Manitoba adds French-speaking positions, but will fund organizations less

Funds from the Canada-Manitoba agreement relating to French language services will be used to add several French-speaking positions, but they will be allocated less and less to organizations, according to the strategic plan recently published by the province.

The federal government and Manitoba signed the new agreement in August. This increases the amount provided by Ottawa by $576,704 per year, for a total of $1,976,704 per year. This strategic plan (New window) explains how this money will be spent by 2028, but also specifies Manitoba’s broader objectives regarding French-language services.

There remains work to be done, however, especially when it comes to ensuring that the government has the bilingual capacity to deliver direct servicesrecognizes the preamble of the document.

Francophones should expect to receive the same level of service, regardless of the public entity they contact or the type of service they seekhe continues, the ultimate objective is the standardization of comparable services in French across the province.

The province also wishes standardize the use of French across the provincial government and – by extension – promote its use everywhere in public.

The plan is built around three main axes: support for internal government structures, promotion of services and communication. The majority of federal and provincial funding, almost 90%, is aimed at services.

New positions

The strategic plan provides for the addition of positions in the public service, in terms of administration and service delivery.

In the area of ​​immigration, for example, the province will create two bilingual immigration agent positions for a temporary period of four years.

The document indicates that the province now has two bilingual immigration officers, who processed 273 French-speaking files under the Manitoba Nominee Program in 2022-2023, while the pool of waiting French-speaking candidates stands at 1,471 applications.

The processing time for files in French is generally longer, but the capacity to manage requests is lackingrecognizes the province.

In health, the province will create a centralized coordination unit for health services in French. It does not specify the number of positions this involves.

The province is also creating a position of tourism coordinator responsible for coordinating Manitoba’s Francophone Tourism Strategy, which the provincial government sees as an increasingly important piece of economic development.

On the administrative side, the government of Manitoba will create positions coordinating French language services in key ministries in order to better apply the law regarding services in French. In addition, the province plans to develop regulations and policies to support the implementation of the law.

Civil servants will also have access to a variety of language training, particularly in the legal field, which did not receive any funds from the previous agreement.

The strategic plan also mentions the development of a French version of the Certificate in Public Sector Management.

In communications, the province wants to respond to a lack of coordination which causes a delay in the publication in French of press releases or other information for the public.

Procedures must be developed and training conducted so that the entire communications team is aware of the obligation to simultaneously produce bilingual versions of all institutional public informationunderlines the plan.

Thus, the province is creating two new positions: a translation position and another which will have the task to apply a French-speaking lens in promotion and advertising campaigns.

Change to organization funding

The document confirms changes to organizational funding. In November, - reported that several Franco-Manitoban organizations would see their funding reduced due to changes to the funding allocation model linked to the Canada-Manitoba Agreement on French Language Services.

The strategic plan provides for the transition of 233-ALLÔ towards other sources of incomewithout specifying whether new sources have been identified.

As part of the 2018-2023 Agreement, funding was transferred to the 233-ALLÔ information service, which received 3,980 requests in 2022-2023. These contributions will be gradually eliminated during the 2023-2028 Agreementspecifies the document.

This will also be the case for the World Trade Center Winnipegwhich had organized 43 programs with 1,185 participants under the previous agreement. Manitoba has decided to prioritize French-speaking tourism initiativesindicates the document.

The Franco-Manitobain Cultural Center (CCFM), a Crown agency, will also see a transition from funding from the Agreement to other sources of revenue, including the provincial government.

As for the Manitoba Childhood Educational Resource Centers (CRÉEs), they will no longer receive money from this agreement, but rather funds from the Ministry of Education and Early Learning.

Some organizations in the sector hobbies which are not specified will also see their share of financing reduced. As access to leisure services in French is a priority for the Francophone community, community organizations already have access to considerable funding opportunities.states the strategic plan.

As such, the province is prioritizing province-wide coordination initiatives, e.g. the presence of information and services in French at Sport Manitoba [sera] standardizedin the coming years.

The Sports en français organization told - earlier this year that it would lose $10,000 in funding from 2026.

The province notes that most new initiatives funded under the 2023-2028 Agreement will be subject to an annual evaluation.