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Annual Report on Official Languages 2020–2021

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List of figures

List of tables

List of acronyms and abbreviations

ACOA
Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency
Act
Official Languages Act
Action Plan
Action Plan for Official Languages 2018–‍2023: Investing in Our Future
ACUFC
Association des collèges et universités de la francophonie canadienne
CanNor
Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency
CBC
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
CCA
Canada Council for the Arts
CDETNO
Conseil de développement économique des Territoires du Nord-Ouest
CHSSN
Community Health and Social Services Network
CMA
Congrès mondial acadien
CMEC
Council of Ministers of Education, Canada
CNFS
Consortium national de formation en santé
CRTC
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission
EDI
Economic Development Initiative
ELAN
English-Language Arts Network
IDEANorth
Inclusive Diversification and Economic Advancement in the North
Emergency Support Fund
COVID-19 Emergency Support Fund for Cultural, Heritage and Sport Organizations
FAAFC
Fédération des aînées et aînés francophones du Canada
FCCF
Fédération culturelle canadienne-française
FCFA
Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne
FedDev Ontario
Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario
FedNor
Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario
FJCF
Fédération de la jeunesse canadienne-française
FRIC
Front des réalisateurs indépendants du Canada
IRCC
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada
ISED
Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada
N/A
Not applicable
NAC
National Arts Centre
NBRF
Northern Business Relief Fund
OLHCP
Official Languages Health Contribution Program
PHAC
Public Health Agency of Canada
Protocol for Agreements for Education
Protocol for Agreements for Minority-Language Education and Second-Language Instruction
PSPC
Public Services and Procurement Canada
QCGN
Quebec Community Groups Network
RCMP
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
RDÉE Canada
Réseau de développement économique et d’employabilité Canada
RIF
Francophone Immigration Networks
RRRF
Regional Relief and Recovery Fund
SSF
Société Santé en français
UOF
Université de l’Ontario français
WAGE
Women and Gender Equality Canada
WD
Western Economic Diversification Canada
Y4Y
Youth for Youth

Alternate format

Annual Report on Official Languages 2020–2021 [PDF version - 3.40 MB]

Message from the Minister

Ginette Petitpas Taylor

As Minister of Official Languages and Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, I am pleased to present the Annual Report on Official Languages 2020–‍2021. Canada and the world have been hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic; this health crisis has had a profound impact on our lives and continues to affect all areas of our society. But these past few years have also been marked by the ongoing efforts of the Department of Canadian Heritage and federal institutions to deliver on our government’s unwavering commitment to Canada’s two official languages and the development of official language minority communities.

While the pandemic has presented numerous challenges for our work, it has also created opportunities to innovate. The organization of virtual events allowed us to reach a larger number of participants, and the tailoring of programs and services allowed us to meet emerging needs. Canadian Heritage has targeted its interventions with federal institutions so that the rollout of emergency funds and the design of recovery programs reflect the needs and priorities of communities.

The year 2020–‍2021 was the third year of implementation of a historic investment of more than $2.7 billion in initiatives under the Action Plan for Official Languages 2018–‍2023: Investing in Our Future. This Annual Report highlights the progress and results achieved in relation to those many initiatives as well as the ongoing work of federal institutions in support of communities and our two official languages.

I am especially proud of the work done in the last years to modernize the Official Languages Act. In the September 2020 Speech from the Throne, the government committed to strengthening the Act by taking into account the unique reality of French. Further to that commitment, February 2021 saw the publication of a reform document that laid out for Canadians the Government of Canada’s agenda with respect to modernizing and strengthening the Act and its related instruments. This renewed commitment spurred us on to the introduction of Bill C-13 in March 2022.

I encourage you to read this report in order to learn more about the achievements of Canadian Heritage and all federal institutions in supporting the official languages.

The Honourable Ginette Petitpas Taylor
Minister of Official Languages and for the
Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency

2020–2021 Highlights

Figure 1: 2020–2021 Highlights
Figure 1: 2020–2021 Highlights – text version
  • Publication of the reform document entitled English and French: Towards a Substantive Equality of Official Languages in Canada, which laid the foundation for the work that would lead to the introduction of bills C-32 and C-13 to modernize and strengthen the OLA
  • Funding stabilized for the majority of organizations in 2020–‍2021 after a 20% increase in 2018–2019 and additional targeted increases in 2019–‍2020
  • Nearly 500 official language minority community organizations received a total of $9.6 million through the Emergency Support Fund for Cultural, Heritage and Sport Organizations.
  • 37 school and community infrastructure projects approved, for a total of $25.2 million in funding
  • The number of Francophones settlement service providers, key to the integration of newcomers, rose from 50 to 80
  • A 28% increase in Francophone immigrants admitted to Canada outside Quebec since 2019-2020
  • 14 Francophone minority communities implemented the Welcoming Francophone Communities Initiative, which aims to help welcome and settle French-speaking newcomers in these communities
  • A record 32,000 participants attended IRCC’s fully virtual flagship activity “Destination Canada Mobility Forum” held in February 2021
  • CBC/Radio-Canada continued development on Mauril, a brand-new, free-of-charge platform for learning English and French, launched in April 2021
  • $26,993,347: Total Canada Council for the Arts funding to community artists and arts organizations, a 17.7% increase in funding to communities over the previous year
  • Statistics Canada finalized a new block of questions on the Census for estimating the number of children of minority-language-instruction rights holders by region and school catchment area
  • Statistics Canada developed a communication strategy targeting communities across the country in order to achieve the highest possible response rate on the Survey on the Official Language Minority Population, which will be conducted in 2022 (59,000 participants)
  • $227 million awarded to the provinces and territories to support minority language education
  • 137 completed projects funded by Vice-Versa to enrich the life of civic community schools, for a total of 42,239 student participants in 174 French schools outside Quebec
  • 2,311 child care spaces and 470 jobs created for Francophone communities with funding from the Support for Early Childhood Development Program
  • An additional $3,930,000 to support students and recent graduates facing unique challenges in accessing jobs and internships under the Young Canada Works program
  • Launched in September 2020, the French-language digital platform TV5MONDEplus offers free-of-charge audiovisual content in French, of which 30% is Canadian

Introduction

The year 2020–‍2021 was marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, which impacted all aspects of the lives of Canadians, including our official languages and official language minority communities. The Government of Canada was sensitive to the needs of the communities and maintained a dialogue with their representatives, allowing federal institutions to design and roll out emergency funds and recovery programs that took into account the communities’ needs and priorities.

This year also saw the government’s efforts to modernize and strengthen the Official Languages Act take shape. The consultations with communities and stakeholders, federal institutions and experts led to the February 2021 publication of a document entitled English and French: Towards a Substantive Equality of Official Languages in Canada, which laid out the government’s agenda and commitments with respect to reforming the Act and its related instruments. This in turn led to the introduction of an initial bill in June 2021, followed by a second in March 2022.

The new initiatives announced in Action Plan for Official Languages 2018–‍2023: Investing in Our Future (Action Plan) in March 2018 continued to be rolled out in the year. Despite the challenging context, the funding allocated by federal institutions was in line with expectations. Federal institutions used the year to take stock of the implementation of Action Plan by conducting a mid-term review exercise involving recipients and the provincial and territorial governments. The exercise was based on reports by federal institutions, as well as surveys and dialogue sessions with the communities.

Once again this year, the structure of the Annual Report reflects the pillars established in Action Plan. After presenting the highlights of coordination in the first section, the Report goes on to describe the main initiatives undertaken to support the vital forces of communities and to strengthen access to services in the minority language, with the final section discussing the advancement of English and French in Canadian society and abroad.

1. A Revitalization of Official Languages in the Federal Public Service

In 2020–‍2021, the pandemic took Canada by storm. Canadians, including the communities, were affected in many different ways. From social distancing, to cancelled activities, to business closures, to the shift to online learning, health restrictions designed to slow the spread of the virus upset the daily lives of these communities, adding to pre-existing challenges. Organizations serving the communities had to adapt to these measures, in some cases by postponing events or cancelling them outright, temporarily closing their offices or points of service, or revising their business plans. Though their networks were weakened, organizations and businesses nonetheless demonstrated great resilience and agility, continuing to support the communities and fostering the use of English and French in spite of the circumstances.

The Government of Canada, too, put its nose to the grindstone. It remained sensitive to the needs of the communities and organizations, maintained a dialogue with their representatives and made funding available through Canadian Heritage’s Emergency Support Fund and numerous other pandemic response measures. The Department redoubled its efforts to remind federal institutions of their duties under Part VII of the Official Languages Act (the Act). It also created more outreach opportunities and tools to ensure that those duties were being carried out and that an official languages lens was being brought to bear in policies and programs. Building on the momentum of these activities, Canadian Heritage continued its efforts to modernize and strengthen the Act, working to ensure support for community development and the advancement of English and French, not only during the pandemic but on an ongoing basis as well.

Coordinating the implementation of section 41

Under section 42 of the Official Languages Act, the OLB is responsible for providing horizontal coordination of official languages within the federal government by consulting with and supporting federal institutions on the implementation of Part VII of the Act.

The Official Languages Branch therefore acts as a centre of expertise for the 200 or so federal institutions subject to the Act, helping them carry out their duties. The deputy heads of those institutions are responsible for taking positive measures under Part VII.

1.1 Modernization of the Official Languages Act

The Act is being strengthened and modernized to reflect contemporary linguistic needs and realities, and 2020–‍2021 saw the achievement of a number of key milestones in this respect. The September 23, 2020, Speech from the Throne stressed the importance of protecting French not only outside Quebec, but also within Quebec, given the troubling state of French in Canada. On February 19, 2021, the Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages released a document entitled English and French: Towards a Substantive Equality of Official Languages in Canada. That reform document laid the foundation for the future of official languages in Canada, a foundation consisting of six guiding principles. It proposed a set of legislative, regulatory and administrative measures designed to achieve substantive equality between our two official languages.

Guiding principles

  1. The recognition of linguistic dynamics in the provinces and territories and existing rights regarding Indigenous languages
  2. The willingness to provide opportunities for learning both official languages
  3. Support for the institutions of official language minority communities
  4. The protection and promotion of French throughout Canada, including in Quebec
  5. The Government of Canada as an example through strengthening of the compliance of federal institutions
  6. An Act for the Canada of today and tomorrow: Regular review of the Act and its implementation

On June 15, 2021, the Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages introduced Bill C-32: An Act to amend the Official Languages Act and to make related and consequential amendments to other Acts. The introduction of that bill was a step, but the bill died on the Order Paper when a federal election was called on August 13, 2021. The November 23, 2021, Throne Speech subsequently reaffirmed the government’s commitment to supporting the communities and to protecting and promoting French outside and inside Quebec by reintroducing its legislative proposal for the substantive equality of English and French and the strengthening of the Act. A new bill featuring still more enhancements and supporting measures for the communities—Bill C-13, An Act to amend the Official Languages Act, to enact the Use of French in Federally Regulated Private Businesses Act and to make related amendments to other Acts—was introduced in the 44th Parliament.

The Act is being further strengthened by enhancing and expanding the powers of the Treasury Board and by broadening the scope of the powers of the Commissioner of Official Languages, as provided for in the reform document. These expanded oversight powers will help ensure compliance on the part of federal institutions and should increase the level of bilingualism within the public service.

1.2 Targeted support for federal institutions

Since the early days of the pandemic, Canadian Heritage has been working to provide federal institutions with targeted support in carrying out their duties under section 41 of the Act. The Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages had regular dialogue with stakeholders to take the pulse of the communities during the pandemic and the governance committees, including the Committee of Assistant Deputy Ministers on Official Languages (CADMOL), quickly moved to virtual meetings in order to continue their horizontal coordination of government priorities with renewed commitment.

In spite of the exceptional circumstances and accelerated deployment of emergency measures as the federal government as a whole mobilized in response to the crisis, Canadian Heritage stepped up its proactive interventions to reinforce and generalize the use of an official languages lens in policy and program development. Early in the pandemic, the Deputy Minister sent a letter to deputy heads of federal institutions reminding them of the increased importance of meeting their official languages obligations.

Canadian Heritage also organized a number of virtual dialogue sessions between community organizations and federal institutions to ensure that the public service as a whole was aware of the emerging needs and priorities of those organizations. Among the stakeholders invited to these sessions were the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada (FCFA) and the Quebec Community Groups Network (QCGN), who presented their priorities to federal institutions.

Section 41: Federal commitment

Section 41 of the Official Languages Act sets out the Government of Canada’s commitment to:

  • “enhancing the vitality of the English and French linguistic minority communities in Canada and supporting and assisting their development”; and
  • “fostering the full recognition and use of both English and French in Canadian society.”

Federal institutions have a duty to take positive measures to implement this commitment while respecting the jurisdiction and powers of the provinces.

While the pandemic created a number of challenges in terms of organizing events to promote the official languages, it also created important opportunities that Canadian Heritage was quick to seize. By holding events virtually in order to comply with health measures, the Department was able to reach broader audiences across the country, thereby maximizing the impact of its outreach efforts. The success of these events and the innovative approaches that were employed are sure to have an impact on outreach event planning in future.

For example, on Linguistic Duality Day, Canadian Heritage held a virtual armchair discussion on official languages in the era of telework, which was attended by more than 2,200 employees. The Best Practices Forum on Official Languages, organized by the Council of the Network of Official Languages Champions, Canadian Heritage and the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, in collaboration with the Canada School of Public Service, was held virtually, allowing more than 2,000 employees to share best practices across federal institutions. Canadian Heritage also organized a virtual armchair discussion bringing together a panel of Francophone youth from across Canada and over 800 employees and members of the public. The panel spoke about the diversity of Canada’s Francophone communities, their hopes and their pride.

1.3 Tools

In order to address the identified needs, the OLB developed tools to support federal institutions in carrying out their official languages duties and shared those tools with the broader public service. The Guide for Drafting Memoranda to Cabinet — Official Languages Impact Analysis for federal institutions was developed in partnership with the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) and Department of Justice Canada to facilitate and enhance the official languages analyses conducted when preparing Memoranda to Cabinet. It includes a comprehensive analysis grid with a series of questions covering Parts IV, V, VI and VII of the Act and that take into account the official languages impacts of government initiatives. The Guide was shared with deputy heads and official languages representatives across the public service with help from the Privy Council Office.

In addition, the OLB developed and released the Self-Assessment Tool for Federal Institutions on the Implementation of Section 41 of the Official Languages Act (PDF format, 951 KB), which is designed to provide federal institutions with a clear picture of their implementation of section 41 and identify actions that could help improve and strengthen that implementation, in keeping with their mandate.

Furthermore, the Best Practices Digest: Fostering the Full Recognition and Use of both English and French in Canadian Society presents exemplary positive measures taken by federal institutions over the past five years, without regard to the business and mandate of those institutions. The Digest seeks to advance English and French in Canadian society.

1.4 Network 42

Canadian Heritage’s Network 42 brings together employees from across the country who are responsible for implementing section 42 of the Act. Network 42 creates opportunities for dialogue and builds bridges between federal institutions and the communities. It also participates in communities of practice and coordinates or presides over a wide range of coordination mechanisms.

In order to boost the level of awareness, accountability and engagement among senior managers of federal institutions, Network 42 took a number of actions in collaboration with partners such as the Deputy Minister of Canadian Heritage, in her role as champion of the public service official languages community, the Committee of Assistant Deputy Ministers on Official Languages, and the Council of the Network of Official Languages Champions. These included: creating and disseminating a video produced by Franco-Ontarian group Improtéine promoting Part VII and positive measures, and encouraging public servants to be leaders in the implementation of section 41 of the Act; and organizing an outreach event on the leadership of executives in the area of official languages, during which deputy heads presented on how the official languages are central to the values of the public service and Canadian society.

Network 42 also took a number of steps to ensure better collaboration and consultation between official language minority communities and federal institutions. At headquarters and in the regions alike, community groups were invited to present their needs and challenges in order to make representatives of federal institutions aware of community priorities. Similarly, both headquarters and the regions, together with community stakeholders, participated in various activities, such as issue tables, meetings, annual general meetings and working groups, establishing relationships and providing federal institutions with information about community activities and priorities. For example, in Quebec, the region went virtual to coordinate the annual meeting of the Working Group on Arts, Culture and Heritage. The meeting was held over two half days and brought together over 25 representatives from various federal departments to discuss issues facing the sector with community representatives.

Figure 2: Key mechanisms for interdepartmental coordination, by region
Figure 2: Key mechanisms for interdepartmental coordination, by region – text version

Main Interdepartmental Coordination Mechanisms by Region

  • British Columbia Federal Council Official Languages Committee (BCFCOLC)
  • Prairies Official Languages Committee
  • Saskatchewan Interdepartmental Network of Official Languages (SINOL)
  • Interdepartmental Network of Official Languages Coordinators of Alberta (INOLCA)
  • Manitoba Interdepartmental Network of Official Languages (MINOL)
  • Ontario Official Languages Interdepartmental Network (OOLIN)
  • Quebec Federal Council – Official Languages Committee
  • Network 41 – National Section
  • Network 41 – Atlantic

2. Supporting the Vital Forces of Communities

Besides its impacts on society as a whole, COVID-19 continued to exacerbate a number of challenges faced by the communities in all areas of daily life. However, based on an analysis of events over the past year, their energy, agility and determination to pursue their development are clearer than ever before. The year 2020–‍2021 was marked by resilience, solidarity and reinvention.

As was the case in all areas of society, digital tools played a pivotal role in strengthening ties between federal institutions and official language minority communities. A number of federal institutions leveraged this necessary shift to better train their staff and give community representatives a greater voice on various working groups and focus groups.

There was a rise in the number of online consultations, which made it possible to involve a greater number of partners. Case in point, in fall 2020, in connection with the COVID-19 Emergency Support Fund for Cultural, Heritage and Sport Organizations (Emergency Support Fund) established in April 2020, Canadian Heritage held a series of discussion sessions and roundtables attended by nearly 4,000 individuals and representatives of organizations, including those of official language minority communities, in addition to receiving some 1,000 briefs. The institutions responsible for delivering the initiative also conducted a survey of Phase 1 recipients: these data made it possible to measure the results achieved and were used in Phase 2 to address the identified needs and issues.

The implementation of Action Plan is based on the “by and for” approach, that is, an approach that involves communities in all decision-making and delivery processes for initiatives and projects, ensuring that their priorities and interests are always fully considered. This year, more than ever before, this approach proved its worth. In harder-hit sectors, including culture, government supports help to minimize the impacts of the crisis and sometimes even made it possible to offer new alternatives. In other areas, however, such as social development / economic growth, media work and even immigration, nearly all the programs underway continued to be rolled out, and new initiatives were born, with the necessary adjustments and often according to a hybrid approach.

Figure 3: Supporting the vital forces of communities: new Action Plan investments
Figure 3: Supporting the vital forces of communities: new Action Plan investments – text version
  • Funding stabilized for the majority of organizations in 2020–‍2021 after a 20% increase in 2018–‍2019 and additional targeted increases in 2019–‍2020
  • Program funding from Canadian Heritage for four new organizations beginning in 2020–‍2021
  • 25 new school and community infrastructure projects approved, for total funding of $15.2 million
  • Enhancement of the Community Cultural Action Fund: 10 additional cultural projects, 554 cultural activities in 828 minority schools benefited
  • Through the Fund for Quebec’s English-Speaking Communities, 14 new projects for Quebec’s English-speaking communities received funding
  • A total of 33 community radio and newspaper projects were supported by the Community Media Strategic Support Fund, including:
    • 7 Francophone radio stations (of a total of 27 Francophone radio stations)
    • 18 Francophone newspapers (of a total of 26 Francophone newspapers)
    • 5 Anglophone newspapers (of a total of 30 Anglophone newspapers)
    • 2 Anglophone radio stations (of a total of 6 Anglophone radio stations)
    • 1 joint project with Anglophone community media in Quebec belonging to the Quebec Community Newspapers Association, in collaboration with the English Language Arts Network (radio stations)
  • 20 internships in community media
  • 2,311 child care spaces and 470 jobs created with funding from the Support for Early Childhood Development Program
  • The number of Francophone settlement service providers, key to the integration of newcomers, rose from 50 to 80
  • 552 clients from across Canada received language training in support of the Francophone Integration Pathway
  • A 28% increase in Francophone immigrants admitted to Canada outside Quebec since 2019-2020
  • 14 Francophone minority communities implemented the Welcoming Francophone Communities Initiative, which seeks to help welcome and settle French-speaking newcomers in these communities
  • A record 32,000 participants attended IRCC’s fully virtual flagship activity “Destination Canada Mobility Forum” held in February 2021

2.1 Giving communities a voice

2.1.1 Better structures to support more targeted approaches

The shift to virtual enabled federal institutions to further improve their relationships with the communities by reaching new audiences and being more inclusive in dialogue sessions. Technology also played a central role in the work carried out within the institutions themselves, which made it possible to strengthen and better target outreach efforts concerning support for the communities. Thus, in spite of the heavy workload related to the pandemic, online training sessions and events organized by the Centre of Excellence on Official Language Minority Communities of the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) were very well attended. It was also in 2020 that Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) created its Official Languages Roundtable, a dialogue space that promotes the sharing of information concerning official languages and Francophone immigration within the Department. The Hub quickly became a valuable tool for intradepartmental collaboration, increasing the number of contacts between key players working in the various programs, optimizing resources and maximizing the benefits for the communities.

The explosion of virtual work also facilitated the rapid deployment of new initiatives. At Health Canada, the Official Language Community Development Bureau (OLCDB) worked with its partners on the Federal Health Portfolio Consultative Committee for Official Language Minority Communities in Canada to create a working group on community- and health-related information and research. Its members began by mapping all community- and health-related research and data-collection activities carried out over the preceding five years. This exercise will help the Department make informed decisions about which approaches and initiatives to prioritize in addressing the needs of the communities.

Equity-seeking communities: understanding and acting on the impacts of covid-19

A few months after the pandemic began, Women and Gender Equality Canada (WAGE) partnered with Canadian Heritage to establish an interdepartmental working group entitled “Equity-Seeking Communities and COVID-19 Taskforce” to study the impacts of the pandemic on equity-seeking communities, including official language minority communities. Representatives of 25 departments and agencies pooled their efforts as part of this novel example of government-wide collaboration.

So it was that an organization like the Contact interculturel francophone de Sudbury (CIFS), which provides support to Francophone newcomers, was able to present an overview of how systemic inequalities were threatening its ability to obtain long-term funding for its programs and activities. Concretely, the exercise led WAGE and other departments to design better-articulated COVID-19 response and recovery initiatives to address the needs of a wider range of clienteles, including in official language communities.

As part of its Digital Citizen Initiative, Canadian Heritage invited three organizations representing the communities—the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne (FCFA), the Quebec Community Groups Network (QCGN) and Canadian Parents for French (CPF)—to join the group of eight non-governmental members on the Digital Citizen Contribution Program table. Members help identify priorities for the Program’s calls for proposals. This expanded community representation will ensure that the needs and priorities of the communities are better taken into account in the fight against disinformation. It will also enhance information flow and will improve opportunities for various interested groups to submit a project.

2.1.2 Greater consultation

Throughout the year, the OLB worked to educate federal institutions about the importance of consulting community representatives and members at all stages of the development of their programs and activities. No doubt, the extent of that work had a lot to do with the marked increase in the number of initiatives undertaken by institutions in this regard. Here are a few examples:

A few months before the May 2021 census, Statistics Canada put all its expertise to work, mobilizing its teams of experts to finalize a new block of questions aimed at providing an estimate, on a regional and catchment-area basis, of the number of children whose parents have the right to have them receive their primary and secondary education in the minority language. At the same time, thanks in large part to the support of Canadian Heritage’s OLB, which put in place the necessary financial structure, Statistics Canada continued the planning and production process for the 2022 Survey on the Official Language Minority Population. The last edition of this survey dates back to 2006, and the renewal of the survey will help measure the evolving situation of official language communities, by province/territory and selected sub-provincial regions, using indicators and themes that reflect current issues. In collaboration with Canadian Heritage and other Survey partners, Statistics Canada also developed a communications strategy tailored to the communities to achieve the highest-possible response rate for the Survey. The Survey will be conducted in 2022 and is expected to reach 59,000 participants.

2.1.3 Core funding and consolidation of activities

In 2020–‍2021, the core funding provided to organizations under Action Plan by way of the Official Languages Support Programs remained stable for the majority of organizations. This followed a 20% increase for 276 organizations in 2018–‍2019, as well as additional targeted increases for another 139 organizations and the addition of 25 new organizations to the list of recipients in 2019–‍2020. That said, this year, four new Ontario organizations received program funding for the first time. These included the Centre communautaire francophone de Sarnia-Lambron, which received $30,000 for new activities aimed at strengthening the sense of belonging among Francophone teens. Further north, $20,000 went to Contact interculturel francophone de Sudbury, which offers a wide range of social and economic activities as well as cultural and artistic programming contributing to the development of members of different Francophone cultures in the Greater Sudbury area.

Other initiatives led by various federal institutions also enabled organizations working in a range of sectors to consolidate their activities. The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) played a particularly structuring role by awarding just over $45,000 to the Société acadienne et francophone de l’Île-du-Prince-Édouard to create a shared human resources service for the Island’s Francophone non-profit organizations. Provided by an expert, the services will include the establishment of hiring policies, training and development opportunities in human resources management, and answers to ad hoc queries. Once implemented, this shared service will be linked to the existing finance-related service and will become self-sufficient.

At the opposite end of the country, Destination Canada worked closely with the Société de développement économique de la Colombie-Britannique (SDECB) to support the development of French-language tourism throughout the province. Together, they identified nine new members of Destination Canada’s Canadian Signature Experiences program who offer tourism services in French. These members were invited to also join the Corridor, the platform of the Réseau de développement économique et d’employabilité Canada (RDÉE Canada), a partner of Destination Canada, which promotes more than 400 Francophone heritage, cultural and tourism products to clients in Canada and abroad. And when the SDECB organized a virtual workshop to help Francophone tourism businesses leverage social media to reach their clientele, Destination Canada’s dissemination of the information via its various platforms enabled the organization to attract more participants.

In the same spirit, the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency (CanNor) continued its collaboration with the Conseil de développement économique des Territoires du Nord-Ouest (CDETNO), which was in its second year. In the year, this three-year $285,500 initiative enabled CDETNO to create and deliver a range of tools and training workshops to Francophone entrepreneurs and youth, in partnership with other stakeholders, such as chambers of commerce and school boards. CDETNO’s participation in promotional activities and other targeted events allowed it to reach Francophone markets, such as Quebec and Belgium. A new Memorandum of Understanding with NWT Tourism enabled CDETNO to undertake new targeted research and marketing activities to better reach these clienteles.

In an entirely different field, Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) has made sharing our science in both official languages one of the pillars of its official languages action plan. In March 2021, during the Rendez-vous de la Francophonie, the institution worked with the University of Ottawa to organize a national roundtable on best practices and strategies to boost the impact of science communication initiatives. A follow-up two-hour workshop attended by 18 scientists allowed for an in-depth discussion on how participants could apply these practices and strategies in their communications to official language communities.

2.2 Continuing to invest in community social and economic development

2.2.1 COVID-19 emergency supports

The pandemic has affected Canadians individually, in their daily lives, and collectively, as owners and employees of businesses. In all such cases, priority issues have been addressed by adapting existing programs or introducing new ones.

Managed by Canadian Heritage, the Strengthening Strategic Investment Capacity measure in Action Plan was used to break the social isolation of seniors. In particular, this Strategic Fund allocated $580,000 over two years to the Fédération des aînées et des aînés francophones du Canada’s distanced activities project for Francophone seniors to organize four series of online cultural activities and virtual gatherings free of charge in each province and territory. A similar initiative worth $420,000 over two years was implemented in Quebec by the English Language Arts Network (ELAN), in collaboration with Seniors Action Quebec, as part of the E-SHARE (English Seniors’ Heritage: a Reflection of Everyone) project.

Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) is also one of the federal institutions on the front lines of implementing and managing the various assistance programs to minimize the social and economic impacts of the pandemic. Throughout the year, the Department and its Service Canada agency ensured that the official languages lens was brought to bear at all stages of the analysis, design and implementation of emergency services and measures deployed across the country to meet the emerging needs of the communities.

Besides ensuring that the resources and flexibilities added to the Labour Market Transfer Agreements could also be applied to community support agreements, ESDC allocated additional funds to the Youth Employment and Skills Strategy, resulting in the creation of 9,500 jobs and internships. For example, EDSC provided more than $3 million to Actions Interculturelles Canada, a Francophone organization outside Quebec that works with partners in Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia to provide job placement and mentoring opportunities for youth from various under-represented groups, including official language communities. The organization supports employers and youth beneficiaries to ensure that, despite the challenging pandemic environment, young people can learn new skills, increase their motivation to work and develop a rewarding sense of accomplishment.

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) too heard the pleas for assistance from businesses hard hit by the pandemic. In June 2020, the government created a Regional Relief and Recovery Fund (RRRF) to ensure that all categories of businesses could receive adequate support. Administered by regional development agencies across the country, this special complementary relief fund was designed specifically to address the regional needs and priorities of communities, including official language communities.

For example, in Manitoba, Western Economic Diversification Canada (WD) enabled Entreprises Riel, a leader in the development of bilingual tourism and business projects, to provide advice and practical support to local tourism businesses coping with the pandemic. In Northern Ontario, FedNor contributed $1,435,876 to nine RRRF projects, the recipients of which identified themselves as being led predominantly by members of the communities, and these projects helped to sustain 200 jobs. The resources of the Economic Development Initiative (EDI) funded by Action Plan were also put to use: for example, CanNor managed a Northern Business Relief Fund (NBRF), created with resources from the Inclusive Diversification and Economic Advancement in the North (IDEANorth) program, through which CanNor provided businesses with non-repayable grants to cover their fixed costs up to $100,000. CanNor also used the RRRF to complement the NBRF: under these two programs, 23 Francophone-owned or -managed businesses in the territories received grants and contributions worth over $1 million in total.

2.2.2 Social development

Many social development projects were able to move forward, despite the challenges posed by the pandemic. For example, the Community Spaces Fund created under Action Plan invested nearly $6 million in 18 new community infrastructure projects in 15 communities across Canada. This included a $2 million contribution to Foyer Richelieu Welland, Southern Ontario’s only bilingual long-term care home, which will support the construction of a cultural and community centre within the organization’s future building complex. A variety of intergenerational and multicultural activities will be offered, and these activities will be geared first and foremost to residents, users of the services and the day centre, and seniors’ families and caregivers; that said, all members of the community, Francophone or otherwise, will be welcome. In Saskatchewan, the Fédération des francophones de Saskatoon received $35,000 to improve the functionality of its building, allowing it to provide a professional, efficient and safe environment for the community organizations based there.

Figure 4: Artistic rendering of the new cultural and community centre at Foyer Richelieu Welland
An artist's rendering of the new Foyer Richelieu long-term-care home in Welland to be built before 2025.

Other types of projects also enabled some communities to begin rolling out long-term initiatives. In Quebec, Canadian Heritage’s Development of Official-Language Communities Program funded a Quebec Community Groups Network (QCGN) project called the Strategic Growth Plan for Quebec’s English-speaking Communities: beginning in September 2020, the QCGN held a series of community forums, consultations and roundtables involving a wide range of key stakeholders to work out a common vision and develop a detailed picture of needs in the arts-and-culture, education, health-and-social-services, justice and community-media sectors. In March 2021, this effort culminated in a forum to develop a shared vision of needs and build consensus among stakeholders concerning challenges, common to the various sectors, that are currently hindering efforts to develop the vitality of Quebec’s English-speaking communities.

ESDC also manages a variety of programs made possible through Action Plan. The Social Partnership Initiative in Official Language Minority Communities is implemented through the Children and Families component of the Social Development Partnerships Program. It is delivered through agreements with two intermediary organizations, the Fédération des aînées et aînés francophones du Canada (FAAFC) and the QCGN. In the initiative’s second year of implementation, 2020-2021, FAAFC-supervised projects in areas ranging from social entrepreneurship, to caregiver outreach, to employability and active aging mobilized 504 partners and reached 788,065 people, twice as many as in the previous year. Direct services were provided to 31,738 citizens in more than 610 official language communities, in addition to 1,198 direct interventions by volunteers, a measure of the support received by the communities. FAACF alone raised over $3 million in funding from other sources in addition to the approximately $1.5 million invested by EDSC over the past year.

EDSC’s Enabling Fund for Official Language Minority Communities aims to promote learning, skills development and employment. In the year, the Fund disbursed some $14.5 million through a network of 14 organizations across Canada, enabling those organizations to establish or maintain more than 2,500 active partnerships with organizations in the public, private and non-profit sectors that provided services to nearly 100,000 individuals, businesses or organizations.

Under Action Plan, ESDC is also responsible for initiatives supporting early childhood development. As part of an agreement with the Réseau de développement économique et d’employabilité Canada (RDÉE Canada), that organization manages a fund of nearly $7 million, of which $1.4 million was disbursed. These resources, which are in addition to the amounts raised by RDÉE Canada with other contributors, enabled the Conseil de développement économique du Manitoba (CDÉM) and its partners (including Saint-Boniface University and the Fédération des parents de la francophonie manitobaine) to provide training and coaching services to community members who wanted to open a daycare centre: in this way, the CDÉM helped create 77 new child care spaces and 17 jobs. In Nova Scotia, RDÉE Canada led an exploratory study on the amalgamation of five early childhood centres located in the southwestern part of the province, with the objective of improving management and financial stability. The project quickly grew to become provincial in scope, including eight daycare centres managing 15 sites across the territory.

Canadian Heritage also supported community efforts to optimize the economic environment for Francophone child care. Funding of almost $177,000 over two years went to the Commission nationale des parents francophones through the Strategic Fund. This funding will allow the organization to develop a national social economy cooperative, Éconocoop, which will provide its members with financial management tools such as diagnostic and management software, a group-purchasing service, access to insurance and pension-fund services, and access to targeted expertise in the various areas of child care financial and human resources management. Starting in 2023, the investment fund created from surpluses will be used to ensure the viability of the cooperative, to improve child care services and to develop new spaces in French-language daycares.

2.2.3 Economic development

The resilience and adaptability demonstrated by federal institutions and their partners also allowed them to create, or continue the development of, several initiatives that fuelled community economic development throughout the year.

In all areas, obtaining and analyzing reliable baseline data is an important prerequisite for successful initiatives. This essential groundwork is often made possible through the collaboration of a number of federal institutions. For example, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), in collaboration with Statistics Canada and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) completed the second phase of a research project on communities in the agriculture and agri-food sector. Four statistical portraits, on the Atlantic, Quebec, Ontario and Western regions, were published between January and March 2021, and distributed to representatives of the communities in question.

Other projects aim to help communities better understand and use the data already available. In Quebec, as part of a statistical literacy project developed by the QCGN in collaboration with a range of local partners and the federal government (Canadian Heritage, ESDC), Statistics Canada delivered a three-day virtual workshop on interpreting and using statistical data to a group of 11 English-speaking youth working in the community sector.

The Economic Development Initiative (EDI), renewed under Action Plan with a budget of $30.5 million, entered its third year in 2020–‍2021. Across the country, the regional development agencies, coordinated by ISED, worked closely with partners to complete their projects, despite the challenges posed by the pandemic. For example:

Canadian Heritage funds two initiatives under the Youth Employment and Skills Strategy: Young Canada Works in Both Official Languages (YCWBOL) and Young Canada Works at Building Careers in English and French (YCWBCEF). Together, these two programs received $3.7 million in funding, with an additional $3.93 million in emergency funding, to help the programs and their beneficiaries respond to the unprecedented challenges posed by the pandemic. A total of 730 youth jobs were created under the YCWBOL, while 71 internships took place under the YCWBCEF. The following examples illustrate the scope and positive impacts of these projects:

2.3 Promoting vibrant media that inform and connect communities

In 2020–‍2021, more than ever before, the media was asked to play a vital role for all Canadians, including members of official language communities. The Canada Media Fund allocated $120 million in emergency support funds, of which $20 million went to assist under-represented communities: following a consultation with industry leaders and community partners, more than $400,000 was allocated to television producers from Francophone minority communities and $750,000 to producers from Quebec’s English-speaking communities. This was in addition to the $11.5 million the Fund allocated to 19 French-language productions and 10 French-language projects being developed outside Quebec, and the $4.2 million allocated to 16 English-language projects being developed in Quebec.

Other existing initiatives also helped community media continue their work and grow. Launched in 2019 as part of Action Plan, the Community Media Strategic Support Fund administered by the Association de la presse francophone supported a total of 33 community radio and newspaper projects across the country, an overall investment of nearly $3.7 million. Among the 56 media outlets that benefited from these initiatives, the Fund supported the “Fusion, Émancipation, Information” project of Radio Taïga and the Aquilon newspaper in the Northwest Territories. This project supported not only the administrative merger of the two media outlets but also the development of a three-year strategic plan and the implementation of a business plan that provides for market development and revenue diversification, as well as the expansion of news coverage and radio programming to include Francophone communities outside Yellowknife.

CBC and Société Radio-Canada: vital sources of information for communities during the pandemic

Consultations with the communities over the past few years have identified a natural reflex in Francophone communities to consume information in English, especially in the case of national or international news. During the pandemic, Radio-Canada spared no effort to ensure that quality information was available on television, radio and the Web: ICI RDI was on hand from the start of the crisis, on television and on the Web, to ensure that Francophones across the country had access to critical information at all times. Provincial press briefings were broadcast on its traditional and digital channels with simultaneous translation into French. All performance indicator results collected during the year confirm that these efforts were successful.

In Quebec, CBC is often the only option available to official language communities living in more remote areas. Audiences have turned to its digital services in droves, and as of spring 2020, cbc.ca was seeing an 18% increase in average monthly minutes per visitor compared with the previous year. CBC Montréal also set up a live English-language feed of provincial government press conferences on COVID-19, at its own expense, and made it available to all English-language media, including its competitors, to inform residents of official language communities of public health guidelines and protocols.

In addition to the extraordinary measures put in place during the pandemic (see sidebar), CBC and Radio-Canada also continued their essential work in support of official language communities throughout the year. On October 7, 2020, the public broadcaster, in collaboration with News Media Canada, launched Local News Matters, the first bilingual directory of Canadian local news media. The directory, which already contains over 1,000 links, can be accessed via the CBC/Radio-Canada corporate website. It encourages Canadians to turn to and support trusted local news sources.

For its part, the Canada Periodical Fund managed by Canadian Heritage supported 22 periodicals in official language communities through its Aid to Publishers component, including La Voix acadienne in Prince Edward Island, Le Voyageur in Ontario and L’Eau vive in Saskatchewan, and magazines such as The Quarterly/La Trimestrielle, in Ontario, and Maisonneuve, in Quebec.

Other federal institutions are also contributing to the vitality and development of community media by including those media in their advertising strategies. For example, an analysis by ESDC’s Public Affairs and Stakeholder Relations Branch found that 67% of Canadians aged 54 to 72 read print newspapers at least once a week and that 79% of residents of rural communities read community newspapers. As part of a campaign to promote government programs and services to seniors, they included English and French print ads in their media mix, for a total of 800,000 pages in rural media.

2.4 Fostering cultural outreach

The arts sector has been one of the hardest hit by the pandemic. Thousands of artists and craftspeople, especially in the living arts sector, found themselves out of work. And while government supports did not always prevent postponements or cancellations, they often softened the blow, facilitated redeployment, and even allowed for innovations that opened up new opportunities for both artists and their audiences.

As in all other areas, in spite of the difficulties caused by COVID-19, countless projects were developed, rolled out and expanded, and contributed to the cultural vitality of official language communities.

Canada Council for the Arts: increased funding to official language communities and additional pandemic supports

The Canada Council for the Arts, through its various programs, provided a total of $26,993,347 in financial support to the communities. This represents a 17.7% increase in funding to the communities compared with the previous year.

These increases are due in part to the rise in the number of community representatives on peer review panels for CCA’s grant programs and strategic funds, and the inclusion of evaluation criteria that better identify applicants’ membership in official language communities or the impact of their work on those communities.

This assistance was also enhanced by the special supports provided in response to the pandemic. In 2020, 92 Francophone arts groups or organizations and 158 arts groups or organizations from English-speaking communities received special support from the CCA through the Canadian Heritage Emergency Support Fund, with the former receiving a total of $1.90 million and the latter $2.43 million.

In the spring, the Council also launched the Digital Originals initiative to help artists, arts groups and arts organizations adapt their work for online dissemination: of the recipients, 44 (4.3% of the total) were from Francophone minority communities, while 93 (9.1% of the total) of their colleagues were from Quebec’s English-speaking communities. Together, they received a total of $685,000.

2.4.1 COVID and beyond

In April 2020, the Minister of Canadian Heritage announced details of the new COVID-19 Emergency Support Fund for Cultural, Heritage and Sport Organizations to help these hard-pressed organizations and their members cope with the economic pressures of the pandemic and plan for the future. Much of the $500 million in funding was delivered by Canadian Heritage through its various programs. The Department’s partners under the Collaboration Agreement for the Development of Arts and Culture in the Francophone Minority Communities of Canada delivered the other components of the Fund, working closely with their respective partners.

To name a few examples, the Canada Arts Presentation Fund (CAPF) administered by Canadian Heritage provided a total of $491,400 to 53 organizations in official language communities, including the Festival Acadien de Clare for the Programming 2020–‍2022 - Festival Acadien de Clare project in Comeauville, Nova Scotia, and the Réseau des grands espaces for the Réseau de diffusion des arts de la scène professionnels dans l’Ouest et le Nord canadiens project. Programs such as the Canada Book Fund and the Canada Music Fund increased their regular funding by 25%. Recipients of these initiatives also managed to adjust their projects and benefit from more flexible delivery mechanisms so that they could achieve their objective of creating, promoting and disseminating cultural initiatives, despite the challenges of the pandemic.

Culture in schools during the pandemic

As a result of the pandemic, students across the country had to forgo most of the usual cultural field trips that enrich their school curriculum. Initiatives that brought culture into the classroom were therefore warmly received by students and teachers alike.

Action Plan enhanced the Community Cultural Action Fund managed by Canadian Heritage. This year, just over $2.1 million was provided in the form of micro-grants to cultural and community organizations involved in the PassePART program (delivered by the Fédération culturelle canadienne-française) and the ArtistsInspire Grants program (delivered by the English Language Arts Network), which supported activities in 664 Francophone schools outside Quebec (170,000 students reached) and 164 Anglophone schools in Quebec (16,000 students reached).

Here are just a few examples: At a number of schools in New Brunswick, illustrator Camille Perron-Cormier connected with students via videoconference, introducing them to the art of comics and guiding their first pencil strokes. In Kanata, Ontario, Youth Fusion gave 78 students from École Roger-Saint-Denis the opportunity to explore different aspects of producing a short film (acting, sound, sets and costumes, filming). The initiative was a great success.

2.4.2 Film, television and other platforms

The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) completed 14 works by artists from official language communities across Canada. Throughout the year, the NFB also stepped up its efforts to increase online dissemination of those works. The promotional campaign for the launch of the film Le Bonheur de Lucien, by young filmmaker Nathalie Hébert of Scoudouc, New Brunswick, winner of the 10th edition of the Tremplin competition for Francophones outside Quebec, was one of the most successful to date, receiving more than 10,000 views on NFB.ca/ONF.ca during its first month online. Other NFB-produced works by seasoned Acadian artists also received attention: filmmaker Monique LeBlanc’s feature film, Plus haut que les flammes, had its world-premiere and in-competition screening at the International Festival of Films on Art, followed by screenings at the Festival de cinéma de la ville de Québec, the Festival international de littérature and the Festival international du cinéma francophone en Acadie, before being presented exclusively online for the duration of the 2021 Rendez-vous de la Francophonie, which focussed on Acadia.

Telefilm Canada supported the fifth edition of the Course des regions, a short film competition for Francophone youth aged 18 to 35 from across Canada. Three participants from the communities took part in this mentoring and personalized-coaching experience, and two of them especially distinguished themselves: Jonathan-Serge Lalande, from Yukon, received the Franco-Canadian award and the best vlogs award, while Michael Fenwick, from Newfoundland and Labrador, was a finalist for the audience award. This was the first time a Francophone filmmaker from the province had participated in the event. The winners’ films will be broadcast on UnisTV.

At TV5, the year witnessed a digital shift that was particularly beneficial for artists from the Canadian Francophone community. The broadcaster’s new platform was launched in September 2020. More than 12% of the 207 Canadian Francophone productions broadcast on TV5MONDE and its platforms—available in 194 countries and territories around the world—were made by producers based outside Quebec, who feature Francophones from the communities.

Other institutions pooled their resources and created new partnerships that proved beneficial to artists and artisans in the film community. For example, the Canada Media Fund, funded by Canadian Heritage, partnered with Netflix and Telefilm Canada to help fund Élan, a project of the Alliance des producteurs francophones du Canada, which promotes the professional development of creators in the audiovisual industry in Francophone minority communities. Élan served as an incubator for four Francophone producers from Ontario and New Brunswick, who have been working since February to develop their television/Web series projects for the international market.

The low discoverability, on Web platforms, of Franco-Canadian content produced by community-based media artists is one of the main challenges facing members of the Moncton-based Front des réalisateurs indépendants du Canada (FRIC). Thanks to the Canada Council for the Arts’ Market Access Strategy for Official Language Minority Communities Fund—an initiative made possible through Action Plan—the FRIC was able to hire a well-known firm and pioneer in the Quebec Web industry to help it make its members’ audiovisual content more discoverable on search engines, thereby boosting the presence of these creators in various markets and in the digital ecosystem.

2.4.3 Museums and the living arts go virtual

The past year saw museums and the living arts forced to move some or all of their activities online. Some programs already designed to reach remote audiences were particularly popular. One example was the modules developed by the Canadian Museum of History’s school programs team, linked to the curricula of school boards across the country. As part of the Supply Line Discovery Boxes initiative, students in communities in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick received a large trunk of genuine artifacts and reproductions, on loan, for two weeks, at no charge. All support materials, including teacher resources, were bilingual. The virtual school program also allowed students in the English section of Polyvalente C.E. Pouliot in Gaspé, Quebec, to work online with a museum facilitator in their own language. On a completely different note, the Canada Council Art Bank featured the work of two community artists, Acadian visual artist Léo LeBlanc and Franco-Saskatchewanian sculptor Joe Fafard, via two digital exhibitions on the Google Arts & Culture platform.

Each year, the Music Showcases program, managed by Canadian Heritage, allows community artists to showcase their talent to industry professionals and audiences they would not otherwise have access to: the Community Showcases are made possible through the Collective Initiatives component of the Canada Music Fund. Although the pandemic had a greater impact on a number of activities, including international music showcases and large-scale events, the planned funding of $1.1 million was redistributed so that shows could be recorded and then broadcast on various digital platforms. This enabled artists to reach new audiences. In the year, more than 257 artists from the communities performed in more than 370 musical showcases, most of which were presented virtually at regional, national and international events that themselves had gone virtual. Given their astounding success and effectiveness, these emergent practices will continue beyond the end of the pandemic.

To bring theatre to listeners during the pandemic, Radio-Canada resurrected the radio adaptation of plays and broadcast seven plays from French-speaking Canada, developed in Quebec, Manitoba and Acadia, in a radio-theatre format on ICI Première and its digital platform, OHdio. At the National Arts Centre (NAC), the Artistic Director of the French Theatre’s Zones théâtrales kept in close contact with artistic programmers across the country throughout the year in an effort to keep the community dynamic alive. In the fall, the program launched its call for projects for the 2021 edition of the biennial event, the goal of which was to showcase professional theatre from official language communities and the various regions of Quebec. The French Theatre also continued to work with a number of Franco-Canadian collaborators who are co-developing a major creative project called TROIS that will bring together 40 Francophone artists from across the country. The project will open the inaugural season of the Theatre’s new director, Mani Soleymanlou, in September 2021.

In addition, in November 2020, the NAC launched a new multidisciplinary module, Arts Alive, for students and teachers across the country in both English and French. This free-of-charge resource, which was developed to make the arts more accessible and inspire creativity in the classroom and at home, delivered five online workshops to young Francophone audiences, including students at École publique La Découverte, in Ontario, and École des Trois-Soleils, in Nunavut. Thanks to the Canada Council for the Arts’ (CAC’s) Market Access Strategy for Official Language Minority Communities Fund, the same commitment to outreach enabled Quebec City–based dancer Helen Simard to promote her show Papillon to young audiences and adapt it for virtual dissemination. Papillon combines hip-hop and theatre. The show addresses the loneliness and need for connection that many young people felt so keenly during the lockdowns. The show now exists in two different formats: a live performance that follows the COVID-19 distancing rules; and a film that was presented online at the Accès Danse festival in Châteauguay, Quebec, on March 26, 2021, one of the largest dance events for young audiences in the province that draws some 400 high school students and teachers from across Quebec each year.

2.4.4 Books

Canadians across the country turned to books in greater numbers this year, and the industry responded accordingly. On behalf of Canadian Heritage, the CCA administers the National Translation Program for Book Publishing (NTPBP). The Program, which has received $4 million in funding over five years, invested $800,000 this year to help Canadian publishers translate works by Canadian authors into the other official language. This year, the NTPBP facilitated the translation of 81 titles, some 20% more than initially projected. Of these translations, 50 involved first-time business collaborations between the original publisher of the title and the publisher that translated it. The Program also supports a Translation Rights Fair at the Salon du livre de Montréal.

Also in the area of publishing, the Support for Publishers component funded audio book development and conversion of Canadian titles by community authors and publishers through the Canada Book Fund’s Accessible Digital Books Initiative. According to the most recent data, in 2019–‍2020, three community publishers and four majority publishers received funding to convert a total of 18 titles by 9 community authors to audio format. This has given Canadian readers greater access to a broader range of titles that can now reach a wider audience given their availability in both print and audio format.

Figure 5: Some Key Figures on Canadian Heritage and Canada Council for the Arts Support to Community Artists in 2020–‍2021
Figure 5: Some Key Figures on Canadian Heritage and Canada Council for the Arts Support to Community Artists in 2020–‍2021 – text version
  • $1,150,000: Funding provided by Canadian Heritage for the organization of music showcases promoting market access for community artists and organizations
    • 370 music showcases;
    • 257 community-based artists or arts organizations.
  • $630,500: Funding from the Canada Council for the Arts to assist community artists or arts organizations in accessing existing or promising markets and in touring
    • 20 artists or arts organizations receiving funding
    • $26,993,347: Total Canada Council for the Arts funding to community artists and arts organizations
  • The Canada Media Fund invested:
    • $11.5 million in the production of French-language programs outside Quebec by supporting 29 productions and 10 development projects;
    • $4.2 million in the production of English-language programs in Quebec by supporting 16 projects.
  • More than 207 French-Canadian productions were broadcast on TV5MONDE, a channel available in 194 countries and territories, and on its platforms.
  • Launched in September 2020, the French-language digital platform TV5MONDEplus offers free-of-charge audiovisual content in French, approximately 30% of which is Canadian.
  • 41 publishers received funding to translate 81 Canadian-authored books (in English or French).
  • 22 community periodicals received funding from the Canada Periodical Fund, for a total of $793,384.

2.5 Increasing Francophone immigration

This year, the pandemic resulted in an overall drop, across all categories, in the number of immigrants who came to start a new life in Canada. That being said, all parties involved in assisting Francophones who choose to settle outside Quebec continued their efforts, overcoming the obstacles posed by COVID-19. The results are clear and attest to the quality and effectiveness of their work.

Francophone immigration outside Quebec - better documentation of progress

Action Plan aims to increase the share of Francophone permanent residents who settle outside Quebec to 4.4%. In 2020–2021, despite the significant impacts of the pandemic, this rate increased by 28% compared with the previous year.

In 2020, for the first time, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) made public the number of Francophone admissions required outside Quebec to meet the Immigration Strategy target. This information sharing was in response to calls from stakeholders and IRCC partners involved in the various initiatives surrounding these migration pathways and is a way for IRCC to demonstrate its commitment to achieving the Action Plan target.

2.5.1 Recruitment abroad and stakeholder engagement

Immigrating permanently to Canada is a multi-year proposition. While exploratory trips were out of the question in the year, the message to all potential candidates was to prepare well. The pandemic has greatly accelerated the digital shift underway for several years now.

During the year, the International Education Division of Global Affairs Canada (GAC) worked closely with the Association des collèges et universités de la francophonie canadienne (ACUFC) and the Réseau des cégeps et des collèges francophones du Canada (RCCFC). The two organizations received contributions of $111,150 and $69,487, respectively, to support the implementation of new or expanded foreign-market-development activities on behalf of their members, including the recruitment of Francophone students at various Francophone and bilingual educational institutions located in the communities. A portion of the 201 education promotion events conducted by GAC, including 21 EduCanada Virtual Fairs, also targeted French-speaking countries, with the same objective.

For its part, IRCC organized over 200 events abroad, most of them online. This year, for the first time, its flagship event for Francophone immigrant recruitment, Destination Canada Mobility Forum, was entirely virtual. Held at the end of February, it attracted a record number of participants: 32,000 registrants accessed the Forum, and 13,000 of these were selected to participate live. A total of 2,000 job offers were shared.

Throughout the year, IRCC also continued its efforts to engage Canadian stakeholders and make them aware of its initiatives to promote Francophone immigration to the communities. For example, the institution established a National Francophone Settlement Advisory Committee (NFSC). Composed of experts from the Francophone settlement sector, this committee has a mandate to make recommendations for a renewed model of national coordination and sector representation, recommendations that will inform the future development of IRCC policies and programs. The NFSC met seven times during the year.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) also stepped up its communication initiatives. During the year, three campaigns targeted Francophone immigrants outside Quebec. One of these campaigns focused on services available to French-speaking newcomers. It ran from February 15 to March 31, 2021, and included advertisements on social networks and the Web, as well as a toolkit sent to various organizations that work with these newcomers, to ensure that they were all aware of the available resources and could in turn help promote them.

2.5.2 Welcoming and integrating newcomers

Despite the pandemic, Canada continued to welcome newcomers over the past year. For example:

More broadly, IRCC continued to implement and consolidate the Francophone Integration Pathway, as part of Action Plan. As a result, the number of settlement service providers offered by and for Francophone organizations increased from 50 to 80, exceeding the original target for the year by 10. In addition, 8 organizations received funding to implement projects to build the capacity of Francophone communities and settlement workers in areas such as mental health, support for seniors, women and families, and employer engagement in French. These projects allow for the development of French-language training, tools and best practices that strengthen the capacity of service providers to work with the various target groups they are called upon to support.

April 2020 also saw the launch of the implementation phase of the Welcoming Francophone Communities Initiative. In order to measure the impact of the interventions of each of the 14 selected communities across the country, IRCC launched a study on the results of this initiative that aims to reveal and document the extent to which the activities undertaken have succeeded in transforming how the communities welcome newcomers.

Lastly, the two major language training projects created by IRCC in support of the Francophone Integration Pathway exceeded expectations. Initially, the Department planned to help some 500 clients who needed to improve their knowledge of the two official languages to better integrate into Francophone minority communities. As it turned out, despite the closure of in-person services as of March 2020, 552 people were still able to take advantage of the training thanks to their keen interest and the flexibility of the service providers, who switched to online training.

3. Strengthening Access to Services

Throughout the year, all stakeholders involved in the delivery of the full range of services to the communities rallied around a common goal: to ensure continuity of service.

To this end, they demonstrated flexibility and an ability to constantly adapt to changing circumstances. In the areas of education, justice and health, as well as in the management of agreements with the provinces and territories, they made the best possible use of hybrid and virtual approaches. Above all, they relied on the relevance of the initiatives and the quality of the content as stabilizing and motivating factors in achieving the desired results.

Figure 6: Strengthening access to services: new Action Plan investments
Figure 6: Strengthening access to services: new Action Plan investments – text version
  • 3 enhanced bilateral agreements with the territories for the delivery of services in the minority language, in effect in 2020–‍2021
  • $227 million awarded to the provinces and territories to support minority-language education
  • 8 provinces and territories took advantage of at least one teacher recruitment or retention initiative in French minority schools
  • 2 new projects by community organizations for teacher recruitment or retention in French minority schools
  • 137 projects funded by Vice-Versa completed to enrich the life of civic community schools, for a total of 42,239 student participants in 174 French schools outside Quebec
  • 71 funded projects carried out by 21 organizations or associations, 5 academic institutions, 6 provincial governments and 1 territorial government to increase the capacity of the justice system and its stakeholders to offer services in both official languages
  • 19 cases supported by the official-language rights component of the Court Challenges Program, for a total of $1,433,000
  • 5 projects funded by the Official Languages Health Program to mobilize various players to provide end-of-life support to individuals (and their families) in the communities
  • 51 funded projects aiming to improve access to early childhood health promotion programs for vulnerable families in the communities reached 5,145 parents/guardians, 907 pregnant women and 5,419 children

3.1 Support for minority-language education

Complementary funding through the 13 bilateral agreements with the provinces and territories allowed for the delivery of sustainable projects that facilitate and enrich learning. For example:

Teachers play a pivotal role in minority-language education. As part of Action Plan’s Recruitment of Teachers for Minority Community Schools strategy, Canadian Heritage supported 21 projects, for a total investment of approximately $11.8 million. In collaboration with the Government of Ontario, the Strategy enabled the creation of a mentoring program for associate teachers and teacher candidates in the province’s French-language school boards. Approved funding of $1.8 million for this project will facilitate the successful integration and increased participation of these groups by providing them with ongoing support tailored to their specific needs. The funding will be allocated among Ontario’s 12 French-language school boards based on the average number of teacher candidates accepted into each board over the preceding two years.

At the national level, the Fédération nationale des conseils scolaires francophones (FNCSF) received $522,000 for a project that developed tools and training to address pandemic-related needs. The project included an online support and professional development course that was developed by the University of Ottawa and delivered to 84 teachers in 28 school boards in Francophone and Acadian minority communities. This course, which provides teachers with training on distance/hybrid education, will be an invaluable resource for all school boards wishing to further their employees’ training.

This year, several programs created by Action Plan also improved school infrastructure, made schools more open to their community, and showed students that they can make a difference in their community, in French:

The Vice-Versa micro-grant program of Canadian Heritage’s Civic Community School Support Fund continued to strengthen the identity-building of students from kindergarten to grade 12. For example, as part of the “Urbaniser Campbellton” project and in partnership with the organization Place aux compétences, grade 9 geography students at Polyvalente Roland-Pépin in New Brunswick created town models of Campbellton and Atholville, which they then presented to the mayors of the two municipalities to suggest improvements that would address the economic, social and environmental challenges facing their communities. In Labrador City, Newfoundland and Labrador, students from the Centre Éducatif L’Envol, in partnership with HORIZON TNL (formerly RDÉE TNL), were introduced to entrepreneurship in a very concrete way: they did a project to make and market items that they themselves had made, learning along the way about the various types of loans, the concepts of profit and loss, and the basics of a business plan.

Other federal institutions are contributing to these same objectives through targeted partnerships. For example, Farm Credit Canada worked with the University of Alberta’s Campus Saint-Jean in Edmonton and used its community funds to support the Champs francophones project, which has three components: The first component supports sustainable development projects for the science labs, which will create new green initiatives in chemistry and will extend the project to the biology and physics labs. The second component aims to highlight the complexity and diversity of Francophone heritage in Western Canada using a historical and de-colonial approach that will highlight the contribution of First Nations and Métis communities to the development of the region in the 19th and 20th centuries. The third component will develop two courses, equivalent to those already offered in English, on the topics of sustainability and sustainable development. These courses will be open to Francophone and Francophile students enrolled in the various programs offered by Campus Saint-Jean and will allow them to incorporate concepts of sustainability into the various fields and sectors in which they will engage in their professional lives.

3.2 Improving access to justice

Despite the pandemic, the Department of Justice continued to improve the financial stability and operational capacity of the 12 organizations (11 provincial/territorial organizations and 1 national organization) that are receiving core funding under Action Plan. To support continuity of service and reduce the administrative burden of reapplying, recipients of these funds also benefited from amendments that extend existing core funding agreements by two years. In 2020–2021, program expenditures were $940,000. In 2021–2022, the institution also continued discussions with the governments of Nunavut and Prince Edward Island to finalize an agreement with recipient organizations in that territory and that province.

The Access to Justice in Both Official Languages Support Fund (the Fund) administered by the Department of Justice disbursed a total of approximately $9.6 million to 71 projects. Among the most successful initiatives was a project implemented by the Réseau des chercheures africaines (RECAF), an organization based in Toronto, Ontario, that develops and provides information and training tools for Francophone women from racial and ethnocultural minorities, association leaders and volunteers, social workers and local businesses. Some 300 learners from the target community were able to participate in the eight interactive learning exercises focused on imparting family-law, labour-law and criminal-law knowledge developed through the project. In Quebec, the Access to Justice in English project for English-speaking Quebecers allowed Éducaloi to expand its service offering in English, facilitating a dozen legal information workshops that reached over 200 seniors. The organization also published and distributed some 12,000 guides for seniors and information kits for newcomers, in addition to producing and disseminating three videos presenting communication strategies for lawyers, which have been viewed more than 2,500 times. This year, the Fund also supported the translation of 134 decisions as part of three separate projects, exceeding the original target of 125.

The Court Challenges Program administered by Canadian Heritage awarded a total of $1.4 million in response to 19 new funding applications. Among the causes it supported was that of the Conseil scolaire francophone de Colombie-Britannique to participate in an appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada against the Government of British Columbia alleging that the provincial government’s failure to provide Francophone students with educational services equivalent to those provided to majority students infringed section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (the Charter). In June 2020, the Court recognized and reaffirmed the importance of education in the official language of one’s choice and the centrality of the Charter to the development of the communities.

Canadian Heritage also funded the Ontario Justice Education Network’s Charter Challenge – Défi de la Charte project, which engaged Franco-Ontarian high school students in a debate about the Charter. The Network’s Youth Leadership Team worked to redesign, pilot and evaluate a mock-legal-appeal educational program that, until then, had existed in English only. It also developed a curriculum that incorporated new resources to make the project more relevant for Franco-Ontarian youth.

3.3 Access to health care and social services in the minority language

3.3.1 Flexibility

It goes without saying that of all sectors, health care has been hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic since March 2020. Throughout the year, federal health institutions, through their partners, supported a wide variety of small- and large-scale initiatives to help communities cope with the unprecedented challenges and needs created by the pandemic. The many projects funded by Health Canada’s Official Languages Health Program (OLHP) include the following:

The Office of the Chief Science Advisor of the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) funded a project with Manitoba’s French-language daily La Liberté to design and disseminate the second edition of children’s science magazine Sciences Mag Junior to educate six- to twelve-year-olds about COVID-19. English and French paper copies of the 64-page magazine were distributed in October 2020 in the La Liberté and Winnipeg Free Press editions, while the electronic version was shared on multiple platforms.

Other federal institutions played an important role in the dissemination of information about COVID-19. This was particularly true of PSPC’s Translation Bureau. In addition to publishing a Glossary on the Pandemic online, the Bureau’s specialists assisted colleagues in other departments and agencies in translating important messages, instructions and documents, such as calls for tenders. The Language Portal of Canada regularly promoted the Glossary through its newsletter, The Portal Weekly, and its social networks.

Combating domestic violence during the pandemic

Across the country, the pandemic has shone a spotlight on the bleak reality of women and children experiencing domestic violence. Over the course of the year, Women and Gender Equality Canada (WAGE) allocated a total of $90 million to more than 1,200 shelters, hostels and other supporting agencies to help them maintain service delivery in spite of the pandemic, to meet increased demand, and to purchase the necessary protective equipment and cleaning supplies. Of this amount, nearly $370,000 went to seven community organizations for their pandemic capacity-building projects.

For example, in Southern Ontario, a grant of $87,000 enabled Hiatus House to revise its website, making it accessible in both official languages using a platform that is user-friendly for the Francophone members and partners of the Windsor-Essex community. In Quebec, $21,500 went to the Cree Women of Eeyou Istchee Association, which works with Indigenous women. In the Atlantic region, the Réseau des services pour victimes de violence du Nouveau-Brunswick received $88,000 to analyze the impact of the pandemic on women victims of domestic violence and on the province’s transition houses, particularly in rural areas. With this information, the Réseau was then able to enhance its website, provide virtual training to staff, organize virtual workshops and events, and participate in the provincial intersectoral committee.

3.3.2 Continuity of service

Both federal institutions and their partners in the provinces and territories undertook considerable efforts to ensure continuity of service and projects despite the pandemic. For example, the Community Health and Social Services Network (CHSSN) and the Société Santé en français (SSF) both worked to ensure the success of the Healthy Early Years program funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) under Action Plan. In 2020–2021, they funded a total of 51 projects, implemented by third parties, all aimed at improving access to early childhood health promotion programs for vulnerable families in the communities. A total of 5,145 parents and 5,419 children ages zero to six benefited from one of these initiatives.

Consider two examples: In Quebec, the CHSSN implemented a pilot project to improve the community’s capacity to stimulate language development in children whose mother language is English. The project, which includes parent-child activities and information sessions, was a great success. The CHSSN plans to continue the initiative in the year, reaching 1,000 new participants. On the Francophone side, the SSF developed and launched a national knowledge mobilization plan to showcase the best practices underpinning the success of various projects. The initiative was widely promoted through the SSF’s La Feuille de chou newsletter and was very well received by community organizations.

Of the overall five-year, $22.5 million investment in Action Plan for improving access to health services in the communities, more than half goes to support the three components of Health Canada’s OLHP: training, networking and innovative projects.

Under the $1 million-per-year Training and Retention of Health Human Resources component, five new academic institutions in British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Ontario joined the Association des collèges et universités de la francophonie canadienne – Health Component three years ago. They, in turn, are able to offer new training programs that complement the programs of the Consortium national de formation en santé and thus maintain the quality and diversity of services available to community members in remote or underserved areas. Over the past year:

3.3.3 Innovation

Another component of Health Canada’s Official Languages Health Program (OLHP), supported by an additional $4 million over five years under Action Plan, aims to encourage innovative projects that improve access to health services for the communities. Several of these initiatives started to bear fruit.

3.4 Agreements with the provinces and territories on minority-language services

Although discussions with Quebec did not lead to an agreement for the 2020–2021 fiscal year, 12 bilateral agreements between the federal government and the provinces and territories did result in more availability of minority-language services across the country.

Under the Intergovernmental Cooperation on Minority-Language Services (federal-provincial/territorial agreements), $14.7 million was allocated in 2020–2021 to various provincial and territorial initiatives. As a result of the increased funding for the program under Action Plan, just over $10 million in additional funding went to support initiatives in Canada’s three territories this year.

4. Promotion of Official Languages

The pandemic, and the measures taken to control its impacts on Canadians across the country, led to adjustments, postponements and sometimes cancellations of programs and initiatives to facilitate second-language learning and retention, and to bring English-speaking and French-speaking Canadians together. Despite this, a number of long-term development programs were able to continue their activities, while other initiatives were able to leverage the shift to virtual to continue operating and even expand their target audiences.

Figure 7: Promotion of official languages: new Action Plan investments
Figure 7: Promotion of official languages: new Action Plan investments – text version
  • 41,000 downloads in 6 months: CBC/Radio-Canada continued development on Mauril, a brand-new, free-of-charge platform for learning English and French, launched in April 2021
  • $120.4 million was awarded to the provinces and territories to support second-language learning
  • 365 participants took part in the Odyssey program, a paid, bilingual work experience that provides post-secondary students with the opportunity to travel to another province
  • Nearly 45,000 students had the opportunity to improve their language skills with help from an Odyssey program monitor
  • 850 young people whose first official language spoken is English received a bursary to pursue their post-secondary studies in French
  • 9 provinces and territories benefited from at least one recruitment or retention initiative targeting French-immersion and French second-language teachers
  • 11 new projects by community organizations to recruit or retain French-immersion and French second-language teachers
  • Statistics Canada took part in 15 research activities and developed 12 analytical products on official languages and the communities
  • The Bilingual Ottawa program funded 53 projects to enhance the bilingual character of Canada’s capital

4.1 Support for second-language learning

Action Plan set aside a total of $448 million over five years for the federal-provincial/territorial agreements administered by Canadian Heritage that encourage Canadians to learn their second official language. In 2020–‍2021, 53.7% of students were enrolled in second-language programs in the majority system. In 2019-2020, the most recent year for which data is available, 487,191 students were enrolled in French immersion outside Quebec. This number of enrolments represents an increase of 72 per cent since 2003-04, the year of the first Action Plan for Official Languages.

To help increase the bilingualism rate among young Canadians, just over $89 million was allocated this year to a wide range of initiatives in each of the 13 provincial and territorial jurisdictions. Five new projects were launched this year. Here are a few examples:

In this same area, Canadian Heritage also supports the work of non-governmental organizations through Cooperation with the Non-Governmental Sector (second-language organizations) under Action Plan. The Department signed a three-year agreement with the Canadian Association of Immersion Professionals (CAIP), which provides professional learning and networking services to French-immersion educators. This $1.32 million project will enable the Association to step up its efforts in four distinct areas: continuing education; knowledge sharing and networking; dissemination of educational information; and improved services to members and organizational capacity-building.

The investments in Action Plan also allowed Canadian Heritage to roll out a Teacher Recruitment Strategy in French Immersion and French Second-Language Programs. In 2020–‍2021, Canadian Heritage issued two calls for projects, the first in June for short-term projects that addressed immediate needs arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. Nine provinces and territories benefited from at least one initiative in this area, while 11 new projects from community organizations were also approved. The total value of these initiatives was $7.37 million.

The Odyssey program needs no introduction. Each year, this nine-month placement program (September to May) brings French monitors from across Canada to other regions to support teachers in minority-language and second-language-immersion schools by facilitating a variety of activities and initiatives for their students. Not only did Action Plan renew the Odyssey program’s base grant of $7.11 million, it also added a $3.5 million top-up this year, covering higher salaries for monitors while making the program itself more attractive. The program is managed by the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada.

This year, despite the pandemic, Odyssey exceeded its objectives. A total of 365 monitors, 15 more than the planned 350, worked with nearly 45,000 students, both Anglophone and Francophone, across Canada. Working in an often virtual and sometimes challenging environment, they planned and led activities on a daily basis, activities that motivated students to learn more and become more proficient in their second official language, while supporting teachers, particularly in the context of COVID.

Created by Action Plan, the Bursaries for Post-Secondary Education in French as a Second Language program is a $3 million-per-year initiative administered by the Association des collèges et universités de la francophonie canadienne (ACUFC). Although some adjustments had to be made this year due to the pandemic, 850 young people who were enrolled in their first year of a college or university program received non-renewable bursaries of $3,000 each, which allowed them to improve their bilingualism while studying in their field of interest.

4.1.2 Ongoing work

School was not the only place where Canadians were learning their second official language. Four projects funded by the Department of Justice also contributed this year to the English- and French-language proficiency of justice system professionals.

The Centre canadien de français juridique implemented a Canada-wide training project for various provincial and territorial stakeholders (legal aid lawyers, court interpreters, mediators, court clerks, etc.) on legal vocabulary related to the Divorce Act, parental obligations and support payments. No fewer than 27 webinars on criminal law and legal French were delivered to 350 learners. The project also included the production of 30 videos of approximately 30 minutes each, three new lexicons and other teaching resources. In Quebec, the Conseil de la Magistrature created an English-language legal terminology training project, which it made available to judges, presiding justices of the peace and municipal judges in Quebec who handle criminal cases but have an intermediate level of English.

Promote linguistic well-being

Linguistic well-being is an increasingly well-known issue. This year, the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat’s Official Languages Centre of Excellence collaborated with the Fédération de la jeunesse canadienne-française and Acadian artists to better educate federal institutions about the extent of the problem. In November, Gabriel Robichaud and Bianca Richard presented their play Parler mal, which is based on their own experience, to the members of the interdepartmental working group on linguistic insecurity. The Centre then promoted the play through its various networks. A few months later, at the Best Practices Forum on Official Languages, the President of the Fédération de la jeunesse canadienne-française gave an online talk on linguistic insecurity and the strategies for addressing it. More than 2,000 federal employees tuned in.

The Commission nationale des parents francophones received $75,000 from Canadian Heritage for its “Valoriser le français des parents” project. The two-year initiative will enable Francophone parents to strengthen their capacity to ensure language well-being and to recognize their importance as role models and cultural intermediaries vis-à-vis their children. Planned activities include creating videos and sharing testimonials celebrating the diversity of the French language and family dynamics, including Francophone parents, refrancicized parents, non-Francophones parents in exogamous/interlinguistic couples, and newcomers.

Various other initiatives will also enable Canadians across the country to improve their proficiency in their second official language anytime, anywhere. Although the pandemic did delay the official launch of CBC/Radio-Canada’s Mauril application by a few months, the corporation was able to draw on its internal resources to continue development. The nearly $3 million in funding provided by Canadian Heritage for the year allowed the corporation to conduct various tests with clients from different backgrounds. Several presentations were given online in order to involve the public and future users in the design and deployment of the tool. Both the Android and iOS versions of the app were scheduled to launch as early as April 2021, followed by a website for Mauril.

The Translation Bureau of Public Services and Procurement Canada also received more than $3 million in funding under Action Plan to enhance content and renew its Language Navigator, a tool used by the general public to search the 23,000 pages in the Language Portal of Canada. The Portal also updated all of its writing tools. In 2021, it continued its partnership with the Canadian Foundation for Cross-Cultural Dialogue, producing content for the 23rd edition of the Rendez-vous de la Francophonie (RVF) in March, which focused on Acadia as the cradle of the Canadian Francophonie. The Portal developed three Acadia-themed contests, translated and revised thousands of words for the Foundation, and promoted the 2021 RVF on the “Our Languages” blog and on its social media accounts, which have over 35,000 subscribers.

Figure 8: Increase in the number of enrolments in French-immersion programs offered outside Quebec since 2003
Figure 8: Increase in the number of enrolments in French-immersion programs offered outside Quebec since 2003 – text version
Year Number of enrolments in French-immersion programs offered outside Quebec
2003–‍2004 282,837
2004–‍2005 288,970
2005–‍2006 295,197
2006–‍2007 300,464
2007–‍2008 311,115
2008–‍2009 317,662
2009–‍2010 328,716
2010–‍2011 341,694
2011–‍2012 356,580
2012–‍2013 372,879
2013–‍2014 392,430
2014–‍2015 409,899
2015–‍2016 428,619
2016–‍2017 449,769
2017–‍2018 463,119
2018–‍2019 477,675
2019–‍2020 487,191
72% increase since 2003–‍2004

4.2 Fostering gathering and connection

In 2020–‍2021, the organizers of events and the managers of programs that promote gathering and connection between English-speaking and French-speaking Canadians had to adjust, and often postpone, their activities because of the pandemic.

This was notably the case for the Explore and Destination Clic youth programs, funded by Canadian Heritage and managed by the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC), whose spring and summer in-person sessions had to be cancelled. Action Plan, which set aside a total of $84.5 million for the two initiatives, also included an annual $4.2 million top-up for the Explore program, increasing the number of youth recipients to more than 7,000 per year and increasing the amount of each award to better reflect actual program costs. The unspent dollars were redirected to other Action Plan initiatives. In addition to managing this necessary pause, the stakeholders, which include 38 educational institutions across the country, kept in close contact throughout the year to plan for a resumption of operations in 2021–‍2022, whatever the circumstances.

Similar efforts were undertaken by the Exchanges Canada program, also managed by Canadian Heritage, to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic. Temporary changes were made to the program’s terms and conditions so that the partner organizations it funds could adapt their programming by holding activities virtually, limiting them to a single province or territory, or reducing their duration. Despite these constraints, the young recipients did not lose interest. For example, with $782,500 in funding, Experiences Canada was able to offer bilingual exchanges to 1,122 youths aged 12 to 17, divided into groups of 10 to 30 persons. Experiences Canada also offered 90 exchanges involving official language communities in which one or both groups of youths from these communities were matched according to their main official language.

A number of other initiatives and activities were also able to move forward in slightly modified form. The Appreciation and Rapprochement program sub-component managed by Canadian Heritage supported a total of 23 projects with a total value of just over $3.5 million. Of this amount:

The Support for Interpretation and Translation sub-component, also managed by Canadian Heritage, continued to support the efforts of non-profit organizations that wish to provide service in both official languages at public events and to expand the dissemination of as many documents as possible in English and French. Despite postponements and numerous adjustments made necessary by the pandemic, Canadian Heritage supported 93 translation and interpretation projects with grants totalling $347,227.

Each year, hundreds of thousands of Canadians come together to celebrate their shared identity and heritage. Through its Local Festivals component, Canadian Heritage’s Building Communities Through Arts and Heritage program provided funding for the committee overseeing the 150th-anniversary celebrations for Willow Bunch, a small Francophone community in southern Saskatchewan. In neighbouring Manitoba, the Whoop and Hollar festival in Portage la Prairie received funding to include artists such as Franco-Manitoban Métis singer-songwriter Andrina Turenne in its programming. In Nunavik, Northern Quebec, with the program’s support, organizers of the Aqpik Jam festival were able to transform the three-day event from an indoor event to an outdoor event, which participants were invited to attend … in their vehicles! This model was so successful that organizers are now considering repeating the experience and expanding it to other communities, even after all pandemic restrictions have been lifted.

The Celebration and Commemoration Program, managed by Canadian Heritage, supports events that highlight the richness and diversity of Canadian culture, heritage and history. The shift to virtual has enabled many of these events to reach a much wider audience. For example, through the program’s Celebrate Canada component:

Conclusion

Over the course of 2020–‍2021, in spite of the pandemic, progress was made on the official languages file, and important milestones were reached. Many federal institutions embraced opportunities for dialogue and partnership and took positive measures during the crisis to mitigate the immediate and longer-term impacts on the communities. By applying an official languages lens, they were able to design and roll out emergency measures that took into account the needs and priorities of the communities. The reflexes that have been developed will no doubt enable the government to build on this momentum as it implements recovery measures in the various sectors going forward.

The Action Plan initiatives are in full swing. Whether we consider the increased funding for community organizations, support for media, or the funding for infrastructure and gathering places, the progress is plain to see. The mid-term review exercise carried out and the numerous dialogue sessions will feed into the development of the government’s next five-year strategy.

The project to modernize and strengthen the Official Languages Act reached an important milestone on February 19, 2021, with the release of the reform document English and French: Towards a Substantive Equality of Official Languages in Canada, which proposes a range of changes and new legislative, regulatory and administrative measures aimed at achieving a new linguistic balance in Canada and a renewed government commitment to official languages for future generations. This document led to the introduction of an initial bill in June 2021, followed by a second bill in March 2022. It has set a high bar for the remainder of the journey towards a much-needed modernization and strengthening of the Official Languages Act.

Appendix 1: 2020-2021 Summary of government investments in official languages (including initiatives of Action Plan 2018-2023)

Table 1: 2020-2021 Summary of government investments in official languages
Initiatives Total allocated from 2018 to 2023 (in dollars) Planned Spending 2020-2021 (in dollars) Actual Spending 2020-2021 (in dollars) 2020-2021 Results
Canadian Heritage – historical base
Minority-language education (federal-provincial-territorial agreements)Footnote 1 805,100,000 171,617,861 191,018,045

Number of bilateral agreements with provincial and territorial governments in education: 13 bilateral agreements in effect for 2020-2021. New Brunswick, Northwest Territories and Saskatchewan have negotiated multi-year agreements (2019-2023). Three-year agreements (2020-2023) have been negotiated with British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Yukon, Nunavut, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador, while Quebec has negotiated a one-year bilateral agreement (2020-2021).

Number of projects and activities offered by provincial and territorial governments aimed at community language instruction: nine new projects (complementary funding)

Percentage of enrolment in the minority system: maintained the 4% enrolment rate of total students in the minority system
Cooperation with the non-governmental sector (minority-language organizations)Footnote 2 8,750,000 1,75, 000 1,639,000 Number of activities and projects receiving support for minority language education: 4 programs and 7 projects
Intergovernmental Cooperation on Minority-Languages Services (federal-provincial-territorial agreements) 81,000,000 15,187,000 14,675,000 Number of bilateral agreements with the provinces and territories for minority language service delivery: 12 bilateral agreements in effect for 2020–2021. A bilateral agreement with Quebec could not be reached to cover the 2020-2021 fiscal year.
Cooperation with the community sector (minority-language organizations) 159,500,000 32,238,550 33,567,364

Number of collaboration agreements (with representatives of the communities in the provinces and territories): 13 community collaboration agreements

Number of projects receiving support: 456 projects receiving support (306 programming and 150 projects)
Strategic fundsFootnote 3 22,500,000 4,450,000 740,199 Number of strategic projects receiving funding: 14 projects
Community Cultural Action FundFootnote 4 10,000,000 2,000,000 1,887,500 Number of cultural projects receiving funding: 62 projects
Support for second-language learning (federal-provincial-territorial agreements) 448,000,000 89,507,542 89,322,708

Number of bilateral agreements on education with the provinces and territories: 13 bilateral agreements. New Brunswick, the Northwest Territories and Saskatchewan negotiated multi-year agreements (2019-2023). Three-year agreements (2020-2023) were negotiated with British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Yukon, Nunavut, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador, while Quebec negotiated a one-year bilateral agreement (2020-2021).

Number of provincial and territorial projects and activities targeting second language instruction: 5 projects (complementary funding)

Percentage of student enrolments in second language programs: 53.7% of enrolments
Cooperation with the non-governmental sector (second-language organizations) 4,850,000 975,000 1,046,850 Number of activities and projects for second language instruction: 2 projects (1 programming and 1 project)
Summer language bursaries (Explore, Destination Clic)Footnote 5 84,500,000 16,923,407 7,119,807

Number of agreements with the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC) for awarding bursaries: 1 contribution agreement in effect for 2020-2021

Number of registrations in bursary programs: 38 institutions were ready to deliver the program in 2020-2021

No participants in 2020-2021 due to cancellation of spring and summer sessions.
Official-language monitors (Odyssey) 35,500,000 7,114,398 7,114,398

Number of agreements with CMEC for monitor positions: 1 contribution agreement in effect for 2020-2021

Number of participants in the Odyssey language monitors program: 365 participants (minority language and second language)
Promotion of linguistic duality (appreciation and reconciliation)Footnote 6 18,500,000 3,650,000 3,578,150 Number of projects receiving support: 23 projects (11 programming and 12 projects)
Promotion of bilingual services in the voluntary sector 1,100,000 212,571 217,639 Number of projects by not-for-profit organizations receiving support: 4 projects (1 programming and 3 projects)
Support for interpretation and translationFootnote 7 2,500,000 500,000 347,227 Number of projects by not-for-profit organizations receiving support: 93 projects receiving support
Young Canada Works in Both Official LanguagesFootnote 8 18,630,000 3,725,000 7,725,659

Number of students registered:

  • Young Canada Works in Both Official Languages (YCWBOL): 4,923
  • Young Canada Works at Building Careers in English and French (YCWBCEF): 1,910

Number of participating employers:

  • YCWBOL: 553
  • YCWBCEF: 74

Number of students who reported that they increased their employment skills, improving their employability, in an official language environmentTable 1 note *: 86%

Level of student satisfaction with their work experience*: 88%
Exchanges Canada (official-language initiative)Footnote 9 11,250,000 2,250,000 782,500

In 2019-2020 (most recent data), the Exchanges Canada Program provided approximately 9,350 youth with the opportunity to participate in forums and exchanges. Many of these activities allowed young Canadians to practice and improve their second official language while connecting with other youth across the country.

In 2019-2020, the program exceeded targets for the three ultimate outcomes:

  1. youth participants gain increased knowledge and understanding of Canada,
  2. youth participants connect with each other, and
  3. youth participants have a greater appreciation for the diversity and shared aspects of the Canadian experience.

Youth participants confirmed that they:

  1. increased their knowledge and understanding of Canada (84%),
  2. connected with each other (93%), and
  3. increased their understanding of the aspects of Canadian reality they share (81%) as well as their appreciation of Canadian diversity (86%).
Music Showcases Program for Artists from official-language minority communities 5,750,000 1,150,000 1,150,000

Contribution agreements between the Department of Canadian Heritage and the original recipients of the Canada Music Fund, FACTOR (Anglophone market) and Musicaction (Francophone market), allowed for the payment of contributions for the organization of music showcases for artists from the communities.

For 2020-2021, more than 257 community artists performed in more than 370 music showcases presented mostly in virtual mode during the pandemic at regional, national and international events, also presented in virtual mode. Ultimately, the supported showcases all included a digital promotion component.

Ultimately, since the launch of the initiative in 2008, community artists have been exposed to a wider audience while communities have had access to performances 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 showcases prior to 2008. While the pandemic has affected the number of showcases typically presented in a year, data from previous years clearly demonstrates that the initiative has had the effect of increasing access to (i.e. consumption of) music by community artists in multiple forms (live performance, online access, album sales, etc.).
National Translation Program for Book Publishing 4,000,000 800,000 800,000

Number of publishers that received a grant (single publishers): 41

Number of new business collaborations (original book publisher and the publisher of the translation working together for the first time on a translation supported by the Program): 50

Number of new collaborations on a book in the context of an existing business relationship (two publishers that previously worked together on a book translation with Program support working together again to translate another book): 29

Number of Canadian-authored books translated with Program support: 81
Canadian Heritage – new funds in Action Plan 2018–2023
Additional funding for community organizations 57,370,000 11,475,000 11,619,864

Number of organizations receiving a 20% increase in programming funding in 2018–2019 (stabilized): 276 organizations

Number of organizations receiving an increase of more than 20% in core funding in 2019–2020: 160 organizations

Funding remained stable for the majority of organizations in 2020-2021.

Number of new organizations receiving programming funding: 4 new organizations in 2020-2021
Enhancement of the Community Cultural Action Fund 11,160,000 2,100,000 2,110,592

Number of cultural activities for minority schools (developed by cultural and community organizations and funded through micro-grants):

  • PassepART: 417 activities funded during the year
  • ArtistsInspire Grants: 137 activities during the year

Number of minority schools partnering in a cultural activity through the program: 828 schools

  • 664 participating schools out of a total of 740 targeted (Francophone schools outside Quebec)
  • 164 participating schools out of a total of 297 targeted (English schools in Quebec)

Number of students who participated in a cultural activity:

  • PassepART: 107,000 students reached out of a total of 170,000 students attending Francophone minority schools
  • ArtistsInspire Grants: 16,000 students reached through workshops involving cultural activities
Funding for Quebec English-speaking communitiesFootnote 10 5,280,000 1,000,000 1,636,401 Number of initiatives and projects receiving funding through the new fund: 14 projects
Strengthening community media and radio (Strategic support & Ensuring succession)Footnote 11 14,530,000 4,250,000 3,697,009

Number of radio stations and newspapers receiving support through service organizations (Association de la presse francophone, on behalf of the Consortium of Official Language Minority Community Media): 33 community radio stations and newspapers

  • 7 French-language radio stations (of a total of 27 French-language radio stations) = 26% of French-language radio stations received funding from the Support Fund
  • 18 French-language newspapers (of a total of 26 French-language newspapers) = 69% of French-language newspapers received funding from the Support Fund
  • 5 English-language newspapers (of a total of 30 English-language newspapers) = 17% of English-language newspapers received funding from the Support Fund
  • 2 English-language radio station (of a total of 6 English-language radio stations) = 33% of English-language radio stations received funding from the Support Fund
  • 1 association, the Quebec Community Newspapers Association, in collaboration with the English Language Arts Network, for a joint project with English-language community media in Quebec

As some projects involved collaboration with other community media, the projects reached a total of 56 media outlets.

Number of domestic internships created in minority community media in 2020-2021: 20 internships
Support for community spaces – infrastructureFootnote 12 67,250,000 14,800,000 21,326,752

Number of community educational infrastructure projects for communities funded by PCH: 22 new projects

  • 4 provincial/territorial projects under bilateral agreements on education
  • 18 projects under the Community Spaces Fund

Number of separate communities receiving investments for community educational infrastructure projects: 19 communities
Strengthening strategic investment capacity 10,000,000 2,000,000 2,000,000 Number of additional strategic projects receiving funding: 6 additional strategic projects, including 2 projects aimed at breaking the social isolation of seniors, which was particularly acute during the pandemic
Support to Civic Community School Initiative 5,250,000 1,000,000 1,007,560

Number of students who participated in a civic community school project funded by PCH: 42,239 students

Number of civic community school projects undertaken with support from PCH: 137 projects completed to date (out of a total of 297 projects accepted).

Number of French minority schools affected: 174 participating schools of a total of 619 targeted
Recruitment of teachers for minority community schoolsFootnote 13 31,290,000 7,595,000 10,091,538

Two calls for project proposals were issued in 2020-2021 to support activities that address pandemic-related needs.

Number of provinces/territories benefiting from a teacher recruitment or retention initiative in French minority schools: 8 provinces and territories benefited from at least 1 initiative; 2 new community organization projects were also approved.

Percentage of initiatives with measurable benefits on the ground: to be confirmed by 2023
Enhanced support for French-language services in the territories (2017)Footnote 14 60,000,000 12,000,000 10,129,790 Number of bilateral agreements with the territories, with enhancements, for minority language service delivery: 3 bilateral agreements in place in 2020-2021
Support for educational community infrastructure ($80 million over 10 years) (2017) 28,000,000 3,892,062 3,892,062

Number of community educational infrastructure projects for communities funded by PCH in the provinces and territories: 5 new projects

Number of separate communities receiving investments for community educational infrastructure projects: 5 new separate communities
Mobile application for learning French and English as a second language 16,500,000 2,983,131 2,983,131

A memorandum of understanding was signed between Canadian Heritage and CBC/Radio-Canada in October 2019 for the development of Mauril, a free platform for learning and maintaining English and French, which will enable all Canadians to develop skills in their second official language.

In 2020-2021, CBC/Radio-Canada continued to develop the app by conducting several phases of testing with various targeted clients and offering numerous online presentation sessions to engage the public and potential users in the design of the tool.

With the pandemic delaying the launch of Mauril, the iOS and Android mobile version of the app was able to launch in April 2021. With respect to targets, we do not yet have a result for the "number of Canadians enrolled in the app" indicator for the year 2020-2021, as the app was launched on April 15, 2021.
Enhanced support for Explore language bursariesFootnote 15 21,000,000 4,200,000 0

Annual number of participants in the PCH-funded Explore program: No participants in 2020-2021 due to cancellation of spring and summer sessions. Unspent funds from 2020-2021 were redirected to other PCH initiatives in 2020-2021.

Number of participating institutions: 38 institutions were ready to deliver the program in 2020-2021.
Enhanced support for Odyssey official-language monitors 17,500,000 3,500,000 3,500,000

Number of students per year who are given an opportunity to improve their language skills through contact with an Odyssey language monitor: nearly 45,000 students

Number of annual participants in the Odyssey program whose participation is funded by PCH: 365 participants (minority language/second language)
Bursaries for post-secondary education in French as a second language 12,600,000 3,000,000 3,000,000 Number of young people with English as their first official language spoken who received a bursary from this program to pursue post-secondary studies in French: 850
Recruitment of teachers for French immersion schools Footnote 16 31,290,000 7,595,000 7,370,248

Number of provinces/territories benefiting from a French immersion or French second language teacher recruitment or retention initiative: 9 provinces/territories benefited from at least 1 initiative; 11 pan-Canadian projects were also approved

Percentage of initiatives with measurable benefits on the ground: to be confirmed by 2023
Additional support for Young Canada Works in Both Official Languages (2017)Footnote 17 1,200,000 0 0 These additional funds were for the 2018-2019 year only
Employment and Social Development Canada – historical base
Social Partnership Initiative in communities 4,000,000 1,500,000 1,488,592

Fédération des ainées et aînés francophones du Canada (FAAFC)

The FAAFC is currently funding 18 organizations, however, 34 partner organizations are also involved in these projects through various activities and benefit from the funding. Already, the projects have reached 788,065 Francophone and Francophiles across the country, provided service to 31,738 citizens in over 614 Francophone OLMCs, and engaged 504 partners to support these projects in various ways. The projects also counted 1,198 direct volunteer driven interventions, which is a measure of the support received by their community. The FAAFC has levered $3,143,515.
- - - -

Quebec Community Groups Network

In 2020-21, the QCGN established a community of practice and held the first 3 sessions; the planned webinars were postponed to 2021-2022 due to the pandemic; they implemented the mentorship program on an individualized and informal offering instead of a one size fits all; and they finalized an evaluation toolkit. Since 2019, the QCGN has funded 10 projects focusing on vulnerable youth employability and life skills and outreach to seniors.

Although the pandemic has slowed down the development of new partnerships, the QCGN maintained key ones with the John Molson School of Business Community Service Initiative (CSI), that is providing in-kind support to assist the funding recipients with all the areas of organizational capacity and project development as well as with LEARN Quebec, Innoweave and ThinkR (McGill University) to start the development of the action plan for a mentorship program. They have also leveraged approximately $492,246 in funds from other sources.
Literacy and Essential Skills initiative for Official Language Minority CommunitiesFootnote 18 7,500,000 1,500,000 1,160,515

A contribution agreement was signed with the Réseau pour le développement de l'alphabétisme et des compétences (RESDAC) to develop a national entity for literacy and essential skills in communities in partnership with Literacy Quebec. As this initiative faced implementation challenges exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis, EDSC worked with partners in Canada's Francophone and English-speaking communities in Quebec to develop two separate initiatives.

The Pan-Canadian Distance Learning Platform Project of the Coalition ontarienne de formation des adultes (COFA) expands access to literacy and skills training to Francophone communities in Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta continued. This project targets Francophone adults with low literacy, numeracy, computer and communication skills. The project focuses on improving the employability skills of participants, taking into account the demands of the local labour market. Training materials for facilitators were developed, 36 learners were trained, and a promotional video to establish a distance learning network for literacy and essential skills development in communities was launched.

The Literacy Coalition of New Brunswick was able to deliver its Essential Skills for Atlantic Fisheries (ESAF) project to a Francophone cohort where 12 participants completed the training curriculum.
Enabling Fund for communities (Employability and economic development) including the increase in core funding to organizations ($4.5 million out of five) 73,500,000 14,457,755 15,711,623

14 multi-year agreements are in place, supporting a network of 14 organizations across Canada – one national, and one in each province and territory - to strengthen their capacity in the areas of human resource and community economic development. The 14 organizations provide local leadership, promotes partnerships, implement projects, fill gaps in services, and leverage networks for concerted action.

During fiscal year 2020-2021, the EF-OLMC recipient organizations established or maintained more than 2,500 active partnerships with organizations from the public, private, non-profit, community, volunteer and charitable sectors. Additionally, recipients leveraged about $1.5 from those partnerships for investments in community economic development and human resources development for every EF-OLMC dollar received.
Employment and Social Development Canada – new funds in Action Plan 2018–2023
Support for early childhood development - Support for the opening of daycares and daycare services 6,849,682 1,353,029 1,443,443

ESDC has signed an agreement with the Réseau de développement économique et d’employabilité Canada (RDÉE Canada) to coordinate and distribute funding to organizations in Francophone minority communities (FMCs) across Canada. The objective is to support projects aimed at encouraging the creation and expansion of early childhood service in these communities by offering professional development services to entrepreneurs, and create administrative centres to optimize resources.

RDÉE Canada signed to date 28 sub-agreements with service providers to implement projects, which represent an estimated 2,311 childcare spaces and 470 jobs created before March 31 2023. This target has increased significantly since the beginning of the initiative when the creation of 995 childcare spaces and 202 jobs was targeted.

Since entering into Phase 2 of the contribution agreement with RDEE Canada in November 2019, 420 new childcare spaces and 48 jobs have been created in Francophone minority communities (FMCs).
Support for early childhood development - Training and capacity building for early childhood educators 13,150,000 2,608,095 2,608,095

In 2019, a new multi-year funding agreement with the Association des collèges et universités de la francophonie canadienne (ACUFC), the intermediary organization, was put in place for Phase 2 of the "Training and Capacity Building of Early Childhood Educators" project. From July 15, 2019, to June 30, 2023, the CFUA, in collaboration with four partner organizations, supports the implementation of early childhood initiatives in Canada's Acadian and Francophone minority communities.

In 2020-2021, ACUFC monitored the first year of implementation of 24 new early childhood training initiatives. The selected projects, to be held over two years, will meet the following objectives: to develop training adapted to the needs of Francophone communities, and to ensure, through initial and ongoing training, the recruitment and retention of early childhood educators in Francophone communities. Since their inception, the 24 initiatives have created 140 partnerships to carry out regional or pan-Canadian projects in over 40 communities. As of March 31, 2021, 414 educators had participated in the training activities and the projects will continue until March 31, 2022. All activities have been adapted to be conducted virtually.
Health Canada – historical base
Official Languages Health Contribution Program (Networks, Training and Access to Health Services) 174,300,000 34,860,000 35,204,951

Under the Official Languages in Health Program (OLHP), Health Canada continued to provide financial support to its designated recipients (the Société Santé en français (SSF), the “Association des collèges et universités de la francophonie canadienne (ACUFC) - Consortium national de formation en santé (CNFS)”, McGill University and the Community Health and Social Services Network (CHSSN), in terms of initiatives related to:

  1. training,
  2. networking with health partners and
  3. innovative projects.

In 2020-2021, Health Canada continued to fund initiatives to improve access to health services for communities. Overall, the actual impacts of these initiatives include:

  1. an increase in the availability of health service providers with the knowledge and skills to meet the health needs of communities, and
  2. 2) networking with various health partners to improve access to health services, understanding and measurement of health-related challenges and issues within communities.
Health Canada – new funds in Action Plan 2018–2023
Additional Funding for community organizations 4,400,000 880,000 880,000 Idem.
Enhancement of the Official Languages Health Contribution Program - Training and Retention of Health Human Resources 5,000,000 1,000,000 1,000,000

In 2020-2021, the five post-secondary institutions that had joined CFUA-CNFS in 2018-2019 continued their student recruitment activities and are currently offering training opportunities in the health fields. This has provided students with the knowledge and skills needed to serve communities in remote or underserved areas. These institutions have contributed to the increase in knowledge and skills needed to work in communities by providing targeted training opportunities for students in health-related fields.

In 2020-2021, nearly all activities shifted from face-to-face to virtual in an environment affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Enhancement of the Official Languages Health Contribution Program – Strengthening the Capacity of English-Language Health Networks in Quebec 3,500,000 700,000 700,000

In 2020-2021, through its activities and partnerships, the Community Health and Social Services Network (CHSSN) used $700,000 to continue to build its capacity to improve the health status of Quebec's English-speaking community through the three networks and 10 satellites created in 2019-2020. These networks continued to mobilize health institutions and service providers to improve the health conditions of Quebec's English-speaking community by facilitating access to health services in the language of their choice.

During the pandemic, new networks and satellites improved communication, information and resources by supporting coordination with service providers to reach vulnerable populations in communities.
Enhancement of the Official Languages Health Contribution Program – Innovation Projects 4,000,000 1,000,000 1,000,000

In 2020-2021, Health Canada continued to fund activities under the innovative projects that improve access to health services and address the unique needs of patients in communities.

Through micro-grants, Health Canada funded 5 projects out of 10 proposals received to implement community-based initiatives that address the social and psychosocial aspects of palliative care based on the concept of a caring community.
Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada – historical base
Immigration to official-languages minority communities 29,408,190 5,881,638 5,881,638

Promotional Activities Abroad

In 2020-2021, IRCC held more than 200 events across its overseas network, mostly online due to the pandemic. These events took different forms, such as information sessions and webinars, to inform the public about different programs as well as current travel restrictions. IRCC's flagship event, Destination Canada Mobility Forum, was held in February 2021 entirely virtually for the first time and attracted a record 32,000 participants.

Promotional Activities in Canada

During the 2020-2021 fiscal year, all activities promoting Francophone immigration to Canada went virtual. Promotion of Francophone immigration was included in the following outreach activities:

  • 593 activities aimed at employers and other economic stakeholders;
  • 6 activities aimed at Francophone community organizations outside Quebec;
  • 229 presentations on pathways to permanent residence for international students at designated educational institutions;
  • 19 activities targeting community stakeholders involved in the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot Project. Coordination
- - - -

Strategic & Policy Research

In 2020-2021, IRCC published the results of three funded research studies on the following topics

  • Professional Integration of Francophone Immigrants in the Health Field in Canada outside Quebec
  • The professional integration of Francophone immigrants in the field of education in Canada outside Quebec
  • The motivations and challenges of Francophone immigrant entrepreneurs and self-employed workers in Canada outside Quebec

Coordination

In 2020-2021, IRCC continued to work closely with the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada (IRCC-FCFA bilateral meetings, IRCC-CFSM committee; Table de concertation francophone, sessions with RIF, etc.). The organization of IRCC-FMC Committee meetings in May 2020 and February 2021 allowed for the determination of strategic orientations such as the establishment of a reference framework on the Francophone immigration target, the dissemination of data on Francophone immigration and the discussion of labour force needs in FMCs.
- - - -

Reception And Settlement Infrastructures and Services

In 2020-2021, 7,282 French-speaking clients accessed at least one service from a Francophone service provider, representing 57% of Francophone newcomers. In 2019-2020, this figure was 51%. The number of Francophone organizations funded has increased from 50 to 80.

In 2020-2021, 760 French-speaking clients accessed at least one service offered by a Francophone organization, representing 71% of French-speaking clients who received at least one service in settlement.
Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada – nouveau fonds du Plan d’action 2018–2023
Francophone integration pathwayFootnote 19 36,553,615 9,367,161 8,798,514 In 2020-2021, IRCC continued to implement and consolidate the Francophone Integration Pathway, which aims to strengthen settlement and resettlement services offered to French-speaking clients by Francophone organizations, and to promote awareness of settlement and integration services among newcomers of all language backgrounds. As a result, the number of Francophone settlement service providers increased from 50 to 80. In addition, 8 organizations have been funded to implement projects to build the capacity of Francophone communities and settlement workers in areas such as mental health and support for seniors, women and families by making French language training, tools and best practices available to support Francophone service providers.
- - - -

In April 2020, the Welcoming Francophone Communities initiative entered its implementation phase. This initiative involves 14 Francophone minority communities across Canada and aims to foster the reception and settlement of French-speaking newcomers in these communities by promoting an approach "by and for" Francophones.

In 2020-2021, the 7 service providers who signed contribution agreements with IRCC implemented activities tailored to the needs of Francophone newcomers. While some organizations provide direct services to newcomers, others support the creation and delivery of workshops and educational resources tailored to the training needs of Francophone newcomers.
- - - - In 2020-2021, 552 clients across Canada received language training services in support of the Francophone Integration Pathway. The target of 500 newcomer clients was exceeded despite the closure of in-person services due to COVID-19 restrictions. Strong client interest and the ability of service providers to move quickly to online delivery ensured that learners continued to have access to language services.
Cooperation and AccountabilityFootnote 20 4,185,138 832,314 773,299

IRCC developed and maintained 3 tools that aggregate data on Francophone immigrants and aim to increase systematic reporting on Francophone immigration.

In 2020-2021, the announcement of additional points in Express Entry for applicants with strong French language skills could increase Francophone immigrant admissions to the target of 4.4% by 2023.

In 2020, Canada admitted 5,755 French-speaking permanent residents outside of Quebec (out of 159,360 immigrants), which represents 28% increase over 2019-2020.
Justice Canada – historical base
Networks, Training and Access to Justice Services, including Additional funding for Access to Justice in Both Official Languages Support Fund (10 million over five years)Footnote 21 50,194,995 9,788,999 9,021,994

Through the Access to Justice in Both Official Languages Support Fund, 71 projects were funded in 2020-2021.

During the pandemic, several activities were converted to virtual mode quickly and efficiently, including the provision of legal information and judicial training in French.
Contraventions Act FundFootnote 22 49,611,635 9,922,327 5,730,555

Through the Contraventions Act Fund, the Department has continued to provide funding to provinces and municipalities where the Contraventions Regime is implemented so they can undertake proper steps that ensure language rights are respected in relation to the administration and enforcement of federal contraventions.

The provinces and municipality 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 provides funding to 6 provinces and 1 municipality where there are no provincial obligations to fulfill the offenders’ language rights. No complaints were made with respect to judicial and extra-judicial services availability in the official language of choice.

Canadians in designated areas who have received a federal contraventions ticket had access to communications in the official language of choice and to judicial services in the language of choice.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and in order to prevent risks to the health of Canadians, certain Quarantine Act offences were designated as contraventions in order to provide enforcement authorities with an additional enforcement tool to improve compliance with the Quarantine Act and the emergency orders made under that Act. The offences designated as contraventions pertain to obligations imposed on individual travellers with respect to international travel requirements and mandatory isolation upon arriving in Canada as well as one offence pertaining to conveyances. These designated offences have been enforced in provinces where the Contraventions Regime is implemented.

Contraventions Act partners who were able to shift certain activities (eg. court services and judges’ language training) from in-person to virtual delivery, were fully encouraged and supported in this transformation.
Justice Canada – new funds in Action Plan 2018–2023
Core funding to justice organizationsFootnote 23 3,750,000 1,000,000 940,000

The Department continued to enhance financial stability and operational capacity of 12 organizations (11 provincial/territorial and one national) through operational/core funding provided in 2020-21. Activities continued, although they were adapted to meet the restrictions due to COVID-19.

Discussions are ongoing with the remaining provincial and territorial jurisdictions (Nunavut and PEI) towards the 2021-22 target of having one organization/beneficiary per province/territory.
Innovation, Science, and Economic Development Canada – historical base
Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (coordination)Footnote 24 1,600,000 320,000 306,942

ISED created a new working group to develop its first Consultation Strategy for OLMCs. The working group is composed of representatives from ISED’s sectors, regional development agencies and representatives from the OLMCs. Its mandate is to coordinate new consultation activities, in virtual form for the time being.

The EDI research component carried out 6 studies or analyses to better present the reality of OLMCs in sectors such as agriculture and agri-food, post-secondary education, and community development, and made it possible to identify innovative post-pandemic models for OLMC organizations.
Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency 6,200,000 1,230,000 1,230,000 For 2020-2021, ACOA has approved 10 new projects for a total commitment of $474,279. These projects created several partnerships and leveraged $332,186 in funding from other partners. This year, ACOA projects approved under the EDI impacted several OLMCs in Atlantic Canada as envisioned under the Strengthening our communities pillar of the action plan. These projects impacted francophone and Acadian communities by supporting a variety of community economic development initiatives and supported as well francophone immigration.
Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions 10,200,000 2,040,000 2,040,053 The annual target is to spend the entire EDI budget for the benefit of communities, which is $2,040,000 in 2020-2021. The Agency exceeded its target by using its regular budget to meet the need.
Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency (CanNor) 400,000 80,000 80,000 In 2020-2021, CanNor supported two community-related projects; these projects were funded under the Economic Development Initiative (EDI) and Inclusive Diversification and Economic Advancement in the North (IDEANorth) program streams.
Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario Footnote 25 4,450,000 827,000 757,303

In 2020-2021, 6 projects were approved (including 5 multiyear projects) for a total investment of $708,908, leveraging $441,365 in additional funds from other sources. The projects will take place in New Liskeard, Sudbury and Noëlville.

Two feasibility studies took place to further OLMC priorities in Dubreuilville (development of a new business venture) and New Liskeard (development of a community infrastructure project).
Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario 4,450,000 890,000 843,000 FedDev Ontario a soutenu cinq projets actifs en 2020-2021 par le biais de l’IDE.
Western Economic Diversification Canada-Economic Footnote 26 3,200,000 640,000 646,243

A new partnership model with the Francophone Economic Development Organizations (FEDOs) will allow the FEDOs to jointly identify and support community economic development projects that have direct and tangible impacts on francophone communities.

Number of community-based projects: 17

Number of businesses created, maintained or expanded: 9

Number of Jobs maintained: 13

Number of partners engaged in community-based projects: 49

Amount leveraged by the project: $1,155,395
Public Health Agency of Canada – new funds in Action Plan 2018–2023
Enhanced early childhood health promotion programmingFootnote 27 10,000,000 2,180,000 2,589,963

The Healthy Early Years (HEY) program providing funding to two main recipients: la Société Santé en français (SST) and the Community Health and Social Services Network (CHSSN). In 2020-2021, the two recipients funded 51 third party projects, aimed at improving access for vulnerable families living in OLMCs to early childhood health promotion programming, with the goal of helping these populations acquire knowledge and skills, adopt positive healthy behaviours, and improve long-term health outcomes.

Through these 51 projects, 5,145 parents and guardians, 907 pregnant women and 5,419 children benefited from the Healthy Childhood program in 2020-2021.

Despite COVID-19-related obstacles, the SSF and the CHSSN were both able to ensure the success of the HEY program for the 2020 – 2021 fiscal year. Both funding recipients worked closely with their networks and projects to adapt their funded activities to comply with COVID-19 health measures, including shifting to remote or online activities and reallocating funding planned for in-person activities to resources necessary to ensure safe physically-distanced programming.
Canada Council for the Arts – historical base
Market Access Strategy for Artists from communities 2,750,000 550,000 630,500

In 2019–2020, the Council received a total of 31 eligible applications under the Market Access Strategy Fund (MAS). Of these, 21 were funded to 20 distinct recipients. The full budget of $630,500 was spent on grants.

Overall, in 2020-21, MAS grants reached artists and organizations in eight communities across the country. The fund supported a wide variety of activities including participation in showcase events, networking meetings, promotional materials, translations, marketing strategies, and performances.
National Research Council (NRC) – historical base
Strengthening language industries and technologies 10,000,000 2,19, 548 2,361,055 In collaboration with the Government of Canada's Translation Bureau and the Université de Montréal, National Research Council (NRC) researchers have developed new tools to identify and remove incorrect or problematic translations stored in translation memories. These tools also automatically determine whether the text is the original or a translation. In addition, by moving to deep learning-based machine translation systems, NRC has developed systems that provide superior results for government partners, including Parliament and security agencies.
Public Services and Procurement Canada (Translation Bureau) – historical base
Language Portal of CanadaFootnote 28 16,000,000 3,200,000 3,088,600

In 2020-2021, the number of page views on the Language Portal of Canada and its writing tools reached 9.9 million. The Portal team published 2,625 new content posts on its site and social media, including 72 new posts on the "Our Languages" blog, to help Canadians communicate better in both official languages, showcase Canadian language expertise, and highlight Canada's linguistic duality and community vitality. In October 2020, the Language Portal launched the enhanced Language Browser, which allows users to search over 23,000 pages of language content for free. The Portal participated in over 80 promotional events and conducted an online and social media advertising campaign to promote its resources.

Due to the pandemic, promotional activities normally conducted in person were replaced by virtual events. In addition, the Language Portal targeted the education community (parents, learners, and teachers) more during the lockdown by ensuring that links to its resources were added to distance education sites.
Statistics Canada – new funds in Action Plan 2018–2023
Additional, continued support to the language statistics section 2,997,270 599,454 605,491

In 2020-2021, a total of 27 initiatives were carried out including consultation activities to focus research and analysis to better meet the diverse needs of communities.

Dissemination products include five data tables on languages in Canada, with a historical perspective; four statistical portraits of minority language workers in the agriculture and agri-food industries; projection scenarios for some language characteristics of Quebec’s population (2011-2036) and; two methodological documents including one on the right to minority language education.

Number of activities per year: 15

Number of analytical products per year: 12

Percentage of clients satisfied with the statistical information produced and services: 86%
Totals
Total – historical base 2,169,194,820 443,930,596 448,915,610 -
Total – new funds in Action Plan 2018–2023 484,605,705 102,910,246 105,703,752 -
Total of government investments in official languages 2,653,800,525 546,840,842 554,619,362 -

Table 1 notes

Table 1 note *

Note that this information is provided on a voluntary basis and is not representative of all participants.

Return to table 1 first note * referrer

Appendix 2: 2020-2021 Expenditures of the official languages support programs by component

Table 2: Expenditures of Canadian Heritage Official Languages Support Programs – Grand total (in dollars)
Program Expenditures
Development of Official Language Communities Program 315,925,220
Enhancement of Official Languages Program 125,456,142
Grand Total 441,381,362
Table 3: Expenditures of the Development of Official Language Communities Program by component (in dollars)
Component Sub-component Expenditures
Community Life Cooperation with the Community Sector 43,690,877
Intergovernmental Cooperation on Minority Language ServicesFootnote 29 24,804,790
Fundfor Quebec English-speaking communities 1,659,526
Strategic Fund Footnote 30 2,731,732
Community Media Strategic Support Fund 3,000,000
Community Cultural Action Fund 2,119,750
Community Cultural Action Micro-Grant Program for Minority Schools (Micro-grants) 1,885,592
Community Spaces Fund 3,507,614
Civic Community School 1,007,560
Young Canada Works in both official languages/ Building Careers in English and French 3,906,491
Young Canada Works – Media internships 697,009
Subtotal: "Community Life" component 89,010,941
Minority Language Education Intergovernmental Cooperation on Minority Language Educatio (Protcol) 173,507,079
Intergovernmental Cooperation on Minority Language Education (Complementary projects) 17,510,966
Complementary Support for Language Learning 2,205,734
Recruitment of teachers for minority community schools 10,091,538
Educational community infrastructure Fund (Investing in Canada Plan) 3,892,062
School and community infrastructure 17,819,138
Cooperation with the Non-Governmental Sector 1,887,762
Subtotal: "Minority Language Education" component 226,914,279
All components Total 315,925,220
Table 4: Expenditures of the Enhancement of Official Languages Program by component (in dollars)
Component Sub-component Expenditures
Promotion of Linguistic Duality Appreciation and Reconciliation 4,389,331
Promotion of Bilingual Services 317,639
Support for Interpretation and Translation 347,227
Subtotal: "Promotion of Linguistic Duality" 5,054,197
Second Language Learning Intergovernmental Cooperation on Second Language Learning (Protocol) 86,308,819
Intergovernmental Cooperation on Second Language Learning (Complementary projects) 3,013,889
Complementary Support for Language Learning 15,528,471
Recruitment of teachers for French immersion schools 7,370,248
Cooperation with the Non-Governmental Sector 1,361,350
Bursaries for post-secondary education in French as a second language 3,000,000
Young Canada Works in both official languages/ Building Careers in English and French 3,819,168
Subtotal: " Second Language Learning" component 120,401,945
All components Total 125,456,142

Appendix 3: 2020-2021 Expenditures of the Official Languages Support Programs by province and territory

Table 5: Official Languages Support Programs Expenditures by Province and Territory (in dollars)
Province or territory Province or territory Enhancement of Official Languages Program Subtotal by province or territory
Newfoundland and Labrador 3,514,320 2,814,187 6,328,507
Prince Edward Island 6,487,521 1,793,842 8,281,363
Nova Scotia 12,144,615 4,301,266 16,445,881
New Brunswick 28,637,905 5,951,074 34,588,979
Quebec 62,721,843 18,917,162 81,639,005
Ontario 100,549,984 25,252,991 125,802,975
Manitoba 15,073,247 5,990,485 21,063,732
Saskatchewan 8,822,513 5,497,703 14,320,216
Alberta 13,463,490 9,649,793 23,113,283
British Columbia 15,180,512 13,338,873 28,519,385
Northwest Territories 8,574,846 1,601,083 10,175,929
Yukon 7,826,763 977,100 8,803,863
Nunavut 7,201,685 566,450 7,768,135
National 13,848,087 2,347,091 16,195,178
Complementary Support for Language Learning: Explore and Destination Clic 355,990 6,763,817 7,119,807
Complementary Support for Language Learning: Odyssey 1,849,744 8,764,654 10,614,398
Cooperation with the Non-Governmental Sector/Education 5,765,664 7,109,403 12,875,067
Young Canada Works 3,906,491 3,819,168 7,725,659
Total 315,925,220 125,456,142 441,381,362
Table 6: Expenditures of the Development of Official Language Communities Program by province and territory (in dollars)
Province or territory "Community Life" component "Minority Language Education" component Subtotal by province or territory
Newfoundland and Labrador 1,956,977 1,557,343 3,514,320
Prince Edward Island 2,835,540 3,651,981 6,487,521
Nova Scotia 3,928,009 8,216,606 12,144,615
New Brunswick 6,394,509 22,243,396 28,637,905
Quebec 8,047,397 54,674,446 62,721,843
Ontario 12,200,978 88,349,006 100,549,984
Manitoba 5,267,255 9,805,992 15,073,247
Saskatchewan 3,962,790 4,859,723 8,822,513
Alberta 4,631,778 8,831,712 13,463,490
British Columbia 4,302,390 10,878,122 15,180,512
Northwest Territories 6,437,883 2,136,963 8,574,846
Yukon 6,219,029 1,607,734 7,826,763
Nunavut 5,071,828 2,129,857 7,201,685
National 13,848,087 0 13,848,087
Complementary Support for Language Learning: Explore and Destination Clic 0 355,990 355,990
Complementary Support for Language Learning: Odyssey 0 1,849,744 1,849,744
Cooperation with the Non-Governmental Sector/Education 0 5,765,664 5,765,664
Young Canada Works 3,906,491 0 3,906,491
Total 89,010,941 226,914,279 315,925,220
Table 7: Expenditures of the “Community Life” component of the Development of Official Language Communities Program by province and territory (in dollars)
Province or territory Support to organizations Support to provincial and territorial governments Subtotal by province or territory
Newfoundland and Labrador 1,606,977 350,000 1,956,977
Prince Edward Island 1,598,040 1,237,500 2,835,540
Nova Scotia 2,627,009 1,301,000 3,928,009
New Brunswick 4,984,509 1,410,000 6,394,509
Quebec 8,047,397 0 8,047,397
Ontario 10,664,478 1,536,500 12,200,978
Manitoba 3,837,255 1,430,000 5,267,255
Saskatchewan 3,202,790 760,000 3,962,790
Alberta 3,981,778 650,000 4,631,778
British Columbia 3,602,390 700,000 4,302,390
Northwest Territories 937,883 5,500,000 6,437,883
Yukon 772,283 5,446,746 6,219,029
Nunavut 588,784 4,483,044 5,071,828
National 13,848,087 0 13,848,087
Young Canada Works 3,906,491 0 3,906,491
Total 64,206,151 24,804,790 89,010,941
Table 8: Expenditures of the Enhancement of Official Languages Program by province and territory (in dollars)
Province or territory “Promotion of Linguistic Duality” component “Second Language Learning” component Subtotal by province or territory
Newfoundland and Labrador 164,052 2,650,135 2,814,187
Prince Edward Island 183,640 1,610,202 1,793,842
Nova Scotia 206,266 4,095,000 4,301,266
New Brunswick 220,512 5,730,562 5,951,074
Quebec 217,050 18,700,112 18,917,162
Ontario 559,468 24,693,523 25,252,991
Manitoba 182,234 5,808,251 5,990,485
Saskatchewan 206,696 5,291,007 5,497,703
Alberta 241,800 9,407,993 9,649,793
British Columbia 441,740 12,897,133 13,338,873
Northwest Territories 83,648 1,517,435 1,601,083
Yukon 0 977,100 977,100
Nunavut 0 566,450 566,450
National 2,347,091 0 2,347,091
Complementary Support for Language Learning: Explore and Destination Clic 0 6,763,817 6,763,817
Complementary Support for Language Learning: Odyssey 0 8,764,654 8,764,654
Cooperation with the Non-Governmental Sector/Education 0 7,109,403 7,109,403
Young Canada Works 0 3,819,168 3,819,168
Total 5,054,197 120,401,945 125,456,142

Appendix 4: 2020-2021 Education expenditures

Table 9: Breakdown of education expenditures (in dollars) - Support to provincial and territorial governments
- Minority language education Second language learning Total
Bilateral agreements 173,507,079 86,308,819 259,815,898
Complimentary projects 17,510,666 3,013,889 20,524,855
Infrastructure 21,711,200 0 21,711,200
Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy 6,213, 636 4,581,655 10,795,291
Total 218,942,881 93,904,363 312,847,244
Table 10: Breakdown of education expenditures (in dollars) - Support to organizations
- Minority language education Second language learning Total
Cooperation with the Non-Governmental Sector 1,887,762 1,361,350 3,249,112
Bursaries for post-secondary education in French as a second language 0 3,000,000 3,000,000
Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy 3,877,902 2,788,593 6,666,495
Young Canada Works 0 3,819,168 3,819,168
Complementary Support for Language Learning (CMEC) 2,205,734 15,528,471 17,734,205
Total 7,971,398 26,497,582 34,468,980
Table 11: Minority language education expenditures by province and territory – Intergovernmental cooperation
Province or territory Bilateral agreements Complimentary projects Infrastructure Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy Total by province or territory
Newfoundland and Labrador 1,295,343 0 0 262,000 1,557,343
Prince Edward Island 1,778,339 172,500 1,409,042 292,100 3,651,981
Nova Scotia 4,483,117 622,500 2,579,774 531,215 8,216,606
New Brunswick 17,912,835 390,000 3,540,561 400,000 22,243,396
Quebec 53,526,777 226,000 921,669 0 54,674,446
Ontario 63,268,154 13,030,416 9,800,000 2,250,436 88,349,006
Manitoba 7,284,492 0 2,285,000 236,500 9,805,992
Saskatchewan 3,300,899 647,750 366,704 544,370 4,859,723
Alberta 8,507,812 0 0 323,900 8,831,712
British Columbia 7,525,177 2,005,200 0 1,347,745 10,878,122
Northwest Territories 1,694,993 416,600 0 25,370 2,136,963
Yukon 1,607,734 0 0 0 1,607,734
Nunavut 1,321,407 0 808,450 0 2,129,857
Total 173,507,079 17,510,966 21,711,200 6,213,636 218,942,881
Table 12: Second language learning expenditures by province and Province and Territory - Intergovernmental cooperationale
Province or territory Bilateral agreements Complimentary projects Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy Total by province or territory
Newfoundland and Labrador 2,639,295 0 0 2,639,295
Prince Edward Island 1,076,602 57,500 476,100 1,610,202
Nova Scotia 3,761,355 0 333,645 4,095,000
New Brunswick 5,043,334 170,000 517,228 5,730,562
Quebec 18,406,662 31,500 261,950 18,700,112
Ontario 24,090,634 595,689 0 24,686,323
Manitoba 5,540,451 0 245,300 5,785,751
Saskatchewan 4,039,526 583,000 668,481 5,291,007
Alberta 8,894,859 0 513,134 9,407,993
British Columbia 10,067,846 1,336,800 1,492,487 12,897,133
Northwest Territories 1,204,705 239,400 73,330 1,517,435
Yukon 977,100 0 0 977,100
Nunavut 566,450 0 0 566,450
Total 86,308,819 3,013,889 4,581,655 93,904,363

Appendix 5: School enrolment in 2019-2020Footnote 31

Table 13: Enrolments in second language instruction programs in majority language school systems – All of Canada
Type of second language instruction program Year Total enrolment in majority schools Second language (including immersion) French immersion
Enrolment Percentage (of total population) Enrolment Percentage (of total population)
Total–Students in majority language school systems taking French as a second language combined with students taking English as a second language 1983-1984Table 13 note * 4,401,997 2,199,253 50% 117,454 2.7%
2019-2020 4,707,477 2,527,488 53.7% 487,191 10.3%
Total–English language students in majority systems learning French as a second language (Canada minus Quebec) 1983-1984Table 13 note * 3,464,272 1,607,335 46.4% 117,454 3.4%
2019-2020 3,828,402 1,750,416 45.7% 487,191 12.7%
Total–Students in the French language education system learning English as a second language in Quebec 1983-1984Table 13 note * 937,725 591,918 63.1% 0 0
2019-2020 879,075 777,072 88.3% 0 0

Table 13 notes

Table 13 note *

Second language totals for 1983–1984 do not include Yukon, Northwest Territories or Nunavut, for which no data were available. For each of these jurisdictions, the earliest year for which data is available is used to establish a base year.

Return to table 13 first note * referrer

Table 14: Enrolments in second language instruction programs in majority language school systems by province or territory
Type of second language instruction program Year Total enrolment in majority schools Second language (including immersion) French immersion
Enrolment Percentage (of total population) Enrolment Percentage (of total population)
Newfoundland and Labrador 1983-1984 147,500 75,056 50.9% 970 0.7%
2019-2020 63,225 37,119 58.7% 10,602 16.8%
Prince Edward Island 1983-1984 24,964 15,911 63.7% 1,833 7.3%
2019-2020 19,683 11,907 60.5% 5,271 26.8%
Nova Scotia 1983-1984 172,770 95,201 55.1% 894 0.5%
2019-2020 116,535 60,516 51.9% 15,855 13.6%
New Brunswick 1983-1984 98,284 70,289 71.5% 11,009 11.2%
2019-2020 69,600 47,976 68.9% 25,365 36.4%
Quebec 1983-1984 937,725 591,918 63.1% 0 0
2019-2020 879,075 777,072 88.4% 0 0
Ontario 1983-1984 1,682,302 909,290 54.1% 65,310 3.9%
2019-2020 1,942,344 1,029,525 53.0% 284,730 14.7%
Manitoba 1983-1984 194,182 91,058 46.9% 9,090 4.7%
2019-2020 181,188 81,471 45.0% 27,246 15.0%
Saskatchewan 1983-1984 200,362 52,324 26.1% 4,018 2%
2019-2020 182,985 49,245 26.9% 16,809 9.2%
Alberta 1983-1984 447,759 120,868 27% 14,523 3.2%
2019-2020 674,379 190,116 28.2% 44,991 6.7%
British Columbia 1983-1984 496,149 177,338 35.7% 9,807 2%
2019-2020 554,145 237,186 42.8% 54,399 9.8%
Yukon 1984-1985 4,667 2,221 47.6% 186 4%
2019-2020 5,349 2,556 47.8% 849 15.9%
Northwest Territories 1990-1991 14,016 4,360 31.1% 404 2.9%
2019-2020 8,334 2,799 33.6% 1,074 12.9%
Nunavut 2002-2003 8,861 0 S.O. 0 S.O.
2019-2020 10,635 0 S.O. 0 S.O.
Table 15: Enrolments in minority language education programs – All of Canada
Scope Year Total of school enrolment Enrolment in minority language schools Classes Minority language share of total school enrolment
Total – Canada 1983-1984Table 15 note * 4,682,999 281,002 0 6%
2019-2020 4,966,872 259,395 0 5.2%
Total – French minority language schools 1983-1984Table 15 note * 3,634,315 152,594 0 4.2%
2019-2020 4,002,771 174,369 0 4.4%

Table 15 notes

Table 15 note *

Minority language figures for 1983–1984 exclude Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut, where there were no minority language schools in 1983–1984. For each of these jurisdictions, the earliest year for which data is available is used to establish a base year.

Return to table 15 first note * referrer

Table 16: Enrolments in minority language education programs by province and territory
Province or territories Year Total of school enrolment Enrolment in minority language schools Classes Minority language share of total school enrolment
Newfoundland and Labrador 1983-1984 147,603 103 Kindergarten to 12 0.1%
2019-2020 63,573 348 Kindergarten to 12 0.5%
Prince Edward Island 1983-1984 25,480 516 1 to 12 2%
2019-2020 20,733 1,050 Kindergarten to 12 5.2%
Nova Scotia 1983-1984 177,240 4,470 Kindergarten to 12 2.5%
2019-2020 122,925 6,390 Kindergarten to 12 5.2%
New Brunswick 1983-1984 146,045 47,761 Kindergarten to 12 32.7%
2019-2020 98,955 29,355 Kindergarten to 12 29.7%
Quebec 1983-1984 1,066,133 128,408 Kindergarten to 11 12%
2019-2020 964,101 85,026 Kindergarten to 11 8.8%
Ontario 1983-1984 1,773,478 91,176 Kindergarten to 12 5.1%
2019-2020 2,055,885 113,541 Kindergarten to 12 5.5%
Manitoba 1983-1984 199,743 5,561 Kindergarten to 12 2.8%
2019-2020 187,194 6,006 Kindergarten to 12 3.2%
Saskatchewan 1983-1984 201,130 768 Kindergarten to 12 0.4%
2019-2020 184,938 1,953 Kindergarten to 12 1.1%
Alberta 1983-1984 448,835 1,076 Kindergarten to 12 0.2%
2019-2020 683,280 8,901 Kindergarten to 12 1.3%
British Columbia 1983-1984 497,312 1,163 Kindergarten to 12 0.1%
2019-2020 560,337 6,192 Kindergarten to 12 1.1%
Yukon 1984-1985 4,697 30 Kindergarten to 8 0.6%
2019-2020 5,643 294 Kindergarten to 12 5.3%
Northwest Territories 1990-1991 14,079 63 Kindergarten to 11 0.4%
2019-2020 8,577 243 Kindergarten to 12 2.8%
Nunavut 2002-2003 8,901 40 Kindergarten to 12 0.4%
2019-2020 10,731 96 Kindergarten to 12 0.9%

©Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, 2017 (year published).
Catalogue No. CH10-2E-PDF
ISSN 2562-704X

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