June 18, 2021
Ministers' Council on the Canadian Francophonie Meeting - June 17 and 18, 2021
The Honourable Rochelle Squires, Minister responsible for Francophone Affairs, participated in the annual Ministers’ Council on the Canadian Francophonie (MCCF) meeting, which was held virtually on June 17 and 18, 2021, under the theme “Building our Francophonie.” The MCCF is the only intergovernmental collaboration forum tasked with promoting the Canadian Francophonie and increasing government services in French.
Ministers agreed that the project to modernize Canada’s Official Languages Act provides an opportune moment for all levels of government to work together in a renewed partnership to support the ongoing development of the Francophonie, and they reiterated their commitment to identify and prioritize their activities over the next two years to best support the enhancement of services in French.
Minister Squires took the opportunity to discuss Manitoba’s priorities for its Francophone community at this meeting. She shared concerns with colleagues about a variety of issues, ranging from the importance of bilingual communications during the pandemic to the role the Francophonie can play in the economic recovery.
“I was delighted to be asked to chair a new working group looking at interprovincial mobility and the obstacles French-speakers often face when trying to get their professional accreditation recognized as they move across the country,” Squires said. “Our government has long said that our Francophone community brings added value to our provincial landscape, and I am pleased that my colleagues around the table are equally keen to protect and promote French from coast to coast to coast.”
The next meeting of the MCCF is due to take place in June 2022, in Saskatchewan.
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The Province of Manitoba is distributing this news release on behalf of
the Ministers’ Council on the Canadian Francophonie.