HALIFAX, September 13, 2007 – The Honourable Josée Verner, Minister of Canadian Heritage, Status of Women and Official Languages, and Glenn Hart, Minister responsible for the Government of Yukon's French Language Services Directorate, today signed a new agreement on French-language services. Under the agreement, the Government of Canada will contribute $3.5 million and the Government of Yukon will contribute $442,000 over two years.

"I am pleased that Canada’s New Government and the Government of Yukon will continue working together to help members of the Francophone community in the Territory live, work, and grow in French," said Minister Verner. "This agreement demonstrates the commitment of our two governments to work cooperatively to ensure that the Francophone community in Yukon has access to quality services in priority areas."

"We are very happy with this agreement," said Minister Hart. "As the Government of Yukon has shown by creating the French Language Services Directorate in 2006, we are dedicated to providing services that meet the needs of our French-speaking citizens. This agreement allows us to continue improving those services."

Canada and Yukon have had agreements to support French-language services since 1988. With this new agreement, the Government of Canada is helping the French Language Services Directorate implement the Yukon Strategic Plan on French Language Services 2007-2009. Through this plan, the Government of Yukon has identified many new measures and targeted priorities to enhance French-language services to its Francophone community.  These include developing guidelines on bilingual positions and French-language training within government, and increasing and updating the French content of the government's websites.

Canada's New Government is providing this financial assistance through the Department of Canadian Heritage's Development of Official-Language Communities Program. The program focuses on the creation, enhancement, and delivery of activities and services for official-language communities in minority situations to ensure their long-term development.

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(This news release is available on the Internet at http://www.canadianheritage.gc.ca/ under Media Room.)