Fédération des francophones de la Colombie-Britannique

Annual Report 2002-2003

> AT the Federal LEVE!, continued

FFCB Response to the Annual Report of
the Commissioner of Official Languages

As she does every year, this past fall the
Commissioner of Official Languages, Dyane
Adam, submitted her Annual Report on
service delivery. The Fédération des francopho-
nes de la Colombie-Britannique attended a
presentation by the Office of the Commissioner
in which the main results were made public.
The FFCB agrees with Ms. Adam’s findings
that, although there has been much progress
made by the federal government, it is still slow
and sporadic.

The FFCB supports the report’s recommenda-
tions on allocating necessary funding to solid

actions, such as implementation of the Dion
Plan, as well as to providing adequate
resources to the Treasury Board so that it can
fully realize its role and have a presence in
the regions.

However the FFCB was disappointed to read
in the report that much of the analysis relates
to initiatives implemented in Ottawa that
have not yet fully reached the regions. The
Fédération believes that there should be
more focus on the regions and encourages
Commissioner Dyane Adam to ensure that
policies developed in Ottawa are actually

implemented across the country. In previous
reports, regional details were included,
providing solid data for the province as a
whole. The Fédération would like to see this
formula reinstated.

The FFCB also noted that out of the 22 recom-
mendations published in the Commissioner’s
report in April 2001, she reported on only
four being effective this year. Ms. Adam was
disappointed that such measures as increasing
the number of bilingual civil servants and
reinstating language aptitude tests have still
not been implemented.

The Fédération and the Dion Plan

Those behind the plan from left to right:

Claude Provencher (President of the FFCB), Stéphane Dion (Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs),

Yseult Friolet (Executive Director of the FFCB), Robert Asselin (Special Advisor to Minister Dion),

surrounded by representatives from French organizations throughout the province.

On March 12, 2003, the government revealed
its official languages action plan, more
commonly known as the Dion Plan. The FFCB
reacted positively to the federal government’s
plan, as it takes into consideration the needs
and requirements of minority communities
through the granting of new monies in the
order of $751.3 million over five years. This

action plan covers areas of major concern to
minority community development and will
result in more meaningful results in priority
areas such as education.

For the FFCB, this is the first time in a very long
time that the government has been granted
the means to take effective action on official

languages with a solid action plan that covers
everything from healthcare to early childhood
development, immigration and justice.

In addition to the funding that has been
announced, the FFCB is pleased to see the
implementation of an accountability frame-
work and the maintaining of a position of
minister responsible for coordinating official
languages. These elements are in keeping
with FFCB recommendations, and the Plan’s
provisions will help ensure the future of
linguistic duality in this country.

Minister Dion presented his Plan at a luncheon
organized by the Fédération at the Maison de
la francophonie on March 14, 2003 where he
met with thirty people representing provincial
Francophone organizations.