Building bridges between language communities Presentation by Marie-France Kenny President of the FCFA October 17, 2014

Who We Are Created in 1975 to be the main representative organization of Canada’s Francophone and Acadian communities 21 member associations, including 12 provincial/territorial umbrella groups and 9 national organizations active in various development sectors Head of the Francophone communities’ national consultation network – co-ordinator of the Forum of Leaders

What We Do Promote our communities, the French fact, and linguistic duality Support our members in the achievement of their mandate, for the benefit of all Francophones and Canada as a whole Defend the rights of Francophones living in a minority situation Strengthen ties between our communities and other components of Canadian society

A Bit of Historical Background When the FCFA was created in 1975, there were very few French-language services, activities and infrastructures outside Quebec The FCFA’s first mandate was to advocate for the creation of a global development plan by the federal government With the years, the FCFA itself created some development sectors: health care services, economic development, immigration, etc.

And today… The FCFA is directly/indirectly active in several development sectors, with the aim of enhancing the ability of Canadians to live in French The Federation achieves its goals by cooperating with a wide variety of partners, governmental and non- governmental Main contact point for the federal government, as well as the Ministerial Conference on the Canadian Francophonie

Our priorities for Promote the rights, realities, and contributions of Canada’s Francophone minority communities Establish relations and partnerships with a variety of organizations in Canadian society Ensure a multi-level presence in public policy arenas Enhance the commitment of French-speaking citizens to the Francophone and Acadian communities’ vision Foster a stronger attachment of French-speaking citizens to their community and to the French language

A broader definition of Francophonie For the FCFA, a Francophone is any person who chooses to communicate in French and live parts of his or her life in that language, regardless of origin or mother tongue

Enhancing ties with the FSL community Promoting language duality is increasingly part of FCFA’s work Many opportunities to work together and support each other’s positions in the public sphere Initiating bidirectional cooperation: how do we fit in your strategic priorities, how do you fit in ours? Working towards 2017: can we make Canada’s sesquicentennial an opportunity to rekindle the conversation between French-speaking and English- speaking Canadians?

Discussion time! Questions: How important is it for you to establish/enhance ties between Canada’s Francophone minority communities and CPF on a national, provincial/territorial, local level? What kind of relationship would you like to see between the Canadian Francophonie and CPF on a national, provincial/territorial, and local level? What benefits do you see for each group? How should we go about making this a reality? Who should initiate what?

Questions - discussion