> AT The Provincial LEVE, continued

Federal-provincial agreement

The Canada/British Columbia General
Agreement on the Promotion of Official
Languages, signed in April 2001, created a
formal link between the British Columbia
government and the Francophone community
and provided a mandate for the provincial
government to coordinate activities for
the benefit of British Columbia’s 63,000
Francophones. The federal government’s con-
tribution to the BC government is $1.5 million,

which is added to the $750,000 contributed by
the province under the terms of the agreement.

This three-year agreement expires on March
31, 2004. A new round of consultations will
take place in 2003 in partnership with the
Fédération des francophones de la Colombie-
Britannique in order to update the provincial
government’s plan and renew the agreement
with the federal government.

Journée de la francophonie

On March 20, 2003, Francophone organiza-
tions and agencies got together to promote
Francophone culture to the general public at
the Central Library in Vancouver. They were
sponsored by Canadian Heritage, federal
departments, and the provincial govern-
ment’s Bureau of Francophone Affairs. As an

organization representing the Francophone
community in British Columbia, the FFCB
took part in the event and was able to
introduce the community, Francophones
and the major issues it is working on as
defined by its members.

From left to right:

Michelle Rakotonaivo (Member of the Board of Directors, FFCB), Danielle Chaussé (Administrative Assistant, FFCB),

Louise Goulet (Director, Canada-British Columbia Agreement on the Promotion of Official Languages).

Activities funded by the
Canada/B.C. General Agreement
and carried out in partnership
with the FFCB

> In the health sector, the Canada/B.C. General
Agreement on the Promotion of Official
Languages has funded the translation of a
variety of resources, such as the BC Health
Guide and 25 healthcare leaflets. It has also
provided support to the provincial French
healthcare roundtable.

> On the justice front, a joint project with the
Ministry of the Attorney General, the FFCB
and the Conseil scolaire has increased the
number of French-speaking jurors from 135 to
approximately 335.

>» On the immigration side, the provincial
government has funded and worked with
the FFCB, Immigration Canada and MCAWS
(Ministry of Community, Aboriginal and
Women’s Services) to begin a study into
Francophone immigration in Vancouver.

>» The Bureau of Francophone Affairs has
supported the FFCB initiative to offer post-
secondary education in French at Simon Fraser
University. This initiative led to the signature
of a memorandum of understanding between
the FFCB and the university.

» In preparing the new agreement, the
province attended FFCB consultative meetings
on the global development plan with the
Francophone community. This participation
included determining priorities for the contin-
uation and renewal of the Canada/B.C. General
Agreement on the Promotion of Official
Languages.

» The FFCB is satisfied with the 2002-2003 list
of activities supported by the General
Agreement. The Fédération has noted that the
vast majority of its recommendations to the
Agreement’s advisory committee in June 2001
were followed by the provincial government.