Education is key to ensuring the equality of our two official languages in the education system, from early childhood to postsecondary. To support official language minority communities and maintain the vitality of the French language, we need to work with partners and invest in the French education system, particularly postsecondary institutions.
Today, the Honourable Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Minister of Official Languages and Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, announced more than $4.7 million in funding to support French-language postsecondary education in British Columbia. The minister was accompanied by Kelli Paddon, Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia for Chilliwack–Kent; Yvon Laberge, President of Collège Éducacentre; Kevin Hall, President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Victoria; and Dr. Joël Castonguay-Bélanger, head of the French department at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and board member of the Centre de la Francophonie.
In collaboration with the University of Victoria, Collège Éducacentre and UBC, this investment will support a three-year capacity-building project that will improve French-language academic opportunities through new programs and courses, particularly French teacher education and development. It will also better serve Francophone students by offering more academic support and enhanced cultural activities.
In addition, the project allows postsecondary institutions to demonstrate the strong presence of the Francophone community through greater access to information and resources in French on campus and online.
The project will also support cultural programming and increased coordination and networking between educational partners and community organizations. The Government of Canada is investing $2,605,384 in this project over three years while the Government of British Columbia is investing $2,113,260 over the same period, for a total of $4.7 million.
The project is funded under the Canada–British Columbia Agreement on Minority-Language Education and Second Official-Language Instruction (2020–2021 to 2022–2023).