March 1, 2021
Province Releases Annual Report on French-Language Services
– – –Strategic Plans are Delivering Positive Results: Squires
The Manitoba government has released its 2019-20 annual report on French-language services and continues to show improvement in services offered to francophones, Families Minister Rochelle Squires, minister responsible for francophone affairs, announced today.
“This latest report demonstrates that we are continuing to improve French-language services and that public bodies’ French-language service plans are effective,” said Squires. “We are strengthening our bilingual capacity, enhancing consultation with the community, increasing awareness of the concept of active offer within Manitoba’s public service and implementing strategies to better support all those who prefer French as their primary language.”
Squires noted the 2019-20 annual report builds on the foundation laid by the 2018-19 report, which marked the first time all public bodies had developed and implemented multi-year strategic French-language service (FLS) plans.
The annual report outlines measures that public bodies have taken in 2019-20 to enhance services in French and support the community. It covers three main priority areas:
• providing services based on the concept of the active offer,
• building bilingual capacity, and
• consulting with the community.
The report shows public bodies have made progress in raising awareness among staff about the active offer and French-language training, and in encouraging staff to attend this training. As a result, the overall number of employees who have completed active offer training increased by 72 per cent compared to the previous year, and registrations for French-language training are up by 17 per cent.
Compared to 2018-19, there was a slight increase in Manitoba’s overall bilingual capacity. Departments saw a decrease of one per cent in their number of designated bilingual positions, but Crown organizations and other reporting agencies saw an increase of four per cent in their overall bilingual capacity.
The report notes a little over two dozen complaints were deemed as valid, with the majority of complaints related to the lack of active offer or French-language information, as well as issues with the quality of services provided in French.
With the goal of continuing to improve bilingual services, the report includes recommendations regarding changes to administrative procedures as well as the development of corporate policies that support the continued progress on French-language services in Manitoba.
“Our government is committed to protecting and enhancing French-language services in Manitoba,” added Squires. “I look forward to using this report’s recommendations to help build an even stronger future for the French language in our province.”
The full report is available at https://www.gov.mb.ca/fls-slf/pdf/annual_report_2019_20.pdf.
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