2009-47
March 23, 2009
For immediate release
MONCTON - The Government of Canada will provide further support for Francophone students pursuing post-secondary educational opportunities in the health care field. As a result, more Francophones across Canada will have greater access to health services in the language of their choice.
This announcement was made on behalf of the Honourable Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of Health, by Dr. Colin Carrie, Parliamentary Secretary, and New Brunswick Senator Percy Mockler.
The Consortium national de formation en santé will use the funding to encourage Francophone students who reside outside of Quebec to pursue health-related post-secondary studies. This will help increase the number of health care professionals available to serve French-speaking minority communities.
The $4 million in federal support will help the Consortium strengthen its promotion and recruitment efforts, expand the scope of distance learning, strengthen clinical training for students through the purchase of new medical equipment, and strengthen continuous learning and teaching recruits.
The Consortium national de formation en santé is an umbrella organization representing 11 different universities and colleges outside of Quebec that offer French study in various health disciplines. The objective of the alliance is to increase the number of health professionals and researchers in Canada who can serve the linguistic needs of French speaking minority communities across the country.
The institutions which make up the Consortium include: l'Université de Moncton (NB), Collège communautaire du Nouveau-Brunswick - Campbellton (NB), Université Sainte-Anne (NS), Collège Acadie (PEI), Collège universitaire de Saint-Boniface (MB), Faculté Saint-Jean (AB), University of Ottawa (ON), Laurentian University (ON), Cité collégiale (ON), Collège Boréal (ON) and the Government of New Brunswick with institutions participating in the Quebec-New Brunswick health training agreement.
The funding for today's announcement was provided through the Official Languages Health Contribution Program. Under the 2008-2013 Roadmap for Linguistic Duality, our Government will continue to work in collaboration with the provinces and territories and official language minority communities to further improve access to health services. We will continue the training and retention of health care professionals, support community networks and new local projects to improve access to health services in the minority language.
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Media Enquiries:
Health Canada
(613) 957-2983
Josée Bellemare
Office of the Honourable Leona Aglukkaq
Federal Minister of Health
(613) 957-0200
Public Enquiries:
(613) 957-2991
1-866 225-0709
