Minister Verner Comments on the Latest Report of the Commissioner of Official Languages
OTTAWA, May 9, 2006 - Josée Verner, Minister of International Cooperation and Minister for La Francophonie and Official Languages, received with interest the latest annual report from the Commissioner of Official Languages and will carefully evaluate the recommendations that it contains.Based on the initial information received, Minister Verner said: "Our Government is committed to strengthening cooperation with provincial and territorial governments and to carrying out constructive dialogues with official language minority communities in order to promote the use of French and English in Canadian society. In fact, I recently began a series of visits across Canada with that objective in mind."
"In addition, during the first 100 days of our mandate, we have concluded multi-year education agreements worth over $1 billion with provincial and territorial governments, as well as enhanced agreements on service delivery with 12 provinces and territories."
"Our Government's support for the recently amended Official Languages Act is absolute and demonstrates its commitment to full recognition of linguistic duality. This will have an influence on future actions."
Information:
Clément Bélanger
Press Secretary
Office of Minister Verner
819 997-6919
Donald Boulanger
A/Chief, Media Relations
Canadian Heritage
819 994-9101
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