Manitoba eyes bilingual designation ‘to be at the table’

The Kinew government is applying for a special designation to put its growing francophone community on the map and tap into new markets in French-speaking countries across the world.

Manitoba’s “truly bilingual province” consultations wrapped up on Oct. 31.

Francophone Affairs Minister Glen Simard is reviewing six months of oral and written feedback from Manitobans about what they want their province to sound like.

“What we’re hearing is people want to live their lives in French and they want it to be easier,” Simard said in a phone interview Sunday.

The minister spoke to the Free Press, in both English and French, from his constituency of Brandon East.

He was scheduled to meet with francophone community leaders in the evening, prior to heading back to Winnipeg to start the work week.

Simard’s office is creating a comprehensive roadmap to bolster local French-language services and cultures.

The government’s immediate actions include submitting an application to join l’Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, also known as OIF, a group with 90 affiliates.

Canada, New Brunswick and Quebec are among its 53 members — a title only given to governments with legislation enshrining French as an official language.

Manitoba wants to join OIF as an observer “to be at the table,” Simard said, noting Ontario and Nova Scotia are the only two Canadian provinces with this special title at present.

“It’s really important to be able to increase those diplomatic ties — whether it’s for commerce, immigration, partnerships,” the MLA for Brandon East said.

Prior to running for office in 2023, Simard was an elementary teacher at a single-track immersion school in Brandon.

École Harrison offers nearly every subject in French, including physical education — Simard’s subject area, which he likened to facilitating “10 birthday parties a day.” Students and staff at the kindergarten-to-Grade 8 site are encouraged to speak French in the hallways and during recess.

French immersion and Français — the latter program is offered via the Division scolaire franco-manitobaine — have surged in popularity over the last 25 years.

DSFM has grown about 40 per cent since it was established in 1995. There are roughly 6,400 students enrolled in 25 francophone schools this fall.

The status-quo is far different from what his parents, as well as he and his siblings, experienced as students.

DSFM didn’t exist when Simard was in school.

“My mom had the English inspector come (to her school in Letellier, a francophone community in southern Manitoba) and they would hide their books when they knew they were coming,” he said, noting French language education was criminalized in Manitoba in the past.

“I feel, personally, that this is a really important thing — to re-capture our francophonie as a province.”

Simard noted that French language rights were one of the key reasons Manitoba became a province in 1870.

“It’s really important to be able to increase those diplomatic ties – whether it’s for commerce, immigration, partnerships.”

He raised both of his two, now-adult sons in English and French.

“We do have a very distinct francophone culture here in Manitoba because off our Métis roots, as well the fact that Manitoba was designed and created as a bilingual province by our first premier, Louis Riel,” the minister said.

The NDP caucus is trying to redefine Manitoba’s francophone community as one that is more inclusive of language-learners and immigrants, Simard said.

Tuesday’s throne speech included a French excerpt renewing the province’s commitment to making Manitoba “une province véritablement bilingue.”

Premier Wab Kinew, who is trilingual (English, Anishinaabemowin and French) has been practising his third language at news conferences.

His latest throne speech hinted at the NDP government’s plans to join OIF and open new offices in St. Boniface before the end of the calendar year.

Simard said French speakers are no longer “as siloed” as they once were in communities such as his hometown, St. Lazare in northwestern Manitoba.

Francophones are moving to Niverville, Dauphin and Thompson, as well as other anglophone parts of the province, he noted.

Manitoba is anticipated to release its bilingualism strategy on March 20, International Day of La Francophonie.

Simard said he anticipates there will be “a lot of great lessons” that can be applied from it to improve public services, ranging from government document translation to immersion schools, in other minority languages.

The number of Manitobans who can conduct a conversation in French is on the rise but the demographic weight of this group is shrinking, according to Statistics Canada.

That figure reached an all-time high of 112,115 in 2021, representing 8.4 per cent of the population — a 30-year-low.

One in 10 residents reported they could speak French in 1996.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca