2004-05

PROMOTE FRANCOPHONE IMMIGRATION: CIC RENEWS STEERING COMMITTEE’S MANDATE

OTTAWA, April 2, 2004 — Judy Sgro, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, today announced the renewal of the Citizenship and Immigration Canada-Francophone Minority Communities Steering Committee’s mandate for a two-year period, from April 2004 to March 2006.

“We have made great strides in recent years to enhance the vitality of Francophone minority communities,” said Minister Sgro. “In order to continue in this direction, the Steering Committee’s mandate must be renewed so that it can finish developing concrete action plans that encourage Francophones to immigrate and settle in Francophone minority communities in Canada.”

The Steering Committee was created in March 2002 with a mandate to facilitate the recruitment, selection, reception and integration of newcomers into Francophone minority communities, in partnership with various community, government and private sector stakeholders. In November 2003, the Steering Committee announced a strategic framework to enable Francophone minority communities to receive and integrate newcomers. The Committee is currently developing action plans that will be made public in 2004, and that will help meet the objectives set out in the strategic framework.

Together, Citizenship and Immigration Canada, federal and provincial departments, and Francophone minority communities have set up certain initiatives, including:

• a tour of South America and Eastern Europe to encourage potential immigrants to come to Francophone minority communities;
• information on the CIC Web site to promote Francophone minority communities and to facilitate the integration of immigrants into these communities; and
• a pamphlet to support efforts to recruit Canadian Francophone volunteers in order to help refugees better adapt to their new lives in Canada.

The Steering Committee is co-chaired by Marc Arnal, an educator, and Diane Vincent, Associate Deputy Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Canada. The size of the committee will be increased in order to include new members from the community and to allow interested government partners to become full fledged members.

The report entitled Strategic Framework to Foster Immigration to Francophone Minority Communities is available on the CIC Web site at http://www.cic.gc.ca

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For more information:

Simone Mac Andrew
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister
(613) 954-1064

Paul Giroux
Media Relations
Communications Branch
(613) 941-7042

Report:
Strategic Framework to Foster Immigration to Francophone Minority Communities

BACKGROUNDER

Members of Citizenship and
Immigration Canada – Francophone
Minority Communities Steering Committee

Composition

Co-chairs:
Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC): Diane Vincent
Francophone minority communities: Marc C. Arnal

CIC Representatives:
Rosaline Frith, Director General, Integration
Louise Gravel, Director General, Human Resources
Rénald Dussault, Director General, Selection
Janet Siddall, Director General, International Region
Robert Orr, Director General, Refugees
Brian Grant, Director General, Strategic Policy and Partnerships
Lucille LeBlanc, Acting Director, Settlement and Ports of Entry, Ontario
Tony Marshall, Director General, Atlantic Region
Rob Vineberg, Director General, Prairies and Northern Territories Region
Marilyn Viger, Director General, British Columbia and Yukon Region

Partners:
Gilbert Philion, Director, Programs, Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency
Aldean Andersen, Director, Official Language Community Development Bureau, Health Canada
Louise Trahan, Director, Interdepartmental Coordination, Canadian Heritage
Keith Fernandez, Director General, Western Economic Diversification Canada
Monique Rose, Senior Policy Analyst, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Anne Scotton, Director General, Privy Council Office
Louise Paquette, Director General (FedNor), Industry Canada (New member)
Claude Boucher, Senior Coordinator for Federal-Provincial Relations, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
Jo-Ann Gagnon, Manager S41 and Francophonie, Industry Canada
Gérald Clément, Assistant Deputy Minister, Immigration, Manitoba
Bogdan George Itoafa, Project Officer, Immigration, New Brunswick
Joanne Lamothe, Director General, Youth Initiatives, Human Resources and Development Canada
Michelle Hamelin, Director and Secretary General, Official Language Minority Communities, Human Resources and Skills Development
Robert Galipeau, Manager, Official Languages, Northwest Territories (New member)
Nathalie Dubois, National Coordinator, Francophone Intergovernmental Affairs (New member)

Community Representatives:
Renée Champagne, Ontario
Lise Ouellette, New Brunswick
Michelle Rakotonaivo, British Columbia
Léonie Tchatat, Ontario
Maxim Jean-Louis, Ontario
Luketa M’Pindou, Alberta
Michel Chartier, Manitoba
Zaïn Esseghaïer, Prince-Edward-Island
Keith Coughland, Nova Scotia (New member)
André Lalonde, Saskatchewan (New member)

Observers:
Representative, Parliamentary Affairs Officer, Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
Jacqueline Frank, Executive Director, Office of Francophone Affairs, Ontario
Bill Burgers, Senior Policy Analyst, Immigration Division, British Columbia
Barbara Leung, Director, Community Programs, Immigration, Alberta

Biographies of Community Members
of the Citizenship and Immigration Canada –
Francophone Minority Communities Steering Committee

Michel L.J. Chartier

• Vice-president of the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada
• Member of the task force on improving French services within Manitoba’s justice system, and the Mayor of Winnipeg’s task force on French services in the provincial capital
• Former president of the Société franco-manitobaine

Léonie Tchatat

• Founder and executive director of the Regroupement des jeunes filles francophones de Toronto
• President of the Groupe jeunesse francophone de Toronto
• Director of the women’s magazine Taloua, which targets young women belonging to ethnic and cultural minorities in the Toronto area
• President of Ontario Youth Against Racial Discrimination

Maxim Jean-Louis

• President and chief executive of Contact North, a distance education and training network composed of over 145 access centres in some 100 rural and remote communities
• President of the Collège des Grands Lacs in Toronto
• Chair of the Comité directeur francophone pour le développement de la petite enfance en Ontario
• Member of the Comité d’évaluation de projets de l’entente Canada-communauté Ontario

Zaïn Esseghaïer

• Educator (for over 15 years) in Prince Edward Island
• President of the provincial Muslim association
• Spokesperson for the Quinzaine de la Francophonie in 2001
• Director of Instruction for the Commission scolaire de langue française de l’Île-du-Prince-Édouard

Renée Champagne

• Vice-president for college and community affairs of the Collège Boréal in northeastern Ontario
• Member of the advisory committee on French-language services of the Ministry of Community and Social Services of Ontario
• Co-president of Sudburyneweconomy.com
• Former vice-president of the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada

Luketa M’Pindou

• Coordinator of the Alliance-Famille agency of the Alberta Society, whose purpose is to enhance Canadian cultural diversity, especially in the areas of education and crime prevention
• Member of the steering committee of the organization Building Healthy Immigrant Families and Communities
• Member of the organizing committee for Alberta’s Franco-fête

Lise Ouellette

• Coordinator of research and innovation at the Université de Moncton (Shippagan campus
• Former director general of the Partenariat Acadie-Haïti
• Former president of the Société des Acadiens et Acadiennes du Nouveau-Brunswick

Michelle Angela Rakotonaivo

• Marketing, strategic planning and international trade consultant
• Advisor to the Fédération des francophones de la Colombie-Britannique
• Treasurer and responsible for newcomers with the Association francophone de Surrey, of which she is a past president
• Founding member of the Club Lion Montréal-Madagascar

André Lalonde

• Director, Institut de formation linguistique de l’Université de Régina, since 1992
• Member of the Advisory Committee on multiculturalism in Saskatchewan, 1995-1998
• Founding President and present Vice-President of the Société d’histoire de la Saskatchewan

Keith Coughland

• Former Director, Academic Programs, Department of Education, New Brunswick
• Former Director General of St-Quentin, Tracadie-Sheila and Beresford School Districts (N.B.)
• Since 2001, member of the Board of Directors of the Société éducative de visites et d’échanges au Canada (SEVEC)

STEERING COMMITTEE CO-CHAIRS

Marc C. Arnal

• Dean of the University of Alberta’s Faculté Saint-Jean
• Former Executive assistant with the Alberta Teachers Association in Edmonton
• Former regional director (1984-1991) for Alberta and the Northwest Territories with the Secretary of State Department (now known as the Department of Canadian Heritage)
• Member of the executive board of the Mahatma Gandhi Canadian Foundation for World Peace
• Chair of the executive board of the Peikoff Chair of Deafness Studies at the University of Alberta

Diane Vincent

• Associate Deputy Minister, Citizenship and Immigration Canada, since July 2003
• Diane Vincent has 22 years of experience in federal and provincial administrations. She has received many honors during her career.