ACTUELLEMENT AFFNO AVRIL 2015

Page 9

Le boom s’en vient — est-ce-que
le nord-ouest est prét?

seront affecté.

Et si cela est le cas, AFFNO
doit étre prét pour une aug-
mentation rapide de Franco-
phones dans le nord-ouest.

Pourquoi? C’est une ques-
tion d’immigration. Le gouver-

coin,’ et oui, ils ont raison.
Mais si le projet de LNG regoit
l’approbation, ce n’est pas
seulement Kitimat qui sera
affecté. Prince Rupert, Terrace,
Smithers, d’ailleurs n’importe
ou dans le nord-ouest — tous

par Patrick Witwicki

st-ce qu’on est prét
pour le boom?
Les gens de

Kitimat sont probablement en
train de dire ‘Eh, attendez, le
boom est déja arrivé dans notre

nement du Canada a changé les
réglements ol c’est maintenant
plus difficile pour les immi-
grants de venir travailler (et
vivre) au Canada ... avec deux

exceptions.
Voyez “Vancouver” a la page 18.

Northwestern B.C. better get ready for the boom

tions where it’s now harder for
immigrants to come and work
(and live) in Canada ... with
two exceptions. If these im-
migrants can speak (and write)
English or French (or both),
they can fill out an online
profile and write a language
proficiency test. Then, based
on their profile and scores,
these candidates get ranked

Rupert, Terrace, Smithers —
heck, the entire Northwest will
be affected.

And if this does happen,
AFFNO needs to be ready for
a sudden increase of new Fran-
cophones in the Northwest.

Why you ask?

It’s regarding immigration.
The Canadian government
recently changed the regula-

by Patrick Witwicki

re we ready for the
An:
Kitimat residents
are probably going “Uh, wait a
minute, the boom already hap-
pened here in our town,” and
yeah, they have every reason
to say so. But if LNG gets the

green light, it won’t be just
Kitimat who is affected. Prince

Le CPF de Prince Rupert... et Bingo!

Tout le monde
s’amusait pendant
la nuit du bingo
bilingue, qui a été
célébré pendant la
semaine nationale
de immersion
frangaise a l’Ecole
Roosevelt, Prince
Rupert, le 25
février. Les parents
ainsi que les
entreprises locales
ont amassé $510
pour la bourse
offerte par le CPF
(Canadian Parents
for French) Prince
Rupert.

Submitted photo

against others in their group,
and they can get, in jargon,
‘An Express Pass’ to come to
Canada and work.

This past November, during
the Rendezvous of Presidents
in Vancouver, Mr. Matthieu
Brennan, a research consultant
for the government, explained
many of these new regulations
to all of the associations. He
also warned us to be ready for
an increase of Francophones
in B.C.

Thankfully, we already
have a partnership with Hecate
Strait and Work B.C. - orga-
nizations that assist with new
immigrants here in Prince
Rupert; that said, we need
to start talking with other
similar organizations in Ter-
race, Kitimat, and Smithers
in preparation for the boom.
Francophones will be arriving
looking for all kinds of help,
and our members, throughout
the Northwest, will need to be
ready to offer a hand, even if
it’s as simple as introducing
the new Francophones to their
communities.

Even if LNG doesn’t hap-
pen, there are other projects
that are getting underway in
the north (like the 2nd phase of
the port, for example) so, we
need to be ready.

Take a look at the ad on
page 17 that explains what we
are doing here in Rupert; and
we need to find ways of offer-
ing similar services throughout
the Northwest.

We don’t have a choice
here. The boom is coming.