Welcome to the Francophone Affairs Program of the government of British Columbia.
The Province works with the Francophone and Francophile community to build a strong and collaborative relationship. There are more than 290,000 French speakers in B.C. and the province B.C. is home to more than 40 Francophone associations.
Program Benefits
The activities undertaken by the government of British Columbia between 2006 and 2009 included:
- Creation of two bilingual social support worker positions at La Boussole in Vancouver working with the homeless and persons with special needs.
- Societé Inform’Elles Society received a $50,000 contribution from the Province in 2008 to support its work delivering outreach and counselling services for French-speaking B.C. women.
- Recruitment of skilled workers in France under the Provincial Nominee Program, and an increase in the provision of Settlement Services for French-speaking newcomers.
- Translation and promotion of the B.C. HealthGuide and other health information materials such as BC HealthFiles, 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games
- Two bilingual French/English coordinator positions at Provincial Language Services to improve access to health services in French.
- Participation with the BC Francophone community and the Quebec Government to celebrate the 150th anniversary of British Columbia and the 400th anniversary of Quebec City. This included Francophone artists and performers from B.C. and across Canada at the Francodome – a mobile geodesic dome that travelled across the country featuring many ways in which French speaking cultures have contributed to the building of British Columbia and Canada.
Federal-Provincial Partnership
The activities of the B.C. Francophone Affairs Program are supported through the Canada - B.C. Co-operation Agreement on Official Languages (PDF, 295KB).
The current two-year agreement was signed on April 6, 2009 by British Columbia’s Minister of State for Intergovernmental Relations and the federal Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages.
In conjunction with the two year agreement, the Francophone Affairs Program has developed a two year strategic plan that includes objectives and priorities relevant to British Columbia’s French speaking community, and were identified as part of the a consultation process held in fall 2008.
Joint Federal-Provincial News Release, Apr. 6, 2009
2009-2011 Canada-BC Cooperation Agreement on Official Languages
The agreement focuses provincial activities in a number of priority areas:
· Health
· Economic Development
· Social Services
· Justice
· Arts and Culture, and,
· Communication, Information and Consultation.
