Roadmap for Canada’s Linguistic Duality 2008-2013: Acting for the Future
In collaboration with the Official Languages Secretariat , Canadian Heritage
In June 2008, the Government of Canada released the Roadmap for Canada’s Linguistic Duality 2008-2013: Acting for the Future. This Roadmap demonstrates the government’s commitment to linguistic duality and to the vitality of official-language minority communities. This unprecedented, government-wide investment of $1.1 billion over five years, divided among 13 departments and federal agencies, will encourage linguistic duality among Canadians, and offer support to official-language minority communities with increased government support in five priority areas: health, justice, immigration, economic development, and arts and culture. In this last area, the Government will establish a Cultural Development Fund and will launch a new program, Music Showcases for Artists from Official-Language Minority Communities.
The Roadmap also provides additional funding to enable all Canadians to benefit from linguistic duality. For example, the Government will provide all Canadians with free access to the Government of Canada Language Portal, and a National Translation Program for Book Publishing will be put in place to increase the availability of books in both official languages. Another step taken was to request that the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) report on the accessibility and quality of broadcasting services offered to minority French- and English-language communities. These are but a few examples of how the Roadmap charts the course the Government intends to follow over the next five years to build on Canada’s solid foundations. The Roadmap targets five areas of action:
- emphasizing the value of linguistic duality among Canadians;
- building the future by investing in youth;
- improving access to services for official-language minority communities;
- capitalizing on economic benefits; and
- ensuring efficient governance to better serve Canadians.
The Roadmap reflects the results of the Government of Canada’s consultations, as well as the work of other key stakeholders such as official-language minority communities, parliamentary committees and the Commissioner of Official Languages. The Government of Canada will work with partners and key stakeholders, which also include provincial and territo-rial governments and all Canadians, to implement the Roadmap for Canada’s Linguistic Duality in Canada so people across the country may benefit from it.
Roadmap for Canada’s Linguistic Duality 2008-2013: www.pch.gc.ca/pgm/slo-ols/strat-eng.cfmLanguage Rights Support Program
In collaboration with the Official Languages Support Programs Branch , Canadian Heritage
In June 2008, Canadian Heritage announced the creation of the new Language Rights Support Program, through which the Government of Canada will invest $1.5 million annually. The program stresses better understanding of language rights and focuses on mediation and consensus-based decisions to facilitate amicable agreements. It has three components: promoting awareness of language rights, dispute settlement, and support for litigation when test cases are involved and mediation efforts have failed. Implementation will be entrusted to a public agency independent of the government, such as a university, to ensure impartiality. A committee of experts will be responsible for selecting cases to be funded. Funding for the new program comes directly from the Development of Official-Language Communities Program of the Department of Canadian Heritage. The first cases are expected to be considered during 2009.
Francophonie research network
In collaboration with Martin Durand, Canadian Heritage
It was during the congress of the Association francophone pour le savoir (Acfas) — the most significant French-language event for scientific disciplines in May 2008, in Quebec City, that the Réseau de la recherche sur la francophonie canadienne held its annual symposium. This year’s theme for the research network’s gathering was Vues d’ici et d’ailleurs : minorités linguistiques et francophonies en perspective, a review of local and other language minorities and French-speaking minority communities. It emphasized a comparative approach in considering its own situation in relation to other linguistic realities: international comparisons, comparisons between components of French-speaking minority communities in Canada, and comparisons between French-speaking minority communities and Quebec’s French-speaking community.
The opening address was delivered by the Rector of the Agence universitaire de la francophonie, Bernard Cerquiglini, and some 50 participants gathered to hear him discuss the challenges diversity presents for the French language. During the two days of the symposium, some 30 Canadian and foreign researchers presented the results of their work. Representatives of the Canadian Institute for Research on Linguistic Minorities, the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages, Canadian Heritage, the Association des universités de la francophonie canadienne and the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada took part in the symposium. Canadian Heritage also made a contribution to the organization of this event. The University of Ottawa will host the Acfas congress in May 2009.
Website of the association, Acfas : www.acfas.ca/
Official languages in research
In collaboration with Adel Ghié, Justice Canada
The Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada (FCFA) met with Justice Canada representatives to discuss research on official-language minority communities.
Empirical research and statistical analyses are conducted for Justice Canada by its Research and Statistics Division, which looks into a variety of issues. Following the meeting with the FCFA, the Division will consider the possibility of including an official languages dimension in its research projects, with an emphasis on linguistic minorities. This is the approach most consistent with the request from the FCFA and the role of the Department in the field of research. In 2008-2009, the Department will be exploring ways of incorporating the official languages “lens,” through discussions within the Department and with the FCFA.
The Research and Statistics Division also provides technical and analytical support to the Francophonie, Justice in Official Languages and Legal Dualism Group at Justice Canada in reviewing data from Statistics Canada’s Survey on the Vitality of Official-Language Minorities (SVOLM).
Bilingualism in a plurilingual Canada
In collaboration with Sylvie Rochette, Canadian Heritage
In order to promote excellence and innovation in bilingualism and language acquisition, the University of Ottawa established a facility for research and reflection: the Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute (OLBI). The OLBI held its inaugural symposium on June 19 and 20, 2008, on the theme “Bilingualism in a Plurilingual Canada: Research and Implications”.
During the symposium, more than 200 teachers and researchers came to learn from some 70 Canadian researchers who submit-ted the results of their work on second official languages and linguistic duality. Many of these research projects were funded through the Official Languages Research and Dissemination Program, a joint venture of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and Canadian Heritage.
The opening lecture was delivered by Joseph Sheils, who heads the Language Policy Division of the Council of Europe, and came to share the European experience in language policy design. Mr. Sheils made particular reference to the nearly 40-year process followed by the 47 European countries in developing the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages to describe various levels of language proficiency. This practical tool is now being studied in Canada with a view to possible adoption.
The themes of the symposium, reflected in individual papers, roundtable discussions and seminars, included the peculiarities of language teaching, the social, political and cultural realities of teaching French as a second language in Canada, future directions for that activity, and implementation of language rights and language policy. After two days of intensive discussion, Stacy Churchill, Researcher Emeritus of the OLBI, delivered the closing address and invited participants to ponder the many issues surrounding official languages in a plurilingual Canada.
Following the symposium, the research findings presented will be summarized and included in a special issue of the Canadian Modern Language Review. Various documentary resources video-tapes, audio files, PDF files, digital slide shows, newsletters, flyers and brochures will be included in a dissemination project led by the Canadian Association of Second Language Teachers, the Canadian Parents for French network and the OLBI.
The symposium was funded by Canadian Heritage, the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages and the Faculty of Arts of the University of Ottawa.
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