Horizontal initiative - Roadmap for Canada's Official Languages 2013-18

Canadian Heritage

Official Languages

Support for minority language education

$265,024,040

$53,004,808

$53,004,808

(This amount represents only a portion of the Canadian Heritage’s investment)

Offer of provincial and territorial programs and activities to provide education in the language of OLMCs

The Department manages 13 bilateral agreements on education with provincial and territorial governments to support education in the language of the OLMC.

These agreements have helped almost 240,000 young Canadians in minority communities study in their language in more than 900 schools across Canada and supported the work of 40 minority-language school boards and 39 minority-language post-secondary institutions in all regions of Canada.

The Program continues to negotiate on the next Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the 2018-2023 Minority-language education and second-language learning with the Council of Ministers of Education. Following the MOU approvals, the Program will initiate and conclude the 13 bilateral agreements on education and services.

Canadian Heritage

Official Languages

Support for second-language learning

$175,024,040

$35,004,808

$35,004,808

(This amount represents only a portion of the Canadian Heritage’s investment)

Offer of provincial and territorial programs and activities related to learning English and French as second official languages, at all levels of education.

Canadian Heritage’s investments support provincial and territorial governments offer programs and activities that have helped 2.4 million young Canadians to learn French or English as a second language in majority schools, including more than 356,000 young English-speaking Canadians learning French in immersion programs.

Canadian Heritage

Official Languages

Summer language bursaries

$36,604,830

$7,320,966

$7,320,966

(This amount represents only a portion of the Canadian Heritage’s investment)

Offer of summer language bursaries

The Destination Clic program enabled 140 young Francophones from official-language minority communities (OLMC) to improve their first official language while discovering other French-speaking communities in Canada.

The Explore program enabled 7,057 young Canadians to take part in a summer program to learn their second official-language or perfect their skills.

Canadian Heritage

Official Languages

Official- language monitors

$18,604,825

$3,720,965

$3,720,965

(This amount represents only a portion of the Canadian Heritage’s investment)

Offer of official-language monitor positions

The Odyssey program enabled 301 young Canadians to work as second-language assistants in schools across Canada, or to work as French-language assistants in minority-language schools.

Canadian Heritage

Attachment to Canada

Exchanges Canada

$11,250,000

$2,250,000

$2,250,000

(This amount represents only a portion of the Canadian Heritage’s investment)

Exchanges Canada continues to provide funding to youth-serving organizations, many of whom provide Canadian youth with experiences in their second official language. A portion of Exchanges Canada program resources is dedicated to organizations that deliver bilingual youth forums and exchanges, such as the Society for Educational Visits and Exchanges in Canada (SEVEC).

In 2015-2016 (most recent participant data available*), the Exchanges Canada Program offered opportunities for over 12,500 Canadian youth to participate in exchange and forum activities, many of which gave the youth a chance to practice and improve their second official language while connecting with other young people from different parts of the country. For example, Experiences Canada delivered close to 2,485 bilingual youth exchanges, where groups of Canadian youth who spoke primarily one official language were twinned with another group who spoke primarily the other official language. Additionally, Experiences Canada delivered 306 official-language minority community (OLMC) exchanges, where one or both groups of youth from an OLMC were twinned together in an exchange in their first official language (for example, a Francophone group from Manitoba and a Francophone group from Quebec were twinned together for a French- language exchange).

*Results from the final reports for a specific fiscal year are only made available the following fiscal year.

The statistics provided here reflect the most recent results available, but 2016-2017 results will not be available until December 2017.

Health Canada

A healthcare system that responds to the needs of Canadians

OLMCs’ Development

Training, networks and access to health services (education component)

$106,500,000

$21,733,333

$21,733,333

Increased access to bilingual health professionals and intake staff in OLMCs.

In 2016-2017, as part of the Roadmap for Canada ‘s Official Languages 2013-2018, Health Canada provided financial support to community institutions and organizations (e.g., SSF, ACUFC / CNFS, McGill University, CHSSN) through the Official Languages Health Contribution Program. These organizations implemented a range of initiatives in the following areas: (1) training of bilingual health personnel, (2) development and dissemination of knowledge and (3) increased access to health services. The impacts of these initiatives include an increase in the availability of health service providers to meet the needs of official language minority communities, enhanced mechanisms for providing effective health services for these communities, and improved understanding and measurement of health circumstances and challenges. Below are concrete examples of the impacts / successes of these initiatives:

• With regard to training, in 2016, 860 students graduated from the 100 French-language academic health programs funded by Health Canada in 11 colleges and universities located outside of Quebec. These graduates have increased the availability of health professionals to meet the needs of official language minority communities in Canada.
• In 2016-2017, the McGill School of Continuing Education launched its customized online English language training for health and social service providers with a target of 1,500 registrations annually. Actual participation rates will be reported in McGill’s program progress report to be issued in September 2017.
• For the 2016-2017 academic year, totaling over $171,000 were issued by the CNFS-University of Ottawa, for research projects, dissertations, theses, and summer bursaries projects (in French only) to improve the health of French linguistic minorities in Canada.
• In February 2017, the Consortium national de formation en santé (CNFS) in collaboration with the University of Ottawa organized the second national conference on mental health entitled "Puiser à même ses racines" (in French only). The conference was retransmitted by videoconference in over 20 institutions across the country. The conference made it possible to explore different themes related to mental health in French linguistic minority communities.
• In 2016, the University of British Columbia developed the E-Tips for Practice Education project to provide free training support for supervisors working in practice education. The training consists of eight online, open-access, inter-professional modules that can be completed independently at the learner’s own pace. Translation of the modules into French (E-Tips en Français) was made possible with financial support from the “Supporting the Workplace” program of Quebec’s Ministry of Education, Sport and Leisure and the McGill University Training and Retention of Health Professionals Project funded by Health Canada.
• In September 2016, with financial support from Health Canada, McGill University allocated $175,000 in bursaries to approximately 20 students from selected Quebec regions with identified English and French language needs. Students pursuing full-time studies in health and social service programs committed to returning to a Quebec region to work for a minimum of one year in a public health and social services institution, thus improving access to bilingual health services and to promoting health care in French and English among young professionals and within the population.
• With financial support from Health Canada, the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada continued in 2016-2017 its partnership project with Société Santé en français, Consortium national de formation en santé and Médecins francophones du Canada to engage French-speaking medical students in 14 English-language faculties of medicine located in 8 provinces across Canada to meet the needs of Francophone minority communities. The project has resulted in the creation of 14 faculty-community liaison committees in each university, the identification of 578 Francophone and Francophile learners identified across existing undergraduate medical education programs in 2015, 156 new Francophone and Francophile learners identified entering these programs in 2016, the implementation of 50 learning and networking activities across these faculties (e.g., French medical terminology, knowledge of official language minority communities, networking and internships with Francophone clinicians), and the development of an online English-French toOLBox containing learning resources.
• With financial support from Health Canada, in 2016, the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada (Projet Franco Doc) was successful in identifying, mobilizing, preparing and equipping 160 Francophone and Francophile medical students from 14 English-language faculties of medicine located in 8 provinces for experiential internship activities in official language minority communities. Networking activities, presentations on the services provided by Francophone community health networks and cultural activities have been provided to the learners. With these learning opportunities the project helps increase the learner interest and engagement toward francophone communities to provide health services in French.
• In 2016, McGill launched an English training tool in the field of health to enable health professionals to intervene effectively with English-speaking communities in Quebec. This training meets the linguistic needs of three professional fields: health workers, social service workers and administrative and reception staff. Adapted to the needs of the environment, this program takes into account the diversity of the professional fields, the geographical disparity and the multiple time constraints of the participants.

Overall, the funding provided under the Roadmap to support Health Canada’s Official Languages Health Contribution Program remains one of the main success factors for these initiatives.

Justice Canada

Stewardship of the Canadian Legal Framework

Networks, training and access to justice services (education component)

$18,936,200

$3,770,919

$3,665,226

Canadians have access to a criminal justice system in the official language of their choice

Through the Support Fund, the Department provided funding to 48 projects in 2016-2017, increasing the capacity of the justice system and its stakeholders to offer justice services in both official languages and increasing access to legal information on rights and obligations in official language minority communities.

For the Education component:

• Fourteen projects supported training for justice professionals such as provincially-appointed judges, provincial crown attorneys, probation officers, legal aid lawyers, judicial interpreters and clerks, resulting in an increased capacity of justice professionals to respond in a time sensitive manner to judicial demands for services in both official languages.
• Four projects contributed to the development of an academic curriculum for bilingual students interested in pursuing a career in the justice sector, thereby increasing the number of justice professionals that will be able to offer services within official language minority communities in both official languages.
• Six projects focused on developing linguistic training tools, including the Jurisource.ca portal which provide legal and jurilinguistic resources to justice professionals working with official language minority communities. These projects will give access to tools to justice professional to help them improve their capacity to offer justice services in both official languages.

Justice Canada

Internal Services

Networks, training and access to justice services (education component)

$63,800

$11,781

(PSPC accommodation charges excluded)

$12,760

(PSPC accommodation charges excluded)

N/A

N/A

Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC)

Terminology Standardization Program

Language Portal of Canada

$16,000,000

$3,250,000

$3,229,964

• Develop new content (quizzes, articles, headlines) to help Canadians communicate better in both official languages.
• Post articles written by Canadian contributors, including articles from OLMC.
• Conduct promotional activities by various means, including Portal ambassadors and social media (Twitter, LinkedIn).
• Complete the migration of the Portal content to the Canada.ca website and complete the total revamping of the Portal.

• Over 400 new content items, including language-related quizzes, articles and headlines.
• 5.1 million page views for the Language Portal of Canada.
• 20 articles written by external contributors.
• Promotional activities: national publicity campaigns (Google Adwords and Twitter Poll Ads); presentations, cross-promotion and networking activities of various sorts; promotion in social media (approximately 2500 messages published in Twitter and Facebook, and 7600 Twitter followers).
• Promotion of the Language Portal Ambassadors initiative, which gives ambassadors a way to promote the Portal within their professional and social networks (over 250 ambassadors have been recruited to date).

Tasks related to the Language Portal’s redesign: migration of the Language Portal of Canada content to the Canada.ca website; preparation of a language blog (to be launched in 2017); ongoing improvement of the Language Navigator, a search engine that searches in 22 000 web pages dealing with difficult points of language.

National Research Council (NRC)

Technology Development and Advancement

Information and Communications Technologies

Strengthening the language industry and technologies

$10,000,000

$2,000,000

$2,000,000

PORTAGE translation software commercialization

• An improved version of the Portage machine translation technology incorporating deep learning will be released in 2016: PORTAGE II-3.0. This will be licensed to at least the current three commercial clients (CLS Lexi-tech, Traductions Serge Belair, and Silex Créations) via our reseller, Terminotix Inc.
• The Portage on Civil Servants’ Desks (POCSD), a joint project between the NRC, the Translation Bureau, and Shared Services Canada, will continue in 2016-17. The objective is to develop and make available a specially customized version of the Portage system for English-to-French and French-to-English translation to all federal public servants. The second phase, to be done in 2016-17, will be for the Translation Bureau to post-edit Portage’s machine translations for a small number of public servants (100-200) for initial tests.

Accomplishments in Machine Translation

• In July 2016, NRC released the latest version of its machine translation software using deep learning: Portage II 3.0.
• During the previous year, NRC built eight versions of Portage for the Courts Administration Service (CAS). It was found that the use of Portage to produce first-draft translations of legal documents typical of those handled by CAS improved productivity by an average of 45%.
• In January 2016, the Translation Bureau rolled out a version of Portage called the “Language Comprehension Tool” and made it accessible to employees of several federal departments and agencies. By March 2017, there have been 597,361 requests for translation to the system: 68.6% from English to French, 31.4% from French to English.
• Environment Canada’s MÉTÉO system, which translates weather reports from English to French and from French to English, is powered by Portage. These systems have replaced older machine translation (MT) systems.
• The Portage software continues to be in daily use at two of Canada’s largest translation agencies: CLS Lexi-tech and another major agency in Montreal (125 employees, 53 million words a year translated) that has asked to remain anonymous.

Work on improving public health by deploying natural language processing technologies

Global Public Health Information Network (GPHIN, with PHAC): NRC launched its health surveillance tool for global news media in August and continues to develop it to cluster and sequence individual news articles from around the world into topical threads that track emerging health emergencies over time. The system includes automated categorization and annotation of documents in ten languages; machine translation; information extraction to support epidemiological record-keeping (including time and geography); summarization (single- and multi-document); detection of duplicate and near-duplicate information; change point detection; and tools for basic interactive data visualizations.

Maritime Surveillance

• NRC has significantly improved the recognition accuracy of the maritime Named Entity Recognizer for boat names.
• NRC has developed a system to accurately recognize complex temporal mentions ("Monday,  March 3", "tomorrow", "a week from Tuesday").

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC)

Newcomers Settlement and Integration

Language training for economic immigrants

$120,000,000

$24,000,000

$24,000,000

(This reflects only a small portion of IRCC’s investment for the Language training for economic immigrants.)

In 2016-2017, IRCC will continue to foster the acquisition of language skills of economy immigrants in both official languages through the standardization of tools and greater consistency, and an effective use of technology.

For 2016-17, in provinces and territories outside of Quebec, preliminary data indicate that 40,369 economic immigrants (unique clients) were enrolled in Language Training and they represented 36% of total clients who used Language Training. (Source: IRCC, Settlement Service, April 2017 data).

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC)

Newcomers Settlement and Integration

Immigration to OLMCs (including Support to Francophone immigration in New Brunswick)

$29,398,470 *

$6,100,000

$6,061,138

(This reflects only a small portion of IRCC’s investment for the Immigration to OLMCs)

In 2016-2017, IRCC will continue to:

• Conduct promotion and recruitment activities in Canada and abroad, primarily through an expansion of frequency and locations or current targeted promotion and recruitment event including Destination Canada Job Fair;
• Provide settlement services to French-speaking clients;
• Coordinate, consult and collaborate with key stakeholders; and
• Conduct strategic data development as well as research and develop knowledge sharing projects for immigration to both FMCs and English-speaking communities in Quebec (ESCQ).

In addition, IRCC will invest $1M to support the integration of French-speaking immigrants in New Brunswick in 2016-2017. As IRCC is moving toward a more standardized approach at the national level, ongoing investments will aim for a more consistent approach to foster immigration to FMCs across the country.

Promotion and recruitment

Mobilité francophone stream

The Mobilité francophone stream was launched on June 1, 2016, after consultations with Francophone Minority Communities (FMCs). This International Mobility Program stream is designed for foreign skilled workers who have been recruited through a Francophone immigration promotional event coordinated between the federal government and FMC stakeholders and who are destined to work in a province or territory outside of Quebec. The Mobilité francophone stream exempts employers from the Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) process when they hire French-speaking temporary workers in managerial, professional and technical occupations and skilled trades outside of Quebec.

The individuals with a Mobilité francophone temporary work permit should be able to acquire valuable Canadian work experience, which will then help them qualify for permanent resident programs and increase the likelihood that they will be invited to apply for permanent residence in the Express Entry system.

Facilitating entry for these workers under this International Mobility Program stream supports the development of FMCs and strengthens the social and cultural fabric of Canadian society, while respecting the federal, bilingual and multicultural character of Canada.

From June 1, 2016, to April 30. 2017, IRCC and the Canada Border Services Agency received 684 work permit applications and 131 work permit extension applications under the Mobilité francophone exemption, for a total of 815 applications received.Of the applications that were processed, the approval rate was 86%.

Express Entry

In November 2016, improvements were made to the Express Entry system that benefit both French-speaking and English-speaking foreign nationals:

• Awarding of job offer points to eligible temporary workers in Canada on work permits exempted from a LMIA.
• Change in the duration of a job offer to a minimum of one year once permanent residence is obtained.
• Reduction in job offer points to allow a better balance in the Comprehensive Ranking System.
• Awarding of points for Canadian post-secondary education (including to former French-speaking international students).
• Increase in the period from 60 to 90 days to complete an application for permanent residence after receiving an invitation to apply.

Since these changes were implemented in November 2016, it is still too early to observe their impact on the Express Entry system. However, IRCC anticipates that the changes will benefit French-speaking candidates in Express Entry.

In addition, IRCC anticipates that the LMIA exemption in Express Entry for temporary workers in Canada under Mobilité francophone and the additional points for Canadian post-secondary education will incentivize more French-speaking foreign nationals to submit an Express Entry profile. This could result in more highly-skilled French-speaking foreign nationals being issued an invitation to apply and then settling in Canada outside Quebec.

Promotion and recruitment abroad

The 12th Destination Canada event was held in Paris from November 15 to 17 and in Brussels on November 19, 2016. This forum, which facilitates discussion and exchanges, gave candidates the tools to understand immigration programs, find out about opportunities and services in FMCs across the country, explore the labour market, and learn about available services for preparing their departure and settling into their new life in Canada. The announcement about improvements to the Express Entry system reinforced the message of openness toward highly qualified French-speaking or bilingual immigrants who will now receive points for a work permit with the Mobilité francophone stream.

• Participants: 12,760 people applied to participate in Destination Canada; 4,704 were invited (3,562 in Paris and 1,142 in Brussels); 3,588 took part (2,743 in Paris and 845 in Brussels); In addition, between 75 and 300 Internet users took part in each of the workshops available via webcast.
• Canadian participants: 65 people from Canada attended, including:
  • provincial and territorial government representatives;
  • representatives from Francophone member organizations of the Federation des Communautés francophones et acadienne (FCFA) and from the Réseau de développement économique et d’employabilité (RDÉE Canada);
  • representatives of the Association des collèges et universités de la francophonie canadienne (ACUFC) and the Fédération nationale des conseils scolaires francophones (FNCSF);
  • employers present and represented
  • recruitment firms;
  • IRCC’s International Network representatives; and
  • a representative from the Vancouver Economic Commission for the “Vancouver: It’s Your Move to Make” initiative.
• Partners:
  • Public employment services were able to promote their free services offer available throughout the year to Canadian employers and recruiters. The French and Belgian services pre-selected candidates from job offers posted on the Destination Canada site.
  • Independent organizations that offer language testing in English and French accepted by IRCC for federal Permanent resident programs were also present: the Chambre de commerce et d’Industrie in Paris for the Test d’évaluation de français (TEF) (French language assessment) and the British Council for the International English language testing system (IELTS).
  • L’Express, which will publish its 10th special edition of S’installer au Canada in 2017, is Destination Canada’s media partner and Expat.com is the social network partner.
• Job postings: 235 job descriptions were posted on the Destination Canada site, representing more than 1,000 job openings, including a large number in the early childhood, information technology and multimedia sectors, the hotel and restaurant industry and in skilled trades.
• Presentations: This 12th edition featured a larger, more diverse array of workshops with stakeholders from several provinces/territories and testimonials from people having worked or settled in Canada. Most of the sessions were also available via webcast.

In addition to Destination Canada, the visa offices in Paris, Dakar, Tunis, Rabat, London and Mexico City participated in and/or organized many activities promoting Francophone immigration and Express Entry in their respective countries of responsibility (France, Belgium, Switzerland, Tunisia, Morocco, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, United Kingdom, Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic). These activities involved participation in shows and forums and the organization of information sessions in person or via web conference to educate potential French-speaking immigrants about Canadian Francophonie outside of Quebec.

In 2016–17, Paris organized 62 information sessions in France, Belgium, Switzerland and Spain, attended by a total of 2,400 people.

In total, in 2016, the visa offices in Dakar and Rabat met in person with more than 2,890 participants. Visa offices are organizing more and more information sessions via web conferencing, which makes it possible to reach a large number of candidates from around the world while reducing costs.

The visa offices in Paris, Tunis, Rabat and Dakar, as well as Employer Liaison Network (ELN) officers, took part in the second Salon virtuel de l’emploi event organized by RDÉE Canada and Recruitment & International Mobility Inc. (eRIM). This type of activity makes it possible to reach a larger international audience and establish contact with Francophone employers and organizations across Canada.

The Mexico City visa office remains active in terms of promoting Francophone immigration with the Tres Idiomas program.

Other missions, such as Algiers and London, are starting to organize activities promoting Francophone immigration on a more regular basis. In 2016, the mission in Algiers organized information sessions on Express Entry focusing on the requirements for French-speaking immigrants.

IRCC is also supporting provincial initiatives such as Destination Acadie—a promotional activity aimed at recruiting French-speaking immigrants—which is organized by the Atlantic provinces and coordinated by the Société nationale de l’Acadie (SNA).

Promotion, recruitment and mobilization in Canada

IRCC, through its visa offices in Dakar, Paris, Rabat and Tunis, collaborated with many stakeholders (FCFA, Francophone Immigration Network [FINs], RDÉE, provinces and territories, public employment services abroad) to establish an efficient promotion and recruitment strategy for Francophone immigration in OLMCs. In Canada, the officers of IRCC’s International Network at missions abroad pursued their outreach activities with the OLMCs in partnership with the ELN officers.

In 2016–17, officers from the Paris, Tunis, Rabat and Dakar offices conducted liaison trips to Canada (British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador) in partnership with the FCFA and RDÉE, as well as several local FINs, and in collaboration with ELN officers. The ELN also incorporated Francophone immigration information in their own outreach activities with employers, institutions and other government and industry interlocutors, as warranted.

Communication and promotion tools

• IRCC has prepared, in partnership with the FCFA, a travelling exhibit that is going to be presented at different strategic locations across the country in order to promote the existence of FMCs. This bilingual exhibition illustrates important steps in the history of Francophone immigration in Canada, as well as testimonies by French-speaking newcomers who have settled within a FMC.
• IRCC improved the navigation structure, simplified the language and redesigned a webpage to provide information targeting the Francophone immigration audience specifically, (Canada.ca/francoimmigration). The new layout allows easier access to information of interest for French-speaking immigrants as well as to employers interested in hiring them.
• Eleven videos related to Francophone immigration that were hosted on IRCC’s website were moved to IRCC’s YouTube channel in 2016 in order to take advantage of the platform’s larger bandwidth. These videos have been viewed for a total of 122,600 times, about 50,400 times in English and 71,200 in French.
• IRCC was very active on social media in 2016-17, particularly in promotional campaigns on Facebook and Twitter during the week of Francophone immigration and the Journée internationale de la Francophonie and issued several messages on social media to promote immigration to FMCs.
• IRCC’s Facebook channel, created and used by the Department to promote all its activity sectors since December 2014, now has 560,000 followers.
• IRCC’s Twitter account, also launched in December 2014, now has 97,000 followers.
• Social networks are an information medium for communicating promotional activities, dialoguing with French-speaking candidates, showcasing Francophone services and organizations in Canada and publicizing Canada’s immigration programs. The @DestCan Twitter account supports promotion and recruitment activities by sharing information on immigration programs, the job market and opportunities in Canada, specifically in FMCs.
• The Paris office develops promotion content on Francophone immigration for the social networks of Canadian missions in other French-speaking nations. In France, immigration is the primary topic of content shared on the Embassy’s social networks. A Facebook account was launched in September 2016 to promote Destination Canada’s mobility forum. The page has 3,000 followers.

Messages on Facebook and Twitter and the YouTube videos were crafted to increase awareness among potential French-speaking immigrants about the existence of FMCs to encourage more French-speaking newcomers to settle in these communities.

Canada-New-Brunswick Immigration Agreement

In 2016-17, IRCC worked with representatives from the Government of New Brunswick to finalize negotiations of the Canada-New Brunswick Immigration Agreement, which includes a “French‑speaking Immigrants” Annex. This Annex, signed on March 30, 2017, sets out bilateral collaboration with respect to promotion and recruitment, selection and integration of French-speaking immigrants in New Brunswick. It also acknowledges New Brunswick’s unique linguistic character and recognizes the mutual interest in maximizing the contribution of French-speaking immigration in order to achieve the social, demographic and economic goals of both Canada and New Brunswick. This Annex also aligns with IRCC’s efforts under the Government of Canada’s Roadmap for Canada’s Official Languages 2013‑18, as well as the New Brunswick Population Growth Strategy 2013-18.

Memorandum of Understanding (MOUs) with the Government of New Brunswick

In Atlantic Canada, IRCC signed two Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with the Government of New Brunswick. Through these MOUs, IRCC partially funded two projects aimed at enhancing the vitality of OLMCs. Although the MOUs were signed with the Province of New Brunswick, the projects benefited the four Atlantic provinces.

• The first project provided funding to cover promotion/advertising for Destination Acadie which is a promotion and recruitment event taking place abroad (Morocco). The event is for individuals wanting to know more about immigration, travel, business or studies in the Acadian regions in Atlantic Canada.
• The second project, called Stratégie de positionnement, which is in its second phase, is with the Office de mobilité internationale en Acadie (OMIA). The aim of this project is to promote various possibilities, including education, employment and entrepreneurship for young French‑speaking immigrants to Acadian regions in Atlantic Canada. In addition, it is meant to encourage them to start the permanent residence process.

Settlement

Francophone Immigration Networks (FIN)

IRCC continued to provide funding to the 13 FIN to participate in a multitude of events to raise awareness in Francophone stakeholders and the community of the benefits of the successful integration of French-speaking immigrants. For example:

• On October 31, 2016, FIN-Eastern Ontario, in collaboration with Equity Ottawa and several partners, organized a diversity and equity forum which opened a collective dialogue on the integration of French-speaking newcomers in Ottawa. The FIN presented the challenges of Francophone immigration to the region through round table discussions and testimonials.
• The annual forum on March 23 and 24, 2017, entitled: “La grande séduction : ensemble pour des communautés plus accueillantes et plus inclusives.” was an opportunity to reflect and discuss an action plan to contribute to efforts to make communities more inclusive and engaging for French-speaking immigrants in Eastern Ontario.
• On October 18, 2016, the RIF-Eastern Ontario hosted an event in Kingston entitled "Little Things Matter." The guest of honor was Mr. François Boileau, French Language Services Commissioner. The purpose of this meeting was to discuss the active offer and how organizations can become more welcoming places for French-speaking people through small actions that make a big difference.
• In Northern Ontario, a statistical report was prepared by a consultant to identify the characteristics (country of origin, culture, religion, education level, employment needs, etc.) of the newcomers in this region. The report will allow for a better understanding of the particular needs of the newcomers.
• Francophone communities in Ontario expressed their desire to help welcome Syrian refugees following the announcement of the federal government. The FINs played a significant role in making sure the Northern Ontario community’s desire was realized.
• The Northern Network helped to establish a collaboration between the Collège Boréal and the Sudbury community health centre in order to offer its new settlement services in the centre of the Sudbury community.

Contribution agreements with Francophone Services Provider Organizations (SPO) in New Brunswick

In Atlantic Canada, IRCC funded nine francophone contribution agreements in New Brunswick from the Roadmap for Canada’s Official Languages envelope.

The delivery of settlement services to French-speaking newcomers, included four Francophone and five bilingual recipients in New Brunswick; two Francophone recipients in each of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island and one Francophone recipient in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Joint funding with the Ontario Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration

• IRCC, in partnership with provinces and territories including Ontario, funds organizations so that they can offer newcomers a full range of programs to help them settle into the community. For example, Ontario Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration offers linguistic trainings that completes IRCC’s. The province also offers legal aid and Jobs Ontario.
• IRCC partners with a Francophone SPO in Toronto and Toronto libraries to offer settlement services to French-speaking clients in the libraries (such as Job Fair, orientation services, conversation circles, etc.). This program is very popular with French-speaking youth and is made possible by a collaboration between the municipal government, IRCC and the SPO.

Funding provided to the Conseil de développement économique du Manitoba (CDEM) for administrating two programs

• Through the Entrepreneurship Program, CDEM supports the endeavours of entrepreneurs from international Francophone countries who wish to immigrate or have immigrated to Manitoba’s bilingual municipalities. The CDEM assisted French-speaking immigrant entrepreneurs to create 28 new businesses in Manitoba leveraging $1,150,000 in funding and creating 61 full-time jobs in Winnipeg and rural regions of the province.
• Through “Premier Choix,” CDEM provides support to French-speaking newcomers between the ages of 15 to 30 via a training program allowing participants to acquire the necessary skills (e.g. draft a CV, prepare for interviews, learn employment rights and look for a job) to find and maintain meaningful employment. Success factors for CDEM include strong partnerships with the private sector in FMCs and addressing challenges facing French-speaking youth, such as employment, poverty and crime.

Francophone organization projects in British Colombia (BC) and the Yukon

In BC and the Yukon, IRCC signed four contracts with Francophone organizations with the objective of connecting French-speaking newcomers to the Francophone communities in these regions in order to better foster their integration and increase chances of remaining in the OLMC. Those projects are:

• The development, production and online publishing of a promotional video about the beauty of and opportunities associated with living in BC. Many supporting comments from Francophone organizations in BC have been made. As of January 2017, the video was seen by more than 300 viewers (YouTube) and is also played by different community groups. The video is also promoted on Facebook and Twitter.
• The development of a ‘best practices’ document and associated toolkit that Francophone organizations will be using to develop and improve their own tools, documents and services, and to better integrate and retain French‑speaking newcomers to the FMC in BC.
• The development, organization and presentation of three bilingual Virtual Learning Exchange sessions by webinar showcasing three local Francophone settlement service providers to the settlement community in BC and the Yukon.
• Preparation of the profiles of four French-speaking immigrants to the Yukon who have integrated into the community, as well as the testimonials of two employers. These stories are published on a bilingual web microsite:

Francophone integration services in schools in Nova Scotia

IRCC agreed to add Francophone integration services in schools into its contribution agreement. This change was received positively by the community.

The school integration officer offers sessions for teachers on the challenges of integrating newcomer students, information and orientation sessions for parents and guardians as well as individual and group sessions for students.

Expanded francophone services to Nunavut

IRCC expanded Francophone settlement and integration services to Iqaluit, Nunavut commencing April 1, 2017.

New Settlement Workers in Schools (SWIS) program in Yellowknife

A new Settlement Workers in Schools (SWIS) program has been added and will now be offered to French-speaking newcomers of the community to provide individualized, culturally-appropriate support that is needs-based to empower newcomer students and their families to overcome challenges and integrate successfully into the school system.

Research activities

IRCC launched the Request for Proposals (RFP) 2016-18. This competitive bidding process posted on the “Buy and Sell” website enabled the funding of six research projects (four on FMCs and two on English-speaking Communities in Quebec [ESCQ] on the following subjects):

• Participation of French-speaking Immigrants in Minority Settings
• Settlement and Integration Experiences of French-speaking Immigrants and Refugees from Sub-Saharan Africa
• A Study on French-speaking Refugees in Winnipeg and Saint Boniface
• Access to Employment among Recent French-speaking Immigrants in the Atlantic region
• Re-settlement and Integration Experiences of English-speaking Refugees in Quebec
• Access to Employment among Recent English-speaking Immigrants in Quebec

Once completed, the outcomes of these projects will be shared with academic, government and community partners.

Many initiatives, such as the organization of research meetings, contributed to implementing, maintaining and expanding a network of researchers to develop research projects, and support dissemination as well as knowledge sharing. The submissions received during the last RFP conducted in the summer of 2016 effectively illustrate the scope of the research network established by the research team, both with respect to the number of proposals received (43) and the origin (eight provinces) or affiliations of the researchers involved (over 15 universities or research centres).

As such, many research reports produced with the support of IRCC were shared with research organizations and community partners and posted on the partners’ websites to increase the scope and impact. The stakeholders included P2P, FCFA, Quebec English-speaking Communities Research Network (QUESCREN), ACUFC, RDEE, and Quebec Community Groups Network (QCGN).

By providing valuable information and data to guide policies, programs and initiatives developed by various key stakeholders working within OLMCs, these reports may contribute significantly to the vitality and development of OLMCs.

New definition of a French-speaking and English-speaking immigrant

IRCC introduced, in April 2016, a new definition of a French-speaking and English-speaking immigrant. This new measure provides a number of advantages. It will allow to get a more accurate depiction of the reality of French-speaking and English-speaking immigration at the national and regional levels, to better identify the principal source countries of French-speaking and English-speaking immigration, and to better account for the level of achievement of the various federal targets for French-speaking immigration.

Presentation to Research Matters event

Research Matters presents the results of research projects to governmental representatives and community organizations. The research presentations made by researchers and discussions that follow inform participants on questions and issues related to immigration in OLMCs. It provides an opportunity to learn about recent research, to discuss how research can be used in the Department’s day-to-day policy and program development work, and to better understand and apply the data at our fingertips.

The presentation of the main results of this research and the discussions that followed allowed participants to better understand issues related to that subject. IRCC will benefit from knowledge acquired from this research in the development of policies and programs that meet the needs of OLMCs.

Production and targeted dissemination of the “Facts and Figures”

IRCC annually produces and disseminates the “Facts and Figures” offering data on Official Language Profiles of Immigrants. The information on English-speaking permanent residents in Quebec and French-speaking permanent residents outside Quebec in 2016 offers up-to-date data to those engaged in the area of immigration in OLMCs that can help them in their work and in the achievement of their respective objectives, as well as identify priorities and needs of FMCs and of ESCQ and help identify statistical tendencies that IRCC needs to take into account in order to achieve its objectives.

Canadian Heritage

Official Languages

Support for OLMCs

$22,262,275

$4,452,455

$4,452,455

(This amount represents only a portion of the Canadian Heritage’s investment)

Offer of activities and services designed for OLMCs by community organizations

The department financially supported more than 350 national, provincial and local community organizations working directly on the development and vitality of OLMCs received funding from Canadian Heritage. That support has rendered it possible to:

• offer cultural and educational services to targeted groups, such as parents and youth;
• support over 30 school-community centers, which often represent the main or only gathering place for over 155,000 Francophones who live in areas where access to services and activities in French would otherwise be very limited;
• create activities in several other cultural or community centers;
• hold large cultural gatherings, and also activities at the regional and local levels, as well as fund organizations that support the work of over a hundred community media outlets (radio stations and newspapers).

Canadian Heritage

Official Languages

Intergovernmental cooperation

$22,262,275

$4,452,455

$4,452,455

(This amount represents only a portion of the Canadian Heritage’s investment)

Offer of minority-language services by provincial and territorial governments, in areas other than education

Thirteen bilateral agreements with provincial and territorial governments aiming to provide direct services to the minority-language population in areas other than education, especially in justice, health, culture, economic development and municipal services.

Funding from Canadian Heritage supports the delivery of services offered by provincial and territorial governments, including measures taken to implement the laws, regulations or policies on French-language services outside Quebec and English-language services in Quebec.

Canadian Heritage

Official Languages

Community Cultural Action Fund

$10,000,000

$2,500,000

$2,462,593

Offer of activities and services designed to strengthen and ensure the visibility of OLMCs’ action in the areas of arts, culture and heritage.

The Community Cultural Action Fund (CCAF) is used to support and strengthen cultural activities, arts and heritage of official-language minority communities and ensure the sharing of the richness and diversity of the cultural and artistic expressions of communities. In 2016-17, the Department has invested approximately 2.5 million of dollars in the CCAF which allowed Canadian non-profit organizations and provincial and territorial governments to implement many initiatives for the development of Francophone and Anglophone minority communities in all regions of the country.

Canadian Heritage

Cultural industries

Music Showcases Program for Artists from OLMCs

$5,750,000

$1,150,000

$1,150,000

Some 400 music showcases will be organized and presented offering the opportunity for more than 200 OLMCs artists to perform on stage and for the communities to have access to music in their language.

Contribution agreements between the Department of Canadian Heritage and the two third-party administrators of the Canada Music Fund, FACTOR and Musicaction, have ensured that contributions were delivered to presenters to organize music showcases for OLMC’s artists.

In 2016-17, more than 346 OLMC’s artists performed in over 782 music showcases presented at regional, national and international events, in addition to several touring opportunities. Many music showcases had a digital promotion component associated to it.

Ultimately, since the launch of this initiative in 2008, artists from OLMCs have been exposed to a larger audience while OLMCs have had access to music showcases in their language (regional and national showcases). Specifically, an average of 200 artists and 400 showcases are supported annually compared to only 40 artists and 85 showcases before 2008. As such, there has been an increased access (e.g. consumption) to music of OLMCs artists in many formats (live performance, on-line access, album sales, etc…).

Canadian Heritage

Cultural industries

National Translation Program for Book Publishing

$4,000,000

$800,000

$800,000

Canadian publishers translate Canadian-authored books from one official language to the other

The NTPBP funded the translation of 64 Canadian-authored books from one official language to the other.

Canada Council for the Arts (CCA)

Grants and services to support creation, production and dissemination of arts for individuals and organizations

Market Access Strategy for Artists from OLMCs

$2,750,000

$750,000

$750,000

In 2016-2017, the Canada Council will support:

• Increased public engagement activities, delegations and special initiatives leading to stronger networks and connections with community.
• Increased national and international touring and travel opportunities in order to strengthen existing markets or development new ones.
• New and/or improved professional development opportunities for OLMC artists, leading to stronger market development capacity

In 2016-17, the Canada Council was able to support 32 projects by artists and arts organizations from OLMC communities, developing a mix of local, provincial/territorial, national and international markets for their work.

In 2016-17, 56% of Market Access Strategy grants went to projects that reinforce existing markets, 63% to projects that created new markets, 44% to professional development in market access, and 22% to enhance market readiness. (N.B. – The percentages assigned to each result area total more than 100% as each grant could support multiple result areas. This methodology differs from the one used by the Council in previous years, and better reflects the activities and results of the funding.)

Health Canada

A healthcare system that responds to the needs of Canadians

OLMCs’ Development

Training, networks and access to health services (communities component)

$67,800,000

$15,916,667

$15,796,262

Increased provision of services within health institutions for minority language communities.

In 2016-17, as part of the Roadmap for Canada’s Official Languages 2013-2018, Health Canada continued to financially support community organizations (e.g., CHSSN, SSF) through the Official Languages Health Contribution Program. These organizations continued their partnership initiatives with 38 health networks and project sponsors to improve access to health services in official language minority communities, for example:

• In December 2016, as part of partnerships for the provision of mental health services, the Société Santé en français (SSF) in partnership with Tel-Aide Outaouais, entered into new agreements with four new regions / provinces (Alberta, Northwestern Ontario and Northeastern Ontario, Southeastern Ontario), which currently benefit from empathetic listening services. They have also completed the requirements for Nunavut and are conducting a feasibility analysis for the Yukon.
• The Community Health and Social Services Network (CHSSN) and the SSF along with the 36 English-language and French-language health networks held forums and conferences to promote and improve health services access in the minority language.
• In May 2016, the Réseau Santé en français de la Saskatchewan (RSFS) hosted a Health Forum 2016 entitled “Un réseau santé bien branché…pour une meilleure santé en français!” The Forum was structured around projects and initiatives developed and implemented by the RSFS and its partners to ensure access to quality health services in French and within the framework of the province’s “Patient First Review.”
• With the financial support of Health Canada, the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada continued its partnership project with Société Santé en français, the Consortium national de formation en santé (CNFS) and Médecins francophones du Canada in 2016-2017 to engage students In French-language medicine in 14 English-language medical schools located in 8 provinces of Canada. This project responded to the needs of Francophone minority communities through the creation of 14 faculty-community liaison committees in each university, the identification of 578 Francophone and Francophile learners in existing undergraduate medical education programs in 2015, the addition of 156 new Francophone and Francophile learners in medical programs in 2016, and 50 learning and networking activities in all of these faculties were implemented (e.g., French medical terminology, knowledge of language communities Official language minority situation, networking and internships with Francophone clinicians) and the development of an online English-French toolkit containing learning resources. This project responded to the needs of francophone minority communities.
• In April 2016, the Société Santé en français, presented Health Canada with a series of self-assessment tools that it developed in partnership with CHSSN, Accreditation Canada, and the Conseil Québécois d'agrément for health facilities to measure their ability to provide linguistically appropriate health services to their minority official language population. The pilots of these self-assessment tools in Quebec and in French linguistic minority communities elsewhere in Canada have been successful and have demonstrated their relevance/usefulness. This initiative led Accreditation Canada and the Société Santé en français to sign an agreement to produce standards for access to health services for official language minority populations in Canada.
• The SSF in partnership with the Mental Health Commission of Canada coordinated (at the national level) First Aid training in Mental Health in French for official language minority communities (OLMC). A total of 27 instructors and more than 700 First Aiders were trained across the country. French-language training videos were also developed. Also, collaborations with school boards and universities across the country and with community stakeholders were established (at the provincial / territorial level) to provide First Aid training in Mental Health in French.
• In 2016, McGill University launched an online English training tool in the field of health to enable health professionals to intervene effectively with English-speaking communities in Quebec. This training meets the linguistic needs of professionals in three fields: health workers, social service workers and administrative and reception staff. Adapted to the needs of the environment, this program takes into account the diversity of the professional fields, the geographical disparity and the multiple time constraints of the participants.

Justice Canada

Stewardship of the Canadian Legal Framework

Contraventions Act Fund

$47,591,855

$9,823,455

$4,634,494

Canadians in designated areas who have received federal contraventions have access to the justice system using the official language of choice.

The Department of Justice actively pursued its work with its client-departments on regulatory amendments to ensure successful enforcement of offences designated as contraventions under the contraventions regime.

Through the Contraventions Act Fund, the Department has continued to provide to some provinces and municipalities with funding where the regime is implemented to undertake measures that ensure contraventions offenders’ language rights are respected in relation to the administration and enforcement of federal contraventions.

The provinces have therefore successfully fulfilled official languages duties on behalf of the federal government by sustaining concrete measures meant to ensure that offender’s language rights are respected. The Department currently supports financially 5 provinces and 1 municipality where there are no provincial obligations to fulfill the offenders’ language rights.

The Department also successfully negotiated a six year agreement (starting in 2017-2018) with Newfoundland and Labrador to implement the contraventions regime in the province. Communities where consulted and their feedback was positive towards the implementation of the regime in the province. Discussions will continue with Saskatchewan and Alberta towards implementation of a contravention regime in those provinces.

Finally, an evaluation of the Contraventions Act Program was conducted in 2016-2017 to assess its relevance and its performance over a three year period, from 2013-14 to 2015-16. The evaluation confirmed that the Contraventions Act Program is aligned with federal priorities and contributes to ensuring that the justice system is fair, efficient and accessible.

Justice Canada

Internal Services

Contraventions Act Fund

$2,019,775

$52,505

(PSPC accommodation charges excluded)

$55,130

(PSPC accommodation charges excluded)

N/A

N/A

Justice Canada

Stewardship of the Canadian Legal Framework

Training, networks and access to justice services (communities component)

$20,433,000

$4,090,214

$4,092,822

Canadians have access to legal information regarding their rights and responsibilities in the official language of choice through a hub that will provide Canadians with legal information through a telephone helpline, online or in person

Through the Support Fund, the Department provided funding to 48 projects in 2016-2017, increasing the capacity of the justice system and its stakeholders to offer justice services in both official languages and increasing access to legal information on rights and obligations in official language minority communities.

For the Community component:

24 projects were directly aimed at increasing the availability of public legal information activities for OLMCs. Of particular note, was the financial support provided to the five legal information centres in Ottawa, Halifax, Regina, Edmonton and Winnipeg. These innovative hubs offer the public assistance in dealing with their legal issues by providing legal information in a timely and well-informed manner.

Justice Canada

Internal Services

Training, networks and access to justice services (communities component)

$762,000

$81,730

(PSPC accommodation charges excluded)

$85,528

(PSPC accommodation charges excluded)

N/A

N/A

Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC)

Skills and Employment

Enabling Fund for OLMCs

$69,000,000

$14,060,000

$13,356,209

• OLMCs are better informed, skilled, resourced and served
• Enabling Fund recipient organizations support the coalescence of resources and efforts and enable community-wide participatory approaches. It is expected that together they will leverage additional funding support community economic and human resources development.
• OLMCs make use of this increased capacity to strengthen their communities by shaping their economic and human resources development.

The Enabling Fund (EF) continued to support the operations and activities of a Canadian-wide network of leaders in community economic development (CED) and human resources development (HRD) serving official language minority communities (OLMCs) across Canada. The network's efforts contributed to the integration of young professionals into the labour market, the development of skills and knowledge and job retention.

The EF also supported the Economic Action Network (EAN) for OLMCs, which brings together the Reseau de developpement economique et d'employabilite du Canada (RDEE Canada), the Community Economic Development and Employability Corporation (CEDEC), and the main federal departments and agencies responsible for economic development under the leadership of Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC). The EAN is a collaborative governance structure whose objective is to promote the participation of key economic development actors in OLMCs. In addition to providing opportunities for sharing knowledge and promising approaches, the EAN enables collaboration on projects whose scope reaches beyond a single province or territory. Signature Projects result from the Canadian Plan for Economic Development (CPED), which was developed as a collaborative project between RDEE Canada and CEDEC.

In 2016-17, the Office of Literacy and Essential Skills program participated in a Signature Project Initiative and supported larger workforce and economic development initiatives. Twelve Signature Projects were put forward and eight received financing from ESDC. Below are some examples of these projects:

• The successful expansion of the Eco-West project in Ontario whereas the objective was to develop the green economy and support the competitiveness of Ontario communities with a population under 20,000 by helping these municipalities move toward more sustainable development.
• This project also enabled the Economic Development Council for Manitoba Bilingual Municipalities (CDEM), in partnership with the Association Française des municipalités de l’Ontario (AFMO) and RDEE Ontario, to develop a five-year initiative in collaboration with the Ontario government.
• RDEE Canada and La Commission nationale des parents Francophones (CNPF) worked together on the entrepreneurial project for OLMCs and early learning and childcare. In October 2016, the two networks signed a protocol to explore innovative solutions to address a key priority for OLMC communities with a lack of access to quality childcare and early learning services in French.

In conclusion, a new collaboration between the CEDEC and Canadian Community Economic Development Network (CCEDNet) led to the organization of a national economic development forum in Montreal. The ECONOUS2016 Forum attracted close to 300 participants from community, commercial, educational, and governmental sectors across the country and abroad. The event facilitated the creation of networks and transfer of knowledge.

Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC)

The Adult Learning Literacy and Essential Skills Program

OLMCs Literacy and Essential Skills Initiative

$7,500,000

$1,500,000

$606,697

• Strengthened collaborative relationships with stakeholders who work with francophone adults outside Quebec and Anglophones in Quebec.
• New contribution agreements signed with organizations that work on a project for the francophone adults outside Quebec and Anglophones in Quebec to help them develop the essential skills necessary for the workplace so they are better prepared to find and keep a job, and adapt and perform better at work.

The purpose of the Official Languages Minority Communities (OLMC) Workplace Essential Skills (WES) Initiative is to help Francophone and Anglophone adults in OLMCs acquire the WES they need to prepare more effectively to obtain and keep a job, as well as to adapt and succeed at work. In the  2016–17 fiscal year, the Office of Literacy and Essential Skills (OLES) funded four projects under the Roadmap, which achieved the following results:

Decoda Literacy Solutions (DLS): Strengthening Rural Canada

The project worked closely with six communities, including two Francophone minority communities. These six communities developed Literacy and Essential Skills (LES) plans, and the municipal governments of these six communities participated in discussions.

The research report, the guidebook for place-based approaches and the community plans for literacy and essential skills under the project were published on the Strengthening Rural Canada website to share best practices and support the work of other rural communities

Actions interculturelles de développement et d’éducation (AIDE): Develop Francophone immigrants’ literacy and essential skills

Once completed, this study will collect information on the best literacy and essential skills (LES) training programs and identify their shortcomings so they can be improved to better meet the socio-economic integration needs of Francophone immigrants in OLMCs.

So far, AIDE has strengthened its partnerships in seven provinces by signing agreements with LES training centres, organizations serving Francophone immigrants, and employers. By March 2017, 820 participants had filled out all five questionnaires. The organization greatly surpassed the objective of 420.

Community Business Development Corporation (CBDC) Restigouche, New Brunswick: Literacy, Essential Skills and Business Performance of Enterprises

In this project, the organization is working with small manufacturing businesses to measure the impact of increased LES on their indicators of success. It will then develop a decision-making tool so employers can make effective decisions about the training needs of their employees.

So far, eight businesses in Francophone OLMCs in Madawaska, New Brunswick; North Bay and Timmins, Ontario; and East Interlake, Manitoba have been recruited and filled out most or all of the questionnaires.

Network for Economic Action (NEA): Signature Projects

The signature Projects involved all Canadian provinces and territories in eight separate initiatives. Over 20 organizations representing OLMCs contributed to foster sustainable partnerships and collaboration with a variety of labor market actors (eg, employers, job seekers, community groups) to develop and implement workforce strategies to address human capital issues, such as labor shortages and the workers relocation during the closure of businesses.

Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC)

Social Development Partnerships Program

Social Development Initiative in OLMCs

$4,000,000

$600,000

$1,212,316

ESDC plans to work with the Quebec Community Group Network (QCGN) and Fédération des aînées et aînés francophones du Canada (FAAFC) to implement the Social Partnership Initiative (SPI) in OLMCs. SPI expands its target clientele beyond early childhood to include youth and family issues of both English- and French-speaking minority communities. SPI will also encourage OLMCs to find new revenue sources to develop community-based activities that address the social and economic issues that affect them.

QCGN planned results for 2016-2017 (some ongoing through 2017-2018) would include:

• Establishing governance working groups to disburse funds, to develop the evaluation framework and to put in place knowledge sharing tools
• Establishing a transparent and open process to receive project applications at the community level
• Establishing an evaluation outline for the community projects funded
• Funding and conducting several community-based projects
• Implementing a knowledge sharing tool
• Developing a tool to measure shared outcomes to share across Canada (including findings and reflections from external as well as internal partnerships)

FAAFC planned results for 2016-2017 (some ongoing through 2017-2018) would include:

• Ensuring that Francophone and Acadian communities are better equipped financially to deal with important social development issues.
• Collaborating with private sector organizations and promoting social entrepreneurship to develop and support projects that create significant income for associations.
• Better equipping and engaging communities to undertake social development projects in language minority settings.
• Providing suitable services to people in a language minority setting through the new projects.
• Engaging a greater number and wider variety of partners involved in various social development projects.
• Improving the capacity of Francophone and Acadian associations and developing greater community collaboration to address important social development and innovation issues in a concrete and effective way.

The Social Partnership Initiative which is funded through the Social Development Partnerships Program (SDPP) currently funds two intermediary organizations that have strong and broad engagement with Official Language Minority

Communities (OLMC): the Fédération des ainées et aînés francophones (FAAFC) du Canada for Francophone minority communities; and the Quebec Community Groups Network (QCGN) for English speaking minority communities.

In 2016–2017, the FAAFC achieved the following results:

• The FAAFC approved the funding of 29 projects benefiting 34 not-for-profit organizations in OLMC’s across Canada. The projects span four target populations and subjects: youth, seniors, women and Parents.
• The FAAFC also levered monies from other sources:
• $1,119,651 in cash
• $227,183 in kind

In 2016–2017, QCGN achieved the following results:

• QCGN funded ten projects that will improve employability or secure basic socioeconomic security for vulnerable youth, seniors/caregivers or newcomers in Quebec’s English-language communities.

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED)

Community economic development

Economic Development Initiative (EDI) (Regional Operations)

$1,600,000

$380,000

Operations and maintenance

$366,927

Operations and maintenance

Better understanding of OLMCs economic issues:

• 4 face-to- face meetings to engage with Anglophone and Francophone follow-up committees held
• 10 studies funded and/or undertaken in collaboration with Anglophone and Francophone OLMCs, regional development agencies and other government departments in order to deepen understanding of issues related to specific areas (tourism, entrepreneurship, coop development, etc.)

In collaboration with OLMCs, ISED Service Laboratory and other federal departments, including AAFC, ESDC and the CRA, we designed and facilitated national consultations (Dialogue Days). This new approach has strengthened the established relationship between OLMCs and federal institutions. The results enable all federal partners to better identify key barriers and strategic opportunities for economic development in OLMCs and to support the development of Canada's new multi-year Official Languages ​​Action Plan.

• Under the EDI research component, 9 research projects were carried out. This included collaboration with AAFC to produce a socio-economic, linguistic and agricultural portrait of Francophone agricultural and agri-food workers in Canada based on 2011 Census data from Statistics Canada.
• Lastly, through its Strategic Activity Program (SAP), the Tourism Intelligence Network project was maintained for its second year (financed over a period of 3 years $ 186,000). RDÉE Canada, CEDEC and the Transat Tourism Chair of the School of Science and Management (ESG) of the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) produced 4 newsletters, two analyses and a background research containing information on tourism product development, promotion and marketing, partnerships, human resources, training and funding.

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED)

Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario (FedNor)

Community economic development

Economic Development Initiative (EDI)

$4,450,000

$1,015,000

$1,171,274

Grants and contributions (FedNor)

$67,669

Operations and maintenance—salaries only* (FedNor)

Note: * PSPC and employee benefits plan (EBP) and accomodation charges excluded)

Capacities, new expertise and partnerships developed:

• Currently 10 active projects for the 2016-2017 fiscal year
• A leverage ratio of 1:1 (For every dollar invested through EDI contributions, an anticipated $1.00 will be leveraged from other sources).

Communities and businesses develop capacity, new expertise and partnerships

• In 2016-17, more than $1.23 million dollars was approved under the EDI towards 11 projects in support of official language minority communities in Northern Ontario. These projects leveraged $1.26 million from other sources. As a result of EDI projects completed during 2016-2017, 160 partners were involved in formally delivering EDI projects, 112 events were carried out, 24 strategic alliances were created or maintained and 3 studies or plans were developed.

Canada Economic Development (CED) for Quebec Regions

Quebec Economic Development Program (QEDP)

Targeted or temporary support

Economic Development Initiative (EDI)

$10,200,000

$2,370,000

$2,186,476

Final expected result (Program 1.3 Strengthening Community Economies): The community of Quebec has a strong economy.

Intermediary expected result (Sub-program 1.3.3 Targeted and /or temporary Support): The communities stabilize or strengthen their economy.

Final outcome: Value of total Investment generated In the communities

• The sum of the total costs of completed projects in 2016-17:

 EDIs contribution to 2016-17 DPR's results: $5,550,679

Intermediate outcome: Percentage of communities supported which received temporary and targeted support

• The number of individual communities which received financial assistance in 2016-17:

 EDI's contribution to 2016-17 DPR's results: 16 communities

Forum on tourism In the Golfs du Saint-Laurent MRC municipalities organized by the Coasters' Association

For example, CED funded a forum on Tourism from February 27 to March 2 2017 organized by various municipalities of the Golfe du Saint-Laurent MRC. For the more than 80 companies working in the tourism industry, the main objectives of the forum were to foster business partnering/networking opportunities and promote the development of tangible projects between the participants.

The activities held Include lectures and working sessions led by experts from various public, para-public and private organizations. CEO's financial assistance of $171,450 covered all costs, with the exception of coordination and administrative expenses.

The tourism Industry in Quebec generates more than $10M in annual revenues and is one of the few avenues of economic diversification for this MRC, which depends almost exclusively on commercial fishing. Itis ranked 101* out of 104 MRCs that are designated as having low economic growth (according to the CED economic development Index). Further, the Initiative supports the goal to mobilize the community around the tourism master plan developed for this region in 2015, promoting enhanced rates of return from regional tourism activities.

Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA)

Enterprise Development

Economic Development Initiative (EDI)

$6,200,000

$1,340,000

$1,513,925

Promotion of the Economic Development Initiative of the Roadmap will continue in OLMCs in the Atlantic region through financial support of projects and the establishment of partnerships

For 2016-17 there were 19 projects approved for a total commitment of $1,985,147. The following are examples of projects from each province:

In New Brunswick (NB), ACOA approved $702,983 in funding of for LearnSphere Canada Inc. under the Economic Development Initiative (EDI) to support the further development of its –Training for the Non-profit Sector program. The non-profit sector comprises registered charities, social services organizations, industry associations and other businesses that provide direct benefit to communities across the province. The sector also accounts for an estimated 40,000 jobs in New Brunswick. LearnSphere recognized an opportunity to support the future viability of non-profit organizations by offering training, mentoring and counselling tailored to the specific needs of the sector. This project supported the development of new learning modules to build stronger governance structures and management capacity in non-profit organizations. Between April 2014 and September 2016, LearnSphere delivered 171 workshops in the province that attracted more than 2,000 participants; 66 of the workshops were delivered in French and benefitted organizations in communities throughout the largely rural areas of the province’s northern and eastern regions. The objectives of the project included helping organizations to clarify their vision and mission statements; improve the management capacity of staff, volunteers and board members; enhance board functionality and governance; and develop leadership and supervisory skills.

In Nova Scotia (NS), Université Sainte-Anne received approval for $27,000 under EDI to hire a team of consultants to develop an infrastructure development plan in order to increase the synergies between existing and planned facilities in the Louis R. Comeau Building and the sports complex at Université Sainte-Anne’s Church Point campus. Université Sainte-Anne is Nova Scotia's only French-language post-secondary educational institution. A treasured asset within the Acadian community, the university plays a crucial role in the social and economic well-being of the regional economy. Directly employing some 140 employees, the university is one of the largest employers in the region.

In addition to addressing the needs of its 500 plus students, the university also serves as a recreational, cultural, and tourism hub for the region. Improving the efficiency and functionality of the university’s infrastructure is critical for student attraction and retention, for meeting the needs of the community and for overall operational efficiency. The infrastructure development plan provides the university with designs and recommendations for enhancements to the Louis R. Comeau Building and the attached sports complex. The Louis R. Comeau Building houses the Acadian interpretive centre, the visitor information centre, a performing arts theatre, library, café, and the Acadian research centre. It will also be the future home of the Founding Families exhibit showcasing the first families to settle in the area. The sports complex houses the pool and gymnasium. The determining factor for success will be the actual implementation of the plan’s recommendations, which will depend on securing the required funding.

In PEI, RDÉE received approval for $35,964 under EDI for a project targeting young/new entrepreneurs in the Francophone and Acadian community seeking to launch or expand their business ideas. Participants took part in workshops designed to develop their entrepreneurial skills, with particular emphasis placed on helping participants develop and deliver their respective business pitches. Participants delivered their pitches to a panel of judges in a format similar to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s Dragon’s Den show. Pitch sessions included pre-selection rounds followed by the final competition between the top finishers. The winning entrepreneur received an investment in their company.RDÉE continues to deliver business mentorship services to the top four finalists. The goal was to support the establishment of four new businesses in PEI’s Francophone and Acadian community.

The winning company was able to use the new investment to successfully access a new loan through the provincial government in order to pursue its expansion plans.

In NL, EDI funding of $25,000 was provided to RDÉE TNL to produce a French-language 2015-2016 edition of the Tourism Guide/ Guide touristique for the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Some 40,000 copies were made and a digital version is available online‎ which serves to promote French in Canadian society. One of the key determining factors for the success of this project is RDÉE TNL’s partnership with the provincial Department of Tourism, Culture, Industry and Innovation, which distributes the guide free of charge through the province’s Visitor Information Centers. This collaboration and partnership is critical to the project’s success. While the project was approved in 2015-16, its positive impact continued throughout 2016-17.

Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev)

Community Economic Development-OLMCs

Economic Development Initiative (EDI)

$4,450,000

$979,612

$1,101,249

Through various projects under its Economic Development Initiative, FedDev Ontario will continue to consult OLMCs in 2016-17 to identify new and emerging challenges faced by Francophone communities. Existing regional projects with various stakeholders will ensure entrepreneurs have access to the required training and mentoring in French, the necessary access to capital to assist in the launch of their ventures, and provide youth with opportunities to develop practical experience through internships in Francophone organizations and businesses.

In 2016–2017, just like last year, FedDev Ontario continued to deliver multi-year projects that received funding totalling $979,612. FedDev Ontario delivered these projects to improve access to entrepreneurship services and business training, improve access to capital, and support applied research partnerships for new and existing Francophone entrepreneurs. In addition, a youth internship project supported the hiring of 54 young Francophones, enabling them to gain work experience while providing small and medium enterprises and Francophone community organizations access to educated, skilled workers. As a result of this strategic EDI funding, 90 partners were created and 289 businesses were supported through training, entrepreneurship video clips and mentoring. The funding provided created a leverage effect of over $650,000.

Examples of projects

The “Young Internship” project run by the Assemblée de la francophonie de l’Ontario (AFO) and funded by FedDev Ontario to date has enabled 54 youth to participate in a work placement, 16 of them in small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and 38 in Francophone not-for-profit organizations. Fifteen young interns have since been hired after completing their internship.

A success story involving individuals using video clips from the COFFRES.ca platform from La Cité: A young Canadian immigrant from Cameroon watched a marketing video clip, which helped him clearly set the price for his product on the Canadian market (hand-embroidered tablecloths).

Another success story: A young student from La Cité who worked in applied research for a company who was then hired by the same company because it did not want to lose the expertise acquired from the young student with the research product.

Western Economic Diversification Canada (WED)

Business Development and Innovation

Community Economic Growth

Economic Development Initiative (EDI)

$3,200,000

$740,000

$634,458

• Capacities, New expertise, and Partnerships Developed
• Enterprises Developed and Communities Developed
• Capacities, New Expertise, and Partnerships Developed

Business Development and Innovation:

• # of businesses created/ maintained/ expanded: 4
• # of business advisory services: 53

Community Economic Growth:

• # communities benefiting: 24
• # of partnerships: 20
• Value of community-based projects: $2,607,120
• Value of leverage from community-based projects: $563,000

For example, WED supported La Troupe du Jour (Saskatchewan) that now has a regular tenant for its conference centre twice a month, and rents its studio for festival events. It is also undertaking discussion with potential users of the mobile ticketing service to adapt the service to market needs. Trails of 1885 (Saskatchewan) engaged with 23 tourism sites in Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba to gather information, photos, and lists of events to support marketing. Social media and internet are now the key marketing tools for the Trails of 1885, in lieu of a paper-based guide. Parks Canada was engaged to review the web content. Eco-Ouest (Manitoba) completed its green economy project in 2016-17, having directly engaged 37 municipalities across Western Canada, with projects under development worth $38.4 million, and the total value of potential projects valued at $82.4 million. L’Université de St.-Boniface has focussed on marketing its online post-baccalaureat diploma in inclusive education to francophone schools and French immersion schools in Western Canada.

Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency (CanNor)

Economic Development

Community Development

Economic Development Initiative (EDI)

$400,000

$80,000

$80,000

The overall objective of this project is to fill existing positions with bilingual skilled and semi-skilled workers.

• Creation of a labour recruitment and retention strategy for the three territories;
• Creation of labour recruitment tools specifically for Canada’s three territories;
• In the medium term, an increase in the number of skilled and specialized bilingual workers in the three territories;
• Recruitment of at least 40 workers.

The association franco-yukonnaise (AFY) received CanNor EDI funding for a three years Bilingual Workers Recruitment and Retention project that started in 2015-16.

This fiscal year, the project resulted in the recruitment of five bilingual employees to work in the tourism, construction and service sectors in Canada’s North.

Tangible results from CanNor’s delivery of EDI funding in 2016-17 are increased attraction and retention of bilingual francophone workers in Canada’s North, while bilingual Francophones from across Canada will be provided with additional work opportunities. As workers’ retention is an ongoing issue in the Territories, new knowledge regarding best practices to retain workers will bring increased stability to businesses and reduce their operating costs.

Total

$1,124,037,385

$229,301,673

$223,032,907