DARTMOUTH, NOVA SCOTIA, May 23, 2003 – Speaking at a symposium on the creation of a French-language health network for Nova Scotia, the Honourable Stéphane Dion, President of the Privy Council and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, presented the health component of The Action Plan for Official Languages, on behalf of the Minister of Health, the Honourable Anne McLellan.

Mr. Dion first traced the background of the events leading up to the development of this component, highlighting the collaboration that helped bring it into being. Pointing out the role played by numerous stakeholders in that regard, including the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne (FCFA), the Minister stated that it is the concerted efforts and a steadfast will to provide linguistic minorities with health services in their own language which explains the existence of the health component. "If we had not undertaken all those studies together, all reformulations and answered tough questions, if we had not had all those exchanges, we would not have succeeded."

Minister Dion then noted that the health component comprises an overall investment of $119 million over five years, focussing on three priorities: 1)  training, recruitment and retention of health professionals; 2) networking; 3) primary health care.

Mr. Dion explained that under the Action Plan, minority Francophone and Anglophone communities will share $75 million over five years, allocated to the training and retention of health professionals. In addition, $14 million over five years will be devoted to networking, which will help channel the energies of institutions, health professionals and communities in favour of health service delivery in a patients’ official language. Finally, $30 million from the Primary Health Care Transition Fund will be invested in the envelope reserved for minority official-language communities, of which $20 million will go to Francophones and $10 million to Anglophones.

The Minister also expressed in these terms how proud he is to see the culmination of a long-term project benefiting official-language minorities throughout the country: "This story, which began in 1998, has shown how effective cooperation can lead to an initiative designed with communities, for communities. It is not easy, it calls for a lot of perseverance, as governments are beset on all sides by pressing needs and do not have the resources to address all of them. The politicians you elect and the public servants who support them, with whom you have been working for a number of years, genuinely want to make real, lasting progress. Continue to help them to help you. On the health front, you have done so in an exemplary fashion. The end result is truly an example for us all," Mr. Dion concluded.

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