Question Period Note: Official Languages Investments in the Atlantic Region

Summary of the Government of Canada's investments and achievements in support of official language minority communities and linguistic duality in the Atlantic region.

• Our government is determined to promote the development of our official language minority communities across Canada, including the francophone communities of the Atlantic Region and the English-speaking communities in Quebec, as well as the promotion of our two official languages.
• We are also proud to increase the base funding of our community organizations and to support Francophone arts and culture in our communities, from coast to coast. To do this, in addition to the amounts in the Action Plan, we are going to allocate more than $ 398 million over three years to support our official languages.
• In 2020-2021, we invested more than $ 65 million in support of activities that support the development and vitality of Atlantic Francophone communities as well as the promotion of linguistic duality in the region.

• The two main components of the Canadian Heritage Official Languages Support Programs are:
o the Development of Official Language Communities Program, which aims to promote the vitality of official language minority communities across Canada; and
o the Enhancement of Official Languages Program, which aims to promote the full recognition and use of French and English in Canadian society.
• In 2020-2021, through the Action Plan for Official Languages – 2018-2023: Investing in Our Future (Action Plan), the Government of Canada has invested in Atlantic Region a total amount of 11,380,650 dollars for activities that support the development of the Francophone minority community and promote bilingualism and second-language learning.
o This amount is broken down as follows by province:
 5,013,021 dollars in New Brunswick
 2,818,920 dollars in Nova Scotia
 1,781,689 dollars in Prince Edward Island
 1,771,029 dollars in Newfoundland and Labrador
• Thanks to the Action Plan, 52 community organizations in Atlantic Canada have received a 20 per cent increase in their annual programming funding, starting in 2018-2019:
o 20 community organizations in New Brunswick
o 18 community organizations in Nova Scotia
o 6 community organizations in Prince Edward Island
o 8 community organizations in Newfoundland and Labrador.
• Among others, the flagship achievements include:
o REGROUPEMENT DES AÎNÉS DE LA NOUVELLE-ÉCOSSE - "Coeur d'Artiste de l'Acadie de la Nouvelle-Écosse" (total amount: $39,000): The project, which ran from September 1, 2018, to March 31, 2021, was a unifying cultural project featuring seniors who were amateur musicians or singers in the Francophone regions of Nova Scotia. There were 40 amateur artists who participated in these trainings. Due to the pandemic, the group could not have performances in person, so instead the organization decided to train the artists on video capture and social networking. They went to three regions to meet and record musical performances by a professional videographer. The result of this was the editing and broadcasting of three shows on the Regroupement des aînés de la Nouvelle-Écosse Facebook page. See: http://www.rane.ns.ca/contenu.cfm?id=97 . Going virtual has allowed the group to spread the Acadian culture throughout Canada and to several countries such as the United States, Australia, Panama and France.
o ASSOCIATION ACADIENNE DES ARTISTES PROFESSIONNEL.LE.S DU N.-B. INC. : In 2019-2020, in addition to the 20% increase, the organization has seen its programming funding increase by an additional $23,000 to better support the work it does in coordinating the Global Strategy for Integrating the Arts and Culture into Acadian Society in New Brunswick. This strategy is a working tool that engages citizens and has become a reference that accompanies many stakeholders in the arts and culture community as well as other sectors in New Brunswick.
o NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR EMERGING FRANCOPHONE COMMUNITIES: Increased funding through the Action Plan has supported cultural animation in three emerging communities. Funding for these projects was provided through the Association régionale de la Côte-Ouest (Kippens and Stephenville) and the Fédération des francophones de Terre-Neuve et du Labrador (Happy Valley-Goose Bay; Corner Brook). The series of Francophone socio-cultural activities delivered in these areas aimed to create links in the local community, to raise awareness among parents and children of the importance of French and to sensitize participants to the maintenance and development of the French language and culture in a community and family environments. Communities have also been empowered to take charge of their own development by partnering with key local organizations to maximize the opportunities for French language activities.
o NEW PROGRAMMING FUNDED ORGANIZATIONS - PEI: For many years, some community groups onPrince Edward Island operated solely on recurring project funding to ensure their continuity of programming. This provided very little stability in their funding, as the amounts awarded varied each year depending on the number of project applications approved in the province. As a result of the 2018 enhancement and provincial dialogues held in 2018, three recipients, the Comité régional des Jeux de l'Acadie, the Salon du livre de l'Île-du-Prince-Édouard and the Association du Musée acadien de l'Île-du-Prince-Édouard, have seen their recurring project funding stabilized by accessing the programming envelope. In addition, another recurring project, the Rendez-vous de la francophonie, was integrated into the programming funding of another recipient, the Fédération culturelle de l'Île-du-Prince-Édouard. These changes have had a very positive impact on these recipients to better plan their respective programming and ensure the sustainability of the organizations in the longer term.
o CANADIAN PARENTS FOR FRENCH, NOVA SCOTIA BRANCH: In addition to its 20% increase in 2018-2019, the organization has received a $26,610 increase in 2019-2020 and $40,000 in 2020-2021 to its programming. This increase is for the hiring of a shared communications coordinator, who will be responsible for delivering local Canadian Parents for French advocacy messages and programs focused on "linguistic duality" for the four Atlantic organizations.

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