Transforming Plans Into Action
PIER 21, HALIFAX, March 30 /CNW Telbec/ - The Honourable Joe Volpe,
Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), launched Towards
Building a Canadian Francophonie of Tomorrow, a document that outlines
progress made on projects designed to attract, welcome and integrate
immigrants to Francophone Minority Communities outside Quebec. It also
includes plans for continued work in 2005 and 2006.
"Linguistic duality is a core value of Canadian society. Through
immigration, we want to help Francophone minority communities prosper and
grow. We have made a lot of progress over the last few years and would like to
thank all of our partners, particularly the Fédération des communautés
francophones et acadienne du Canada, for their hard work in helping us move
forward," said Minister Volpe. "The summary released today is a solid example
of how we can reach our objectives if we all work together."
The initiatives described in the summary stem from the release of the
Strategic Framework to Foster Immigration to Francophone Minority Communities,
launched in November 2003 by the CIC-Francophone Minority Communities Steering
Committee. The Strategic Framework is contained within the Government of
Canada's Action Plan for Official Languages, launched in March 2003. The first
objective in this framework is to increase the number of French speaking
immigrants to 4.4 % by 2008.
"I am happy to report that we have surpassed our goal. In 2001, 3.1% of
immigrants outside Quebec spoke French. In 2004, this percentage increased to
4.9%," said the Honourable Mauril Belanger, Minister responsible for Official
Languages, who also attended today's event. "Through hard work and dedication,
we hope that this percentage will continue to rise each and every year. I am
also looking forward to the release of the Steering Committee's five-year
action plan which will further support the development of Francophone minority
communities in Canada."
For more information on what CIC is doing to foster immigration to
Francophone minority communities and/or to learn more about the document
released today, please visit the "What's New" section of Citizenship and
Immigration Canada's Web site at www.cic.gc.ca
For further information: Stephen Heckbert, Director of Communications,
Office of the Minister, (613) 954-1064; Maria Iadinardi, Media Relations,
Communications Branch, (613) 952-0740; Orli Namian, Director of
Communications,
Office of the Honourable Mauril Bélanger, (613) 299-6422
