Fédération des francophones de la Colombie-Britannique

Annual Report 2002-2003

> COMMUNICATIONS, continued

Le Cornouiller d’or Prize

During the Francophone celebration of la
Journée de la francophonie on March 20, 2002,
the Fédération des francophones de la
Colombie-Britannique announced the creation
of a new award to recognize the work of
federal and provincial government officials
who have made exceptional contributions
to the development of the Francophone
community in British Columbia.

Any government employee working for any
federal or provincial ministry, department
or institution whose actions over the course of
the year have contributed to the development
of the Francophone community in British
Columbia, is eligible for the Le Cornouiller
d’or award.

The Cornouiller d’or was awarded for the first
time this year on March 12 and the recipient
was Jean Laberge.

La Fédération des
ones de la

Claude Provencher (President of the FFCB)
and Jean Laberge, the first recipient of the

Cornouiller d’or award.

Mr. Laberge has been an information officer
and portfolio manager with Western Economic
Diversification at Industry Canada since 2000.

In his position, he is responsible for energizing
the economic development of the minority
Francophone community in British Columbia.
Among other things, Mr. Laberge is a member
of the Official Languages Sub-Committee
created in 1996 by the Pacific Council of Senior
Federal Officials. He is also facilitator of the
retention program, whose primary goal is to
encourage development and retention of the
French language. These informal meetings
bring together bilingual employees
within WED as well as various
other partners who share the same
goals regarding French.

Mr. Laberge’s role is that of facilitator,
whether the issue at hand relates to
operating budgets or budgets for spe-
cial projects.

Overview of the 57th Annual General Meeting

The 57th Annual General Meeting of the
Fédération des francophones de la C.-B. took
place in Richmond from June 7 to 9, 2002.
The theme for the meeting was: let’s celebrate
our successes!

Representatives from all Francophone associa-
tions across the province met over the
weekend to discuss a variety of issues
that are significant for the Fédération and
its members. Specifically, there was discussion
around healthcare, immigration, and the
Treasury Board’s pilot project to enhance
French-language services in federal institutions.

The Fédération took advantage of the meeting
to present a summary of the work done by
the media advisory committee. The member-
ship passed two recommendations that
concluded the media committee’s work: that

the Fédération . . . continue to lobby for access
to signal throughout the province and that, in
order to reflect our community, the Fédération
ask Société Radio-Canada to take steps to
increase coverage of the Francophone reality in
British Columbia.

During the meeting, the membership accepted
a new member, the Association des francopho-
nes et francophiles du Nord-Ouest, which
represents the towns of Kitimat, Smithers,
Terrace and Prince Rupert.

The Fédération board of directors was also
voted in during the meeting, with Antonine
Parenteau as Vice-President, Pierre Blouin as
Treasurer, Edith Bouchard as Director for
Southern British Columbia, Lise Leblanc-Quinn
as Director for Vancouver Island and Pierre
Senay as Director for Great Vancouver.

AFFNO represented by Emmanuel Cenitagoya (on the left),

Administrator and Diane Dessureault (on the right),

Coordinator of AFFNO.