Speech by the Honourable Madeleine Meilleur, Minister of Community and Social Services and Minister Responsible for Francophone Affairs
Colloque sur Les arts, la culture et la ville/
AFMO's 18th annual conference
AJEFO's 28th annual meeting
États généraux du Théâtre franco-ontarien
Ottawa
Friday, June 22, 2007
Check against delivery
Ladies and Gentlemen:
Good afternoon.
I am very happy to be with you today to take part in the very first Colloque sur les arts, la culture et la ville.
I should start off by telling you how very proud I am to see you all assembled here.
How proud I am to see the ever growing vitality of Ontario's Francophonie.
Le Colloque sur les arts, la culture et la ville sprang from the common desire of three Franco-Ontarian organizations to create a space for reflection and action on the role played by arts and culture in the building of strong communities and an engaged civil society.
My thanks to Théâtre Action, to the Association française des municipalités de l'Ontario (AFMO) and to the Association des juristes d'expression française de l'Ontario (AJEFO) for combining their efforts to bring together such a large number of participants from different sectors.
As someone who has studied law, worked as a municipal councillor and been Minister of Culture, I am in an especially privileged position to fully understand and appreciate the relevance of bringing everyone together in this way.
More than ever, the culture cities have to offer makes a decisive contribution to their ability to attract residents and businesses.
When a municipality invests in arts and culture, it affirms its desire to create a unique identity that is very much alive.
A city or municipality that invests in the creativity of its leaders has also understood that arts and culture are powerful levers of social and economic development.
In fact, unleashing the incredible potential of arts and culture and is everybody's business.
To enable our communities to build a promising future, we must take advantage of this strong local connection between municipalities, language and culture.
That is why AFMO's role is so crucial to French Ontario.
In addition to being a stakeholder of choice for everything affecting municipal life in French Ontario, AFMO maintains solid relations with the Francophone associations of other provinces that have an interest in sound municipal management.
As a former municipal councillor, I am happy to say that the level of cooperation between our government and Ontario's municipalities is proving to be of great benefit to citizens.
As you may know, Premier Dalton McGuinty very recently announced support totalling over 220 million dollars in loans and grants to municipalities to help them reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
We believe that municipalities are powerful allies in our efforts to create a healthier environment for all Ontarians.
Furthermore, residents' quality of life depends on having quality infrastructure. That's why, through the MoveOntario initiative, our government is investing 1.2 billion dollars in municipal infrastructure like roads and bridges and in public transit projects.
Municipalities are also at the core of local community-based service delivery. In acknowledgement of this essential function, the Ontario government has implemented, jointly with Ontario's municipalities and the federal government, an Affordable Housing Program Agreement, which provides for a multi-year investment of 602 million dollars.
Finally, as I was saying, municipalities are at the core of the artistic vitality of our communities. That's why our government considers it important to support the development of cultural policies that truly contribute to the development of the province's cultural life.
The workshops on municipal cultural planning organized by the Ontario government are intended precisely to promote the integration of culture and heritage in all facets of municipal planning.
The provincial and municipal governments are thus true partners in achieving their ultimate objective: improving the cultural, economic and social life of citizens.
******
When it comes to culture, our government is doing a great deal to promote creativity and innovation in Ontario. In my role as Minister of Culture, I had the pleasure and the privilege of advancing important measures along these lines.
One of my proudest achievements is the adoption of the new Ontario Heritage Act in April 2005, the culmination of 30 years of effort to improve protection of our province's heritage.
Ontario is now a leader in heritage protection.
Our government has also put incentives in place to increase film and television production in Ontario.
The increased tax credit for Canadian and foreign productions, which rose from 20% to 30%, resulted in an unprecedented level of activity for the industry and a period of prosperity for the province.
During my time as its Minister, Ontario's Ministry of Culture consistently supported the Francophone cultural scene in many ways:
We provided $320,000 in funding to six organizations through the Cultural Strategic Investment Fund and the Canada-Ontario Agreement on French-Language Services;
In 2006-2007, the Ontario Arts Council made a direct investment of $2,300,000 in the Franco-Ontarian arts sector; and
In recent years, the Ontario Trillium Foundation has granted over 2 million dollars to Francophone artistic organizations.
And what about TFO!
As you are no doubt aware, the Ontario government recently granted self-governance to TFO.
Since April 1st, our network has had its own budget and its own board of directors.
This historic decision to make TFO fully self-governing is intended to strengthen this institutional beacon to enable it to meet the special cultural and educational needs of the Francophone community.
Our support for TFO also takes the form of support for home-grown production.
Of course you remember the popular television series Francoeur.
Francoeur made it possible to support the development of Franco-Ontarian independent production capabilities, to take advantage of the talents of our own home-grown artists and technical professionals and to show all of Ontario and the rest of the country certain aspects of the Franco-Ontarian experience.
I am proud to recall that the Ontario government provided $140,000 in funding for the fourth season of Francoeur in 2005.
Barely a week ago, my colleague, the Minister of Northern Development and Mines, Rick Bartolucci, announced funding for a new television series, Météo Plus, which will be shot in Sudbury and be produced by local technical professionals.
The Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation will invest 2.5 million dollars over four years in the production of Météo Plus, a new comedy series set in a weather network.
A total of 58 half-hour episodes will be shot in the Sudbury area. The series will be broadcast not only on TFO, but also across Canada via satellite.
This investment is sure to have positive economic effects for the City of Greater Sudbury.
I could not conclude the cultural portion of my speech without spending some time talking about Théâtre Action. I would like to highlight the work done by Théâtre Action, which has many achievements to its credit. Thanks to Théâtre Action, Franco-Ontarian theatre has a presence in all communities across our province and continues to reflect the relevance of the act of creation for a constantly changing society like ours.
Théâtre Action, however, is not resting on its laurels; it asks itself just as it asks us essential questions on the place of culture, the artist and creation within Franco-Ontarian communities.
******
And now on to the justice sector, which is one of the most active parts of the Ontario government when it comes to French language services.
I would, moreover, like to highlight the inestimable value of our partnership with AJEFO in this connection.
Allow me to mention some of the wonderful achievements in this area.
First of all, the Strategic Plan for the Development of French Language Services in Ontario's Justice Sector, which was adopted last October and which will be implemented over the next five years.
This is a fine example of collaboration between the government and community stakeholders.
AJEFO and AFMO play a key role in identifying issues and priorities when it comes to French language services in the justice sector.
The French Language Institute for Professional Development is another very successful initiative of Ontario's justice sector.
This project, the objective of which is to offer language training to justice system professionals responsible for delivering French language services, has received many awards
I would like to thank Marcel Castonguay, the architect behind these remarkable achievements. His exceptional work as Coordinator of French Language Services for the Justice Sector was recognized by an Award of Excellence for Services in French and an Amethyst Award, awards which recognize excellence in the Ontario Public Service.
I congratulate AFMO and AJEFO on their active and whole-hearted participation in this innovative project, and in particular Ms. Sonia Ouellet, AJEFO's Executive Director and the Institute's official teaching consultant.
Nor must we forget the Careers in Justice Project, which gives Francophone young people an opportunity to learn about different careers in this field.
Another very important achievement that deserves mention is the Ontario Provincial Police Strategy for the Delivery of French Language Services.
This strategy is evidence of the OPP's growing commitment to providing high-quality services in French.
Dave Truax, Superintendent and Director of Operations in the Ontario Provincial Police, will be here tomorrow (Saturday, June 23rd at 1:30 p.m.) to present the OPP's progress report.
I would remind you that Mr. Truax was a recipient of the Award of Excellence for Services in French in the Public Service.
Finally, I am taking the liberty of mentioning that, since it came to power, our government has appointed 13 new bilingual Justices of the Peace to the Ontario Court of Justice.
The Ontario government believes in the benefits of strong communities and deems essential the active participation of Francophones in civil society, which is the foundation of a healthy and fully participative democracy.
Further evidence of this can be found in the advances our government is proud of having initiated, in partnership, of course, with community stakeholders.
First, 20 years after the French Language Services Act was passed, a historic page has been turned with the adoption by the Legislative Assembly of Ontario of the bill creating the Office of the French Language Services Commissioner.
This initiative marks an extremely important new step in the evolution of relations between the provincial government and Ontario's Francophonie and strengthens the foundations of the French Language Services Act.
I hasten to thank AJEFO and all the stakeholders who took the trouble to appear before the parliamentary committee responsible for public hearings to present excellent briefs.
It is encouraging to see that Francophone citizens and organizations play an active part in public life and feel strongly about the community's future.
I can assure you that the Office of the French Language Services Commissioner will give Francophones a stronger voice as well as transparent and effective recourse in ensuring respect for their right to receive services in French.
The Commissioner's powers are very clear and the act as amended grants the Commissioner considerable freedom of action.
I would be remiss in not mentioning our government's other notable achievements that benefit Ontario's Francophone community, some of which are historic in nature, namely:
The New Montfort, which today enjoys a new vitality thanks to an additional government investment of 185 million dollars;
Investments totalling over a billion dollars in the French language education system;
The Ontario Francophonie Awards, instituted to pay tribute to those Francophones and Francophiles who have distinguished themselves through their contribution to the development of the French fact and of the Francophonie (a new nomination period is now under way); and
The travelling exhibition, Ontario's Francophonie: Then and Now, which we recently launched, in collaboration with Ottawa's Vanier Museopark.
If you have not already done so, I invite you to take a look at this exhibition, which is being presented here as part of the symposium.
I will stop here but these examples and many others are evidence of our government's commitment to Ontario's Francophonie.
******
The first Colloque sur les arts, la culture et la ville is eloquent testimony to the dynamism and vitality of Ontario's and Canada's Francophonie.
It is by combining our efforts as governments, institutions and individuals that we will build an Ontario Francophonie that is resolutely open, definitely modern, creative and focused on new horizons, and that we will make our cities and our municipalities places where creation and economic development come together to contribute to the prosperity of our communities and of the entire province.
Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you and have a good symposium.
