Horizontal initiative - Roadmap for Canada's Official Languages 2013-18 - Departmental Results Report 2017-2018

$53,004,808

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

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 244,578 young Canadians in minority communities study in their language in more than 923 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.

$35,004,808

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

$7,320,966

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

The Destination Clic program enabled 270 young Francophones from OLMCs to improve their first official language while discovering other French-speaking communities in Canada.

The Explore program enabled 6,429 young Canadians to take part in a summer program to learn their second official-language or perfect their skills.

$3,720,965

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

$2,250,000

(This amount represents only a portion of the PCH investment in supporting official language exchanges for youth through the Exchanges Canada Program.)

Exchanges Canada will continue 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 will be dedicated to organizations who deliver bilingual youth forums and exchanges, such as the Society for Educational Visits and Exchanges in Canada (SEVEC).

In 2016-2017 (most recent participant data available*), the Exchanges Canada Program offered opportunities for over 13,250 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 2,786 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 241 OLMCs 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. 2017-2018 results will not be available until December 2018.

A healthcare system that responds to the needs of Canadians

OLMCs' Development

In 2017-2018, as part of the Roadmap for Canada's Official Languages 2013-2018, Health Canada/Official Languages Community Development Bureau (OLCDB) continued to provide financial support to community institutions and organizations (e.g., la Société Santé en français (SSF), l'Association des collègues et universités de la francophonie canadienne (ACUFC)/le Consortium national de formation en santé (CNFS), the McGill University, Community Health and Social Services Network (CHSSN) through the Official Languages Health Contribution Program. These organizations implemented a range of initiatives in the following areas 1) training and retention of health networks through, knowledge development and dissemination for OLMC's, and 2) projects to improve access to health services for OLMCs. 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. For example:

• In Quebec, McGill University recorded 830 registrations as part of its language training program for health professionals and intake staff working in the Quebec health network. A total of 569 health professionals and intake staff completed a language training course during the year.
• Also, in 2017-18, McGill University coordinated scholarship program, regional internships, support initiatives for internships, and French-language professional classes for students to increase the number of health and social services technicians and professionals able to meet the needs of English-speaking people in Quebec's regions. McGill's internship program helped 70 bilingual students, who benefited from higher placement opportunities in Anglophone minority communities.
• Outside of Quebec, 787 French-speaking students graduated from health-related programs in 11 postsecondary institutions funded by the program. Follow-up survey results with graduates demonstrated an average placement rate of 73% in health care institutions in OLMCs, increasing the pool of health human resources available to meet the needs of OLMCs in Canada.
• Also, to improve the availability of bilingual health professionals and access to services in French in minority region, Health Canada funds the Association of Colleges and Universities of the Canadian Francophonie - National Health Training Consortium component (CNFS). The 11 member institutions of the ACUFC-CNFC recorded 1,126 registrations and 787 additional graduates in 100 healthcare training programs, in 2017-2018
• In addition to credited training programs, the ACUFC-CNFC rolled out 22 projects as part of continuing education programs for existing health professionals, as well as programs to support and strengthen clinical training and actively offer services in French. Seven projects had a direct impact on the offer to essential services in the form of language training for health professionals and 15 other projects focused on developing tools for active offer, language training and internship support
• In 2017-2018, through the Franco Doc project, the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada was successful to identify, mobilize, prepare and equip more than 100 Francophone medical students in English-language institutions with the ultimate goal of serving Francophone minority communities (FMCs) more effectively. The project helped students network with one another and with French-speaking health professionals working in FMCs and created training opportunities in those communities.
• The Réseau du mieux-être francophone du Nord de l'Ontario (RMEFNO) collaborated with various partners, including training institutions (CNFS-Laurentienne) and other planning networks and French Language Health Planning Entities to create, validate and adapt for Ontario a bilingual, interactive training workshop on the active offer of service in both official languages. This training is offered free of charge to healthcare professionals and managers. By successfully completing the online training on the active offer of service, certified members of the Canadian College of Health Leaders (CHE/Fellow) are entitled to 2.5 Category II credits towards their maintenance of certification requirement.
• In British Columbia, the Résosanté Colombie-Britannique produced six video clips promoting healthcare occupations in French, as well as two videos with medical information. The organization also collaborated with La Boussole and the Vancouver Infectious Diseases Centre to develop free training in the prevention of opioid overdoses and the use of the naloxone kit in French.
• Four member colleges of the CNFS worked together to produce the entrance exam preparation tools for three college programs (licensed practical nursing, pharmaceutical technology, and medical radiation technology). These tools will be available on an online platform to provide access to many students.
• Furthermore, in terms of research and dissemination of knowledge, 2017-2018 saw the completion of eight research projects launched by the CNFS that involved at least five universities, on the following themes: home care services; minority inmates; building capacity to improve the quality of life of French-language minority seniors; and the involvement of French-speaking health professionals in training the future generation of workers. Since March 2018, the CNFS team has been involved in two new research projects, in partnership with the University of Ottawa on the active offer of service in both official languages and the offer of mental health services in French in Manitoba, New-Brunswick and Ontario.
• Also, McGill University, and the University Hospital of Montreal (CHUM), conducted a research titled "Mental Healthcare and Related Services by Anglophone Homeless Youth". The purpose of this research is to explore where and how homeless youth, whose preferred language is English, have access to mental health services and what barriers of factors facilitate access.
• In addition, McGill University and the Royal Victoria Hospital conducted another research on mental health. The study will help to assess the differences between Anglophones and Francophones on the prevalence of the most common chronic diseases by linguistic group, the use of primary health care services, emergency rooms and hospital services.

$3,770,919

(excludes $16,321 of accommodation costs)

$11,781

(excludes $979 of accommodation costs)

$12,760

(PSPC accommodation charges excluded)

Develop new content (quizzes, articles, blog posts, and social media content) to help Canadians communicate better in both official languages, and further enhance the content related to Indigenous languages.

Publish blog posts written by Canadian contributors, including posts from official language minority communities (OLMC).

Conduct promotional activities by various means, including Portal ambassadors and social media (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn).

Complete the migration of the Portal content to the Canada.ca website and complete the total revamping of the Portal.

• The Portal team created 3466 new content items, including quizzes, articles, blog posts and social media messages, to help Canadians communicate more effectively in both official languages. Of this total, 164 new items related to Indigenous culture or languages.
• A total of 31 blog posts by external contributors, including OLMC members, were published in the Portal's Our Languages blog, launched in September 2017.
• Numerous promotional activities were accomplished in collaboration with Portal ambassadors, who numbered 413 on March 31, 2018. This figure represents a 60% increase in the number of ambassadors, in comparison with 2016-2017.
• The Portal team mounted a national publicity campaign in Google and Facebook to familiarize Canadians with the Portal. It also sent out more than 100 promotional communications by email, on social media or through collaborators' newsletters. The team took part in 44 outreach activities, including kiosks that made it possible to reach about 10,000 people and workshops in which 700 people received training on how to use Portal resources.
• The Portal team continued revising the writing tools (22 000 web pages) to make them comply with current web standards. It also continued with its project to improve Language Navigator, the search engine that searches simultaneously in all of the Portal's resources.
• The Portal and its writing tools generated about 4.3 million page views in 2017-2018.

Technology Development and Advancement

Information and Communications Technologies

PORTAGE translation software commercialization (in the private sector).

PORTAGE translation technology transfer (within government).

Improving Canada's security by deploying other natural language processing technologies,

The Arctic Maritime Awareness for Safety and Security (AMASS) project.

• This year, the National Research Council (NRC) released multiple versions of its machine translation software using deep learning: Portage II 3.x.
• NRC has continued to update 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%. Recent results suggest that the productivity gain is less pronounced for more experienced translators, but is still useful.
• Environment Canada's MÉTÉO system, which translates weather reports from English to French and from French to English, continues to be powered by Portage
• The Portage software remains in daily use at two of Canada's largest translation agencies: CLS Lexi-tech and another major agency in Montreal (approximatively 50 million words a year translated)
• Global Public Health Information Network (GPHIN, with the Public Health Agency of Canada): NRC has continued to host its health surveillance tool for global news media to track emerging health emergencies over time. It has over 700 users around the world, including the World Health Organization. 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. All tools were improved this year and new tools were added to track emerging stories that connect multiple news articles.
• NRC has significantly improved the accuracy and robustness of its Information Extraction tools used in the Arctic Martime Awareness for Safety and Security system (AMASS) and GPHIN by enabling information to be extracted from tables and free text.
• NRC also developed a system to accurately recognize complex temporal mentions (e.g. "Monday, March 3", "tomorrow", "a week from Tuesday") and hierarchical place names.

$24,000,000

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

$5,911,638

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

In 2017-18, IRCC will continue to conduct promotion and recruitment activities in Canada and abroad, primarily through an expansion of frequency and locations of current targeted promotion and recruitment events; providing settlement services to French-speaking clients; coordinate and consult with key stakeholders; 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 2017-18.

As IRCC is moving toward a more standardized approach at the national level, ongoing investment will aim for a more consistent approach to foster immigration to FMC's across the country.

Examples of initiatives accomplished by IRCC during this period:

• Creating a Francophone Immigration Policy Hub within the Department
• Second Joint Federal-Provincial-Territorial Ministerial Forum on Francophone Immigration (Toronto, March 2, 2018) and first Francophone Immigration Symposium (Calgary, March 22, 2018)
• Promoting Francophone minority communities among resettled refugees
• Organizing promotional and recruitment activities abroad for Francophone immigration
• Organizing promotional and recruitment activities in Canada for Francophone immigration
• Organizing a Research Symposium with English-speaking community organizations and representatives in Quebec (ESCQ), held in Montréal on November 2, 2017
• Awarding additional points for Francophones in the Express Entry System
• Creating an action plan to reduce the cost of and improve access to language assessments for economic immigrants
• Increasing support for Francophone immigration and official languages as part of the Official Languages Action Plan 2018-2023
• Travelling exhibition on the history of Francophone immigration

Results achieved in 2017-18:

• Number of French-speaking unique clients who have received at least one settlement services in Canada:
  • 2015-16 = 14,450 clients
  • 2016-17 = 14,265 clients
  • 2017-18 = 14,865 clients
• Number of French-speaking unique clients who have received at least one settlement service in New-Brunswick with funding of $1M from the Roadmap:
  • 2015-16 = 215 clients
  • 2016-17 = 260 clients
  • 2017-18 = 290 clients

It should be noted that these numbers are based on the new definition of a French-speaking immigrant i.e. those who indicated French as their first official language spoken (FOLS) plus 50% of those / those who chose English and French.

$4,452,455

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

The department financially supported more than 398 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 172,000 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).

$4,452,455

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

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.

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 2017-18, more than 425 OLMC's artists performed in over 910 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). Concretely, the target is to support 200 artists and 400 showcases annually compared to only 40 artists and 85 windows 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).

$693,517

*Methodological note: data as of June 15, 2018.

Expand national and international market access to high quality market-ready OLMC arts;

Contribute to the development of new national and international markets for OLMC arts; and

Strengthen the ability of OLMC artists, groups and/or arts organizations to succeed outside their local markets.

In 2017-18, the Canada Council was able to support 36 distinct projects by 32 artists and arts organizations from OLMC communities, developing a mix of local, provincial/territorial, national and international markets for their work. These projects supported a wide range of activities that reinforced existing markets, created new markets, offered professional development and enhanced market readiness of OLMC artists and arts organizations.*

*Methodological note: data as of June 15, 2018.

A healthcare system that responds to the needs of Canadians

OLMCs' Development

In 2017-18, as part of the Roadmap for Canada's Official Language 2013-18, Health Canada continued to financially support community organizations (e.g., the Community Health Social Services Network (CHSSN), la Société Santé en français (SSF)) through the Official Languages Health Contribution Program (OLHCP). In 2017-18, 36 existing community-based health networks were maintained in all provinces and territories, and in 14 health administrative regions of Quebec.

These networks collaborate with various health sector stakeholders to improve access to health services for English and French speaking minorities.

For example, in 2017-18, the CHSSN networking activities and impact were as follows:

• The networks of the Networking and Partnership Initiative (NPI) worked with the staff of 19 of the 22 integrated health and social services centres (IHSSC) and integrated university health and social services centres (IUHSSC) to improve access to English-language health and social services in the province of Quebec. This relationship is the key component in improving access and ensuring that the public system's response is aligned with the needs of the English-speaking minority community and respects the unique characteristics of the Anglophone community being served.
• Similarly, the NPI networks continued to actively represent the Anglophone community's need at a number of local and regional tables that have an influential role in access to health services, including the table for senior citizen services, the table for youth services, and the table on early childhood development. The needs of these communities are also represented in municipal governments and employment services.
• Also, in 2017-18, the SSF networks developed collaborative projects with political decision-makers to influence the planning of local health networks to serve Francophone minority communities (FMCs) more effectively.

For example:

• In Prince Edward Island, a deputy minister from the Department of Health and Well-Being agreed to sit on the board of directors of Réseau Santé en français de l'île-du-Prince-Édouard (RSFIPE). RSFIPE was also invited to sit on the advisory committee of the Nova Scotia Department of Acadian Affairs and Francophonie.
• In Ontario, the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care (MHLTC), local health services integration networks (LHSIN), entities responsible for planning health services in French, including the Réseau des services de santé en français de l'Est de l'Ontario (RSSFEO) and Réseau du mieux-être francophone du Nord de l'Ontario (RMEFNO) and provincial health services providers worked closely to develop an accountability framework for services in French. This initiative made it possible to define roles and responsibilities at every level.
• On November 9, 2017, the SSF and the French Health Network of Central Southwestern Ontario (FHNCSO) launched a new online resource. This platform helps health organizations recruit and retain bilingual staff.
• Also, in terms of tools and practices, the SSF and the Canadian Association of Community Health Centres (CACHC) contributed to the development and dissemination of the Guide pour la planification d'un centre de santé communautaire francophone. This guide proposes a path to follow to develop healthcare services in French through the setting up of a community health centre in minority communities.
• In 2017-2018, the Société Santé et Mieux en français du Nouveau-Brunswick (SSMEFNB) continued its efforts to educate and influence the province's key players with the aim of encouraging the province to introduce health cards that show the patient's preferred language of service, as Prince Edward Island has done with Health Canada funding. One of the results was a commitment by the New Brunswick Associate Deputy Minister of Health Services and Francophone Affairs to explore the possibility of including a language field in the health insurance form. This type of project is also being tested in Ontario as a pilot project and is being considered in other provinces
• The Réseau des services de santé en français de l'Est de l'Ontario (RSSFEO) completed version 2.0 of its OZI Web-based reporting portal, which collects information about the human resources capacity to deliver French-language health services in support of decision-making, planning and accountability. The new portal was deployed in February and March 2018 to 1,500 organizations in Ontario (health service providers, French Language Health Planning Entities, and Local Health Integration Networks of Ontario).
• Consortium national de formation en santé (CNFS) took also initiatives to better coordinate collaborative arrangements in order to improve access to training and to expand the range of French healthcare services provided in regions that have been underserved or not served at all over the years. The outcomes were the return to the Yukon of a social worker in a drug addiction centre in the province, and the planning of eight internships for British Columbia students as part of the Collège Éducacentre initiative.
• In 2017-18, through the Franco Doc project, the Association of Faculties of Medecine of Canada (AFMC) was able to identify, mobilize, prepare and equip more than 100 Francophone medical students in English-language institutions with the ultimate goal of serving Francophone minority communities (FMCs) more effectively. The project helped students network with one another and with French-speaking health professionals working in FMCs and created training opportunities in those communities.
• In British Columbia, the Résosanté Colombie-Britannique produced six video clips promoting healthcare occupations in French, as well as two videos with medical information. The organization also collaborated with La Boussole and the Vancouver Infectious Diseases Centre to develop free training in the prevention of opioid overdoses and the use of the naloxone kit in French.

$9,823,455

(excludes $43,742 of accommodation costs)

$52,505

(excludes $2,625 of accommodation costs)

$55,130

(PSPC accommodation charges excluded)

$4,090,214

(excludes $63,257 of accommodation costs)

$81,730

(excludes $3,798 of accommodation costs)

The Official Languages Minority Communities (OLMCs) are better informed, skilled, resourced and serves.

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 to 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.

In 2017-18, the EF created opportunities to live and work in OLMCs:

• 728 jobs created
• 1,505 jobs maintained

In 2017-18, the Enabling Fund leveraged $2.3 for every dollar invested:

• A total of $27.5 million leveraged from public and private sector partners (in addition to $12 million in contribution funding)
• The program contributes to human resources development: more than 44,929 clients served (youth, women, new immigrants, job seekers and workers seeking to up-skill) including 31 communities as well as more than 545 organizations.
• The program contributes to Community Capacity Building (CCB) and economic development, e.g.:
  • More than 102 initiatives completed across Canada's OLMCs in project development and research; capacity and competency development; job seeker support; and supports for small and medium sized enterprises.
  • Each year, over 2,002 active partners projects with community or private sector including federal, provincial, territorial or municipal governments.

The contribution agreement signatories have:

• Contributed to ensure that individuals, employers and organizations involved in CCB and in CED are better informed, skilled, resourced and served as expected in program's immediate outcome;
• Diversified their funding sources so they can carry out a wide range of diverse and relevant activities that may not be supported under the EF. The enabling nature of activities carried out by contributions agreements signatories requires that communities undertake further or complementary actions in order to harvest the full benefits of these activities and interventions.

*Source: Official Language Minority Communities 2017-18 survey

The Official Languages Minority Communities (OLMC) Workplace Essential Skills (WES) Initiative will support the improvement of Literacy and Essential Skills (LES) in OLMCs through:

Increased awareness of the benefits and opportunities for adults learning, literacy and essential skills among partners, stakeholders and employers;

Improved capacity of partners, stakeholders and employers; and

Improved dissemination, transfer and application of knowledge and information among partners, stakeholders and employers.

The purpose of the 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 2017–18 fiscal year, the Office of Literacy and Essential Skills (OLES) funded four projects under the Roadmap, which achieved the following results:

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

The purpose of this project was to demonstrate the effects of increasing Literacy and Essential Skills (LES) levels on the socio-economic integration of Francophone immigrants in Canada. The research was conducted in six provinces among 550 Francophone immigrants who were employed or who were looking for employment. The project evaluated six LES programs which contributed to the development and testing of a cost-benefit analysis model. The analysis model would predict the net social benefits of public investments in an essential skills training program for francophone immigrants. The research report, the tool and the documentary report of the six participating provinces will be available on AIDE website.

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

This research project examined the relationship between investments in essential skills training and the business success of small enterprises in the manufacturing sector. Project results identified that employees have particularly low levels of literacy and numeracy which are key to problem solving. In order to help businesses better target their investments in essential skills training, a training planning tool was developed to identify which workers should be trained in priority. The tool compares the literacy and numeracy levels of the individual to the requirements of their job.

Through this project, the organization created a monitoring resource to support enterprises to make decisions regarding strategic investments in essential skills training to improve their productivity, competitiveness and business performance. The research report and the tools developed in this project are published on the Literacy, Essential Skills and Business Performance of Enterprises website.

Coalition ontarienne de formation des adultes (COFA): Tourism and Francophone Human Resources in Official Language Minority Communities (OLMCs): An Integrated Approach.

This project has integrated essential skills into a hotel-related training program from a recognized Ontario College of Tourism program. The program offers three internships for 60 less literate participants and Francophone newcomers. This training is offered in Ottawa and Toronto and provides participants with essential skills needed into the tourism sector in Ontario. Successful training participants gain practical experience through job shadowing and employment opportunities.

COFA established partnerships with subject matter experts, such as Hospitality Training Inc., industry partners, including the Ontario Economic Corporation involved in immigration and tourism, community centers and other organizations specialised in essential skills training, which all contributed to piloting the model. To date, 22 participants are in training and 3 participating employers are committed to providing internships and job opportunities to successful participants.

Community Economic Development and Employability Corporation (CEDEC): Workplace Essential Skills Co-op Vocational Training Program

This project is developing an integrated learning model that leverages resources to support better skills alignment and improved employment outcomes of individuals with low-essential skills in sectors experiencing a shortage of skilled labour force.

In 2017, CEDEC, with both First Nations Kebaowek (Abitibi-Temiscamigue) and Gesgapegiag (Gaspé) First Nations and local educational partners, completed an occupational analysis, a community readiness report, and a logic model to develop an integrated training programs for both communities. In addition, la Société des établissements de plein air du Québec (Sépaq) agreed to provide internships and potential jobs for students upon completion of the program.

Following the final phase of curriculum development in April, the program launched in Kebaowek First Nation (Abitibi-Témiscamingue) with nine students registered while Gesgapegiag First Nation (Gaspé) will launch the program in September 2018. Students completing the programs will receive an Attestation d' études professionnelles (AEP) in customer service with a focus on francisation (both programs) and indigenous language training (Gesgapegiag). Upon completion of the programs, these students will be better equipped to find and keep work in customer service occupations within the tourism industry.

The two projects for the Social Partnership Initiative are each comprised of distinct planned results for 2017-18. These planned results might be modified or adjusted in the coming months depending on the progress of each project at the end of the 2016 -17 fiscal year.

Quebec Community Group Network's (QCGN) planned results for 2017-18 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.

Fédération des aînées et aînés francophones du Canada's (FAAFC) planned results for 2017-18 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 is delivered through the Social Development Partnerships Program (SDPP) – Children and Families. Funding is provided to two intermediary organizations that have strong and broad engagement with Official Language Minority Communities (OLMCs): 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. Through extensive partnerships, both intermediaries the pool expertise to fund innovative projects in their communities.

Both intermediaries have demonstrated results that have had a significant impact on their respective OLMC communities.

Quebec Community Groups Network (QCGN)

• The project ($1.4M over 3 years) seeks to support organizations in Quebec's English-language communities by helping them develop the capacity to address social issues and to equip them to build new partnerships.
• As part of the project, QCGN established a Community Innovation Fund, and held a call for proposals which funded 10 projects across Quebec including in rural and remote communities such as the Eastern Townships and the Grosse-Île in the Îles-de-la-Madeleine to improve employability or secure basic socioeconomic security for vulnerable youth, seniors/caregivers or newcomers in Quebec's English-language communities.
• The QCGN have established a partnership with Thinkr, a student group at McGill's Desautels Faculty of Management which offered pro-bono management and strategy consulting services to QCGN's Community Innovation Fund recipients.
• The QCGN has established a community of practice to share lessons learned among the communities.
• The QCGN has leveraged $534,149 in funding from other sources since the beginning of their project.

Fédération des aînées et aînés francophones du Canada (FAAFC)

• The FAAFC ($3.4M over 3 years) supports projects aimed at service to citizens under the global objective of social development of Francophone minority communities across Canada, while promoting leveraging in communities.
• The FAAFC continued to support the 29 social innovation funded projects by developed strategies, tools and training to support organizations in developing social finance and fostering the development of social enterprises in their community.
• An evaluation of the FAAFC's project Ensemble pour le développement social des communautés francophones et acadiennes du Canadafound that the intermediary approach has stimulated intersectoral work by putting in place effective operationalization strategies such as:
  • intersectoral meetings between the four different sectors (women, seniors, parents and youth); and
  • parameters established for monitoring and support to facilitate the work of sub-recipients in the field.
• In addition, the initial investment of $3.4 million through the SDPP-C&F has generated $3,532,765 in funding from other sources since funding began.

$380,000

Operations and maintenance

Better understanding of OLMC economic issues:

• 3 face to face meetings to consult with Anglophone and Francophone follow-up committees held to discuss issues or related progress in OLMC.
• 6 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.).

An ongoing dialogue on challenges and progress of OLMCs exists by holding meetings (4) with the Follow-up Committees (Francophone, Anglophone).

Increased understanding of OLMCs economic development issues by department by leading consultations activities (3) in the form of workshops, forums and speed-dating.

In-depth understanding of particular areas related to OLMC, such as bilingualism, tourism, youth economic integration and digital transformation, by conducting research or analysis (8) in collaboration with Francophone and Anglophone OLMCs, regional development agencies and other federal institutions.

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED)

Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario (FedNor)

$876,338

Grants and contributions (FedNor)

Businesses and organizations targeted in Northern Ontario attract investors.

Businesses and organizations targeted in Northern Ontario create or maintain jobs.

Through EDI investments, 15 projects aimed at strengthening or developing the capacity of the Francophone community or businesses have been completed in Northern Ontario. The projects enabled the expansion or modernization of 23 businesses, the creation and upkeep of more than 30 strategic partnerships in the Francophone community and the realization of the 23 events in the region.

The initiative has promoted the creation of 27 full-time equivalents jobs in Northern Ontario.

Leverage effect: a leverage ratio of .82 (dollar value of investments obtained per program dollar disbursed).

Quebec Economic Development Program/ Focus

Targeted and Temporary Support

Final Expected Result (P1.3 Strengthening Community Economies): The communities of Quebec have a strong economy.

Intermediary Expected Result (P1.3.3 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 2017- 18
• EDI's contribution to 2017-18 DPR's results: $4,563,195

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

• The number of individual communities which received financial assistance in 2017-18
• EDI's contribution to 2017-2018 DPR's results: 21 communities

Funding provided through the Economie Development Initiative (EDI) acts as a lever to generate larger investments that contribute to strengthening the economy of official language minority communities in Quebec (OLMCs). Among other things, several projects supported by IDE have helped develop the tourism sector in some OLMCs in Quebec.

For 2017-18 ACOA approved 15 new projects. The following are examples of projects from various provinces:

• In New Brunswick (NB), ACOA approved $57,855 in funding to the Conseil économique du Nouveau-Brunswick (CENB) under the EDl for organizing a Youth Entrepreneurship Forum in November 2017. In 2014, CENB launched the SME Awareness Forum for students enrolled in post-secondary, university/college in all fields, faculties and schools. The activities were held entirely in French and introduced participants to the option of choosing entrepreneurship as a possible career. The most recent pan-Atlantic forum (4th edition) was held in Moncton and included activities, such as lectures by entrepreneurs, workshops, and information kiosks on how to start a business. The forum followed the same formula aimed at encouraging entrepreneurship and providing network opportunities to Francophone youth from throughout the province. lt is also worth noting that this project has received strong community support from local businesses who contributed financially to the project. Over 200 participants from the Atlantic provinces participated in the event, which included 100 Francophone students.
• In Nova Scotia (NS), ACOA approved $267,000 under the Economic Development initiative (EDl) to support Ulnooweg Development Group incorporated for a Canada 150 celebration that took place in August 2017 at the Grand-Pré National Historic Site. This celebration highlighted the historic relationship between two cultures: the Mi'kmaq and the Acadians. "Grand-Pré 2017 - A Peace and Friendship Gathering of the Mi'kmaq and Acadian People" celebrated the relationship that began over 400 years ago, a relationship that was a critical component in the building of Canada. The celebration included a series of cultural and educational events held over four days. The event represented a step forward in the reconciliation process between Canada and its First Nations. Building on the success of this event, discussions are currently taking place between the Société Promotion Grand-Pré and Glooscap First Nation to hold once a year, in the month of August, a weekend of celebrations marking the historical relationship between the Mi'kmaq and Acadian peoples.
• In PEI, the Réseau de développement et d'employabilité de l'Île-du-Prince-Édouard (RDÉE Î.PÉ.) offered its project targeted at 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. A particular emphasis was 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 that of CBC's Dragon's Den program. Pitch sessions included pre-selection rounds followed by the final competition between the top finishers. The goal was to support the establishment of new businesses in P.E.l.'s Francophone and Acadian community. Because of the success of the project, the Province of P.E.l. has agreed to allocate one of its five annual $25,000 ignition Program investments to the competition in 2019, thereby allowing the competitors to present in French. The project was approved by ACOA for a contribution of $10,500 under the EDl.

Through various projects under its Economic Development Initiative, FedDev Ontario will continue to consult OLMC in 2017-18 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 an 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 internship in Francophone organizations and businesses.

In 2017-18, the multi-year projects funded under the FedDev Ontario economic development initiative ended. Over the last year, $979,612 of funding was allocated to projects supporting the development of Official Language Minority Communities (OLMCs). Projects funded by the initiative were supposed to end by December 31, 2017; however, to ensure projects were successfully completed, an extension to March 31, 2018, was granted. During this period, the young interns' projects supported the additional hiring of 10 young Francophones, bringing to 63 the number of young people who were able to gain work experience in French.

Furthermore, in addition to the original funding, La Cité received additional funds to develop seven applied-research collaboration projects and expand the service offerings of its online professional-training platform to include 5 new modules, as well as add interactive functionality for online discussions. The overall results of the project (over the 4 years of funding) with the La Cité enabled the development of 90 training modules on the OFFRE.COM website, with 191 entrepreneurs subscribing to the site.

Business Development and Innovation

Community Economic Growth

The following results achieved in 2017-18 contributed to strengthened Innovation, entrepreneurships and diversification in OLMCs across the West (2017-18 expected result as indicated in PCH 2017-18 departmental plan):

• Business Development and Innovation:
  • # of businesses created/maintained/expanded – 92
  • # of business advisory services – 592
• Community Economic Growth:
  • # communities benefiting – 166 (target*: 4)
  • # of partnerships – 76
  • Value of community-based projects – 35 788 353 (target*: $1,400,000)
  • Value of leverage from community-based projects - $299,258 (target*: $700,000)

*target as indicated in PCH 2017-18 departmental plan

The 2017-18 actual results for # of communities benefiting and the value of community-based projects far exceeded the targets by over 4000% and over 2400% respectively. This is due to a single project, Eco-West, that reported the majority of its results upon completion. The actual leverage from the Eco-West project was less than anticipated.

Implemented across Western Canada, Le Conseil de développement économique des municipalités bilingues du Manitoba (CDEM)'s Eco-West project had results in the areas of municipal waste treatment, biomass management, greenhouse gas inventories and community energy plans. Unfortunately, CDEM delayed its projects by a year due to delays in funding from other sources, and the time necessary for municipalities to see its potential and to begin investing in green projects. A number of large municipal projects came to fruition in the last year of reporting, explaining the large increase in the value of projects in 2017-18. A large portion of leveraged funding went directly to municipalities instead of CDEM, explaining the decrease in value of leverage.

Economic Development

Business Development