Ottawa, April 27, 2023—Canadian Parents for French welcomes the Government of Canada’s new Action Plan for Official Languages 2023–2028: Protection-Promotion-Collaboration, launched on April 26 by the Minister of Official Languages, Ginette Petitpas Taylor, accompanied by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. It was with great interest that CPF learned of the details of the plan that will unfold over the next five years.
The Action Plan 2023–2028 builds on the previously established objective to increase the bilingualism rate of the Canadian population to 20% by 2036. The investments focus on four pillars. Pillar 2: Promoting Lifelong Learning Opportunities features investments supporting French second-language learning and supporting FSL teacher recruitment and retention. Once again, an increase of core funding for community organizations will assist CPF in moving forward with our mandate of furthering bilingualism by creating and promoting opportunities for youth to learn and use French. We are also pleased to see successful, existing programs expand their program scope to include immersion schools.
CPF recognizes the tremendous work that has been done by Minister Petitpas Taylor, her team and her government. These historic new investments of an additional $1.4 billion will have a significant positive impact on the ground. During the launch, the Minister underlined the importance of the contributions of community organizations in the strengthening the vitality of French in Canada.
“The federal government listened to FSL community stakeholders. We are particularly pleased with this Action Plan’s emphasis on diversity, inclusion, and equity. There is a real opportunity within this plan for organizations supporting FSL learning such as CPF, to lay the groundwork to further and normalize official language bilingualism in Canada,” stated Derrek Bentley, CPF National President.
CPF notes that the provincial and territorial governments will receive significant amounts under this Action Plan, for the delivery of French-second-language education. CPF looks forward to being part of the conversation, to being consulted and to working with the provinces and territories to invest these funds efficiently to meet the needs of the largest number of families possible.
The Action Plan is available online: https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/official-languages-bilingualism/official-languages-action-plan/2023-2028.html.
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Canadian Parents for French is the national network of volunteers which values French as an integral part of Canada and which furthers bilingualism by creating and promoting French-second-language learning opportunities for young Canadians.
For more information, please contact:
Marcos Salaiza, Communications Manager
Tel: 613.235.1481 x222 Email: msalaiza@cpf.ca
