A year ago, I was in Whitehorse, at your Annual General Meeting of the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne (FCFA). I told you then how important it was that the action plan the Government of Canada was preparing for official languages be inspired by the broad orientation that you and your partners in Quebec’s Anglophone communities have communicated to us after a year of consultations and dialogue.

I reflected on the year of consultations that had just taken place, and indicated the general direction of the action plan. I said it would be developed around three pillars: education, community development and the federal public service. I emphasized the extent to which, in your paper entitled Des communautés en action¹, you had focussed on the implementation of an accountability framework, and I promised that the Government’s action plan would include such a framework, which would serve as an ongoing reminder to federal public servants and ministers that linguistic duality is a priority.

On March 12, 2003, at the Cité collégiale, here in Ottawa, the Prime Minister of Canada, the Right Honourable Jean Chrétien, the President of the Treasury Board and I launched the Action Plan² you now know well. It was a truly festive occasion, the end result of the work to which we had all devoted so much energy.

But was it really the end result? No, in actual fact it was a beginning, or as the title of the Plan indicated, a next act, a new momentum for Canadian linguistic duality. Today, one year after Whitehorse, here again at your Annual General Meeting, to which you do me the honour of inviting me once again, I am not saying: mission accomplished! Rather, I am saying: we are clear on the mission, now we need to accomplish it!

1. The first one hundred days of the Action Plan

A five-year action plan can last only 1,826 days (including February 29 in the leap year!). That is all the time we have to achieve our objectives. In fact, that’s not quite accurate: 101 days have already passed since March 12. So we have only 1,725 days left!

The Government has not been idle during those first 101 days. Internally, first of all, we have done a lot of work, among ministers, among officials, and among ministers and officials, not just here in Ottawa, but throughout Canada.

The Group of Ministers Responsible for Official Languages, which I chair, has met. It includes my colleagues who are spearheading the initiatives in the Action Plan – the Honourable Anne M^cLellan, Minister of Health, the Honourable Sheila Copps, Minister of Canadian Heritage, the Honourable Lucienne Robillard, President of the Treasury Board, the Honourable Allan Rock, Minister of Industry, the Honourable Denis Coderre, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, the Honourable Martin Cauchon, Minister of Justice, and the Honourable Jane Stewart, Minister of Human Resources Development. Other ministers may be added to that core group, depending on the files in their sectors and their implications for official languages.

The Committee of Deputy Ministers on Official Languages (CDMOL) has held two meetings since the launch of the Action Plan, to take stock of its enhanced responsibilities under the accountability and coordination framework. It is especially interested in how to mobilize all institutions, in all sectors and at all levels, for example to promote research on official languages. In that regard, an interdepartmental committee met on June 19 for the first time, in order to define priorities common to all participants, including Statistics Canada, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the departments of Canadian Heritage, Human Resources Development, Citizenship and Immigration Canada and other institutions, such as the Institute for Research on Linguistic Minorities created last year at the Université de Moncton. The members of the CDMOL want to get a better understanding of communities; they know you want to help the Committee in its coordinating function and that you are prepared to share your concerns. We are still in the early stages of implementation, and you can be sure the deputy ministers are open to the idea of meeting with you in the near future.

As you know, the new accountability and coordination framework reminds all federal institutions of their existing obligations. It does so clearly for each part of the Official languages Act. But we know it is not enough to set down those obligations and commitments in black and white; we need to explain them, to talk about them frequently and seize on opportunities of meetings between senior officials and their employees, among representatives of different departments and agencies, and among our offices in every region. That is why we have undertaken to discuss the accountability framework with the federal councils, which are forums for senior officials in every region to discuss the problems in their particular area. I have already talked with the councils in Atlantic Canada and Quebec, and I propose to do so with those in the other parts of the country. That is part of the communications plan we are currently preparing for all federal institutions, which will be distributed starting in the fall. We do not want to leave anything to chance.

You know that the funding announced in the Action Plan has to be allocated in accordance with strict rules for Treasury Board submissions. That process, although it may seem bureaucratic, is indispensable to the sound management of public funds. The measures considered in each sector are subject to that inevitable approval process. As a result, the administrative justification for the funding provided has monopolized a great deal of our efforts since March 12. That key first step has been taken or soon will be for all initiatives. The analysis of the deliverables and the means planned for achieving them will help get everything up and running smoothly in the coming weeks. All departments have now completed their Treasury Board submissions for receiving the funding in the Action Plan allocated in this year’s Budget. You should know that preparing those submissions is no small task.

We have also been in touch with our provincial partners, because a lot of what is in the Action Plan will not get done without them.

In addition, we are now having an intense dialogue with you. In recent months, I have had the privilege of meeting with many of you, for example at a round table with the Fédération acadienne de la Nouvelle-Écosse, as well as with the Fédération canadienne des enseignantes et enseignants at a symposium with school principals, French-language school boards, the Vice-Rector of the University of Ottawa, the President of York University, the Principal of Glendon College in Toronto, the Commissioner of the National Film Board of Canada, the Premier of Nunavut and many of my provincial or territorial counterparts, and with Dr. Adam and her staff. I also presented the Action Plan to the Standing Committees of the House and the Senate on official languages. We need to strike while the iron is hot, and build on the momentum we have created to make a good start on implementation.

2. The blueprint for implementing the Action Plan

To succeed, we will need determination, but we will also need to be well organized. We need a blueprint. I would like to describe it, as I see it, for the elements of the Action Plan that will concern you the most in the coming months. This will help you to establish good contacts with each of the departments concerned, because they plan to act quickly.

2.1. The accountability and coordination framework

The accountability framework will affect all federal departments and agencies, under the coordination of the Privy Council Office (Intergovernmental Affairs) and with the expertise of the Justice Department. Some measures in the accountability framework are already operational or are about to be so, including the systematic review of the "official languages" dimension of memoranda to Cabinet and other Cabinet documents and the review of initiatives, programs and directions to determine legal implications. Other measures are planned for the end of the month, and others for the fall. By that time, the accountability framework will be fully in effect.

I especially draw your attention to the enforcement provisions set out in article 17 of the framework, which require institutions to take account of official languages in all their planning. They include raising employees’ awareness of the needs of minority communities, analysing potential implications of policies and programs at every stage, and consulting with all affected publics; they also mention the need to show how communities’ needs have been examined and considered. The Government is currently finalizing a background paper that will explain that process and give examples of its application to actual files.

The Accountability Framework also provides for annual consultations between the Government of Canada and communities, in addition to those you hold regularly with individual agencies and departments. A preliminary consultation was held in that connection with representatives of Francophone and Anglophones communities on May 26 and 29 respectively.

We are currently preparing for the major consultations for Year 1 of the Action Plan, which will take place starting in the fall.

2.2. Education

My colleague the Honourable Sheila Copps, Minister of Canadian Heritage, will be responsible on behalf of the federal government for renegotiating existing agreements with the provinces and territories at the current funding level, and for bilateral negotiations in the context of two new targeted funds, one for minority French- or English-language education ($209 million) and one for second-language instruction ($137 million). Negotiations are proceeding apace on renewing the MOU with the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada, which expired in March 2003; interim measures are currently in place. Discussions have begun on the negotiation of agreements for allocating the new targeted funding, with the objective of concluding the negotiations by next winter.

As you can see, you have no time to lose: do not delay in setting your own priorities and communicating them to your Ministry of Education. By working together, we will have the best chance of selecting the most promising projects for high-quality, accessible education that are relevant to community and cultural life, in accordance with the directions of the Action Plan:

assistance starting in early childhood,

school proximity,

quality of minority-language education,

student retention in the Francophone system at all levels,

second-language instruction.

 

2.3. Early childhood

The Department of Human Resources Development is currently preparing new initiatives, including:

French-language family literacy ($7.4 million over five years), to train specialists who will then teach daycare educators and other community stakeholders;

research on the influence of daycare services on young children’s cultural and linguistic development ($10.8 million); and

support for national advocacy organisations for minority official-language communities in the early childhood development field ($3.8 million).

We need to ensure that literacy teaching materials are ready, prepare to select five pilot projects where research on daycare services will be focussed, and inform eligible organisations of the prevailing funding criteria. A workshop by the Commission nationale des parents francophones was held at the beginning of the month, at which the program objectives were discussed. So we are laying the groundwork which will, in addition to the Treasury Board submission, guarantee our success.

2.4. Health

As you know, the health component of the Action Plan consists of a total investment of $119 million over five years, divided among the following three priorities:

training, recruitment and retention of health professionals ($75 million, including $63 million for Francophone communities), notably to train over 1,000 professionals capable of practising in French;

networking ($14 million, including $10 million for Francophones), to ensure liaison between health managers and professionals, specialized teachers and all community members; and

primary health care ($30 million, including $20nbsp;million for Francophones), for care better adapted to your realities, within the provincial and territorial systems. (Funding will come from the envelope of the Primary Health Care Transition Fund earmarked for minority official-language communities, which first ministers agreed on in 2000).

Health Canada, led by the Honourable Anne M^cLellan, is doing everything necessary to ensure a contributions program is up and running in the coming months. Already, a Francophone consortium is bringing together 12 educational institutions; together with the Department, they are working to develop contribution agreements for Phase 2 of the Centre de formation en santé project, expanded to other regions of the country – as we had hoped. On the Anglophone side, McGill University is currently the hub for activities, with the support of the Quebec government. So that is the "training and retention support" component of the contributions program.

In addition, pending Treasury Board approval, Health Canada will negotiate an agreement with the Société Santé en français, for Francophones, and another with the Quebec Community Groups Network, for Anglophones, to maintain or create networking units, under the "networking support" component of the aforementioned contributions program. The $30-million envelope earmarked for primary care, which will be in addition to the current funding, is designed to provide care better adapted to the realities of minority official-language communities in every region of Canada.

There is every indication that the necessary agreements will be in place within a year. While the department is preparing the ground, work is continuing with the advisory committees

for minority Francophone communities and Anglophone communities. Our efforts and yours are converging.

2.5. Justice

You will recall that the federal government is allocating $45.5 million over five years in the justice sector, for action at two levels:

Meeting the legal obligations stemming from the implementation of the Legislative Instruments Re-enactment Act and the Federal Court ruling on the Contraventions Act case ($27million).

Access to the justice system in both official languages, through an $18.5-million investment in projects with partners (both governmental and non-), stable funding for jurists’ associations in your communities, the creation of a consultation mechanism for communities, and training tools for legal counsel assisting federal institutions on language rights.

Regarding the Contraventions Act, an agreement has been signed with Ontario. There is a need to amend the existing agreements with five provinces (Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Quebec, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick) and conclude new ones with the other provinces and territories. For the Legislative Instruments Re-enactment Act, the nature of the work is different. We need to inventory all legislative instruments and identify those that could be struck down because they were enacted in only one language. The coordinating team should begin work in September 2003.

On enhancing access to services, funding terms and conditions are about to be submitted to Treasury Board, and management of the National Program for the Integration of Both Official Languages in the Administration of Justice (POLAJ) has been transferred to Justice Canada. A training plan for legal counsel has been prepared.

2.6. Immigration

The Honourable Denis Coderre told you yesterday of what he plans to do to encourage more immigrants to settle in Francophone communities like yours. The Action Plan earmarks $9 million to that end, over five years.

2.7. Economic development

The Industry Minister, the Honourable Allan Rock, and the four secretaries of state for regional development, together with the Minister of Human Resources Development, the Honourable Jane Stewart, have set three common objectives in the area of economic development and employment for communities:

Increase communities’ capacity to participate in the knowledge economy, mainly through funding of 200 new projects under the Francommunautés virtuelles program ($13 million).

Offer business internships to community youth (around $7.3 million reallocated from existing programs and $2 million in new funding), and provide improved access to e-training ($10 million over five years).

Enable communities to benefit from existing programs, by providing information and consulting services on-site ($8 million over the life of the Plan).

We expect to be able to fund new Francommunautés virtuelles projects starting in January 2004. For internships and training, the departments are working with their university and college partners and the private sector; some pilot projects are already on the table and over the coming months more information will be available on how to submit such proposals. For on-site information services, Industry Canada’s regional offices have undertaken to staff new positions by December 2003. It is planned to use mechanisms well-known to you (the coordinating groups on economic development and employability (RDÉEs) and the Community Economic Development and Employability Committees (CEDECs), sectoral tables, and other structures put in place by the regional development agencies) to maintain an effective dialogue with you, in the communities.

I could go on at great length in describing everything the Government plans to do in the coming months, but I think you get the message: the Action Plan will not be an abstract document, it will be a tangible reality that will be characterized by our teamwork. So build on your contacts with all the departments, provide them with your views, your projects, your priorities, with precision and conviction, as usual! And do not hesitate to contact me if I can be of help to you.

There is one last thing I want to say in conclusion. Many of you have expressed your concerns about the future of the Action Plan under another prime minister, other than Jean Chrétien, with a new Cabinet. I do not share those concerns for two reasons. First of all, I believe that the Liberals will win the next election, if I may be so partisan. Second, I know the three candidates vying to succeed Jean Chrétien. Sheila Copps, who has headed up Canadian Heritage for seven years now, has devoted her boundless energy to the cause of official languages, and French in particular. She has been of invaluable assistance in preparing the Action Plan, and she believes in it wholeheartedly. John Manley, at Finance, found the funding required because Canada’s linguistic duality is part and parcel of his vision of Canada. And I know the same holds true for the frontrunner, Paul Martin, who said in the debate in Charlottetown³ that he endorsed the Action Plan for Official Languages 100%.

I can understand your concern: someone like Jean Chrétien, the champion of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, cannot be replaced. But he can be succeeded, and the person who will succeed him will be a Liberal convinced of the need for Canada to support its linguistic duality, a Liberal determined that the commitments the Government has made to you will be kept. Yes, the Government of Canada will be for you, as it says in the Action Plan, "an effective partner, present and participating."⁴

1. Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada. Des communautés en action : politique du développement global à l’égard des communautés francophones et acadiennes en milieu minoritaire, unpublished document, May 2002.
2. Canada, Privy Council Office. The Next Act : New Momentum for Canada’s Linguistic Duality. The Action Plan for Official Languages. Ottawa, 2003.
3. Liberal Party of Canada leadership debate, Charlottetown, May 24, 2003.
4. The Next Act, p. 48.