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 2009 and 2011 included:
- Francophone women have support systems and counselling available in French.
- Two bilingual social worker position were maintained to serve Vancouver’s homeless Francophones (Downtown Eastside mainly) and Francophones considered as being “at risk”.
- A position responsible for co-ordinating access to and availability of French language services in the health sector was provided by the province to Francophone citizens.
- Francophone economic development was stimulated by business networking events and promotion initiatives.
- The Hello-BC tourism website and vacation planner were translated for the first time into French.
- Since 2002, the Province has proclaimed March 20th as B.C. Francophonie Day.
- Co-operation with the members of the Ministerial Conference on the Canadian Francophonie, the Government of British Columbia, the federal government and the Francophone community to organize the Canadian Francophonie Day during the 2010 Olympic Games.
Federal-Provincial Partnership
The activities of the B.C. Francophone Affairs Program are supported through the Canada – British Columbia Co-Operation Agreement on Official Languages 2011-12 – 2012-13.
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 2010.
The agreement focuses provincial activities in a number of priority areas:
· Health
· Economic Development
· Social Services
· Justice
· Arts and Culture
· Communication, Information and Consultation.
