New Brunswick: Graham to assemble French language committee

[Harold Schiffman]

Graham to assemble French language committee

Published Friday August 15th, 2008

Group to advise government on education, health care reforms

A4By Ben Shingler
Canadaeast News Service

SAINT JOHN - Premier Shawn Graham will assemble a French language
committee to advise the government on education, health care and other
reforms. The committee will be comprised of French-speaking
individuals from all sectors and regions of the province to ensure
open lines of communication between community and government, Graham
told business leaders and municipal officials at a luncheon in
Caraquet yesterday.

"I need to make sure that all stakeholders are engaged," Graham said
in an interview afterward.

"It's important that every region of our province and every citizen of
our province have an opportunity to benefit from our self-sufficiency
agenda."

The announcement comes as the government reels from heavy criticism
over lack of public consultation in the proposed changes to French
immersion -- before being forced to do so by court order.

"As we implement our policies, we want to make sure we get them
right," Graham said. "There are certain regions around the province
that aren't represented at the Cabinet table. I'll use an example of
the Madawaska region. It's important that I stay in tune and in touch
with all of these regions."

Economic development officials in the Madawaska region, tucked in the
province's northwestern corner, have criticized the government in the
past for inattention and inadequate funding.

Madawaska was not included in the Northern New Brunswick Initiative,
which promised $100 million to encourage economic growth in the
regions of Chaleur, Restigouche, the Acadian Peninsula and Miramichi.

The advisory committee will likely include representatives from a
variety of professions, ranging from artists to business
professionals, and will not necessarily include the leaders of lobby
groups.

"It's important because at least we'll have a chance to give the
government an idea of what we're interested in, to hear what we want
and what we don't," said Antoine Landy, mayor of Caraquet.

"I think all the discussion about post-secondary education and French
immersion woke people up. We need to look at our own educational
system and ensure that francophones have the quality of education that
will allow them to become professionals."

The first advisory meeting will be held near the end of 2008, but
Graham didn't yet have details about who would be on the committee or
how often it would meet.

The premier said there wouldn't be a nomination process and he would
select the members himself.

"There will be a number of influential individuals across the province
who want to contribute to our agenda and I'll be actively seeking them
out," Graham said.

Speaking on the eve of National Acadian Day, Graham also announced the
government would review its own language work policies, in attempt to
attract more French-speaking people to a career in the civil service.

"They will be able to use the language of their choice and that is
important for the recruitment and retention of a talented workforce,"
Graham told the audience.

The Language of Work policy has been in place since 1988, but it will
be updated so it applies towards new developments in the workplace.

"If you are somebody that works in a northern office and want to
communicate with somebody in Fredericton within government in French,
you can find somebody who will speak to you in that language," said
Sarah Ketcheson, spokeswoman for the province's office of human
resources.

"It's essentially designed to make people feel comfortable and use the
language in which they're more comfortable."

http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/news/article/385765
-- 
**************************************
N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to
its members
and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner
or sponsor of
the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who
disagree with a
message are encouraged to post a rebuttal. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)
*******************************************