Federal Government commits $2.7 billion for language support

Canadian Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau jointly announced a new action plan for Canada’s official languages on Wednesday, unveiling $500 million in new spending that brings the total Federal investment in minority language communities in the country to an unprecedented $2.7 billion over the next five years. Included in the announcement were several references to the issues faced by rural English-speaking Quebecers and a commitment to do more to serve the needs of minority language communities directly

“This is a plan developed with communities, for communities,” Trudeau said calling the protection and promotion of Canada’s two official languages, “Good news for all Canadians.”

“This new plan contains more than 30 new measures to help support our communities across the country and ensure that official languages continue to thrive for years to come,” Joly said, “from

a Francophone immigration strategy and early childhood education, culture and education initiatives to a new fund for English-speaking Quebecers.”

The new plan follows a series of consultations the government held across the country on the subject of official languages, and the measures contained within the final text are structured to respond to specific quotations from individuals who raised discussion points. The section relating to a new dedicated fund of $5.3 million over five years for English-speaking communities in Quebec, for example, refers to a quote from Grant Meyers, Vice-president of the Quebec Anglophone Heritage Network, stating that “We really need programs that address local realities and local challenges and local opportunities."

The details on how that new fund will be used to support community initiatives are vague in the wording of the plan, but Geoffrey Chambers, Vice President of the Quebec Community Groups Network (QCGN), said that doesn’t bother him at this point.

“We’re happy” Chambers said, explaining that the network of Englishlanguage community organizations is pleased both with the content of the announcement and its format. “This was a big formal gesture with the Prime minister and several members of Parliament present.”

The QCGN Vice President argued that the showing demonstrates that the rights of minority language groups are important to the Federal Government and said that both the plan, and the way it was created, point to a different sort of relationship between the Federal Government and official language minority groups in the country because it was made after a consultation process with a wide range of groups. Although he acknowledged that there is a lack of clear detail at this point in time as to how the new funding and resources for English Quebecers will be used, he pointed out that a plan developed out of a conversation with community groups is more likely to please those groups in the long run than one handed down from on high.

Other new measures contained in the plan include support for training and recruiting teachers to meet the growing needs of Francophone minority schools and immersion classes ($62.6 million), a free online tool for learning English and French ($12.6 million) and support for minority media facing difficult situations ($14.5 million).

The full text of the Action Plan for Official Languages 2018–2023 is available on the Heritage Canada website.