatives underscore the commitment of the Government of Canada and Citizenship and Immigration Canada to enhancing the vitality of Francophone minority communities. They are also the tangible results of the provisions of the new Immigration and Refugee Protection Act with respect to Francophone minority communities.

The creation of the Steering Committee, the active participation of community leaders and the implementation of concrete projects will make it possible to

• strengthen the sense of shared citizenship in all Canadians;
• and protect and promote both our official languages.

Biographies of Community Members
of the Citizenship and Immigration Canada -
Francophone Minority Communities Steering Committee

Michel L.J. Chartier

• Vice-president of the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada
• Member of the task force on improving French services within Manitoba's justice system, and the Mayor of Winnipeg's task force on French services in the provincial capital
• Former president of the Société franco-manitobaine

Léonie Tchatat

• Founder and executive director of the Regroupement des jeunes filles francophones de Toronto
• President of the Groupe jeunesse francophone de Toronto
• Director of the women's magazine Taloua, which targets young women belonging to ethnic and cultural minorities in the Toronto area
• President of Ontario Youth Against Racial Discrimination

Maxim Jean-Louis

• President and chief executive of Contact North, a distance education and training network composed of over 145 access centres in some 100 rural and remote communities
• President of the Collège des Grands Lacs in Toronto
• Chair of the Comité directeur francophone pour le développement de la petite enfance en Ontario
• Member of the Comité d'évaluation de projets de l'entente Canada-communauté Ontario

Zaïn Esseghaïer

• Educator (for over 15 years) in Prince Edward Island
• President of the provincial Muslim association
• Spokesperson for the Quinzaine de la Francophonie in 2001
• Special projects consultant to the Commission scolaire de langue française de l'Île-du-Prince-Édouard

Renée Champagne

• Vice-president for college and community affairs of the Collège Boréal in northeastern Ontario
• Member of the advisory committee on French-language services of the Ministry of Community and Social Services of Ontario
• Co-president of Sudburyneweconomy.com
• Former vice-president of the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada

Luketa M'Pindou

• Coordinator of the Alliance-Famille agency of the Alberta Society, whose purpose is to enhance Canadian cultural diversity, especially in the areas of education and crime prevention
• Member of the steering committee of the organization Building Healthy Immigrant Families and Communities
• Member of the organizing committee for Alberta's Franco-fête

Lise Ouellette

• Coordinator of research and innovation at the Université de Moncton (Shippagan campus)
• Former director general of the Partenariat Acadie-Haïti
• Former president of the Société des Acadiens et Acadiennes du Nouveau-Brunswick

Michelle Angela Rakotonaivo

• Marketing, strategic planning and international trade consultant
• Advisor to the Fédération des francophones de la Colombie-Britannique
• Treasurer and responsible for newcomers with the Association francophone de Surrey, of which she is a past president
• Founding member of the Club Lion Montréal-Madagascar

 
STEERING COMMITTEE CO-CHAIRS

Marc C. Arnal

• Executive assistant with the Alberta Teachers Association in Edmonton
• Former regional director (1984-1991) for Alberta and the Northwest Territories with the Secretary of State Department (now known as the Department of Canadian Heritage)
• Member of the executive board of the Mahatma Gandhi Canadian Foundation for World Peace
• Chair of the executive board of the Peikoff Chair of Deafness Studies at the University of Alberta

Rosaline Frith

• Director General of the Integration Branch at Citizenship and Immigration Canada, responsible for the settlement and citizenship programs.
• She has been a federal public servant for over 25 years

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