‘Give ourselves the means to achieve our ambitions’: province gets feedback on French plan

Hiring more bilingual employees for the province’s public service, providing more services in French and making the history of the Francophonie a part of school curriculum could help make Manitoba a “truly” bilingual province.

That was the consensus from a survey taken by Manitobans aimed at shaping the NDP government’s francophone strategy. The results of the survey, which polled 1,600 Manitobans, was released Friday with a timeline for the government’s planned strategy.

Asked what a “truly bilingual province” means to them, 50 per cent of respondents answered “services.”

Bilingualism in the classroom was the top priority among respondents, followed by bilingualism in the health-care and social services systems and government bilingualism.

Respondents said a lack of services in French prevented the province from being bilingual, with 40 per cent of respondents listing it as a challenge. The dominance of English was listed as a challenge among 17 per cent of respondents.

One respondent said without a clear vision, sustained commitment and adequate means, being a bilingual province would only be a principle written on paper and “rarely lived in the real world.”

“We have to give ourselves the means to achieve our ambitions,” the person wrote.

The province announced in March 2025 it would consult with residents to guide the creation of a long-term strategy on bilingualism.

The province aims to publish its strategy by March 2027.

 

 

“Manitoba’s Francophonie have a founding role in our province’s history, and they continue to shape our shared future,” said Glen Simard, the minister responsible for francophone affairs, in a statement. He called the release of the survey a “momentous occasion” and the consultations the first of its kind in Canada.

The Société de la francophonie manitobaine will be working alongside the province to co-create the strategy. Board chair Derrek Bentley said it will be the people in the community who know where gaps exist that will be crucial to a successful plan.

“They are going to be key partners in creating a strategy that meets the needs of francophones, but also of folks who are bilingual, and really even folks who don’t speak the language, so that they can see themselves within a province that’s truly bilingual,” Bentley said.

The survey results contained few surprises, Bentley said, but he was shocked by the number of non-native French speakers who participated.

Twenty-six per cent of respondents said French was an additional language they had learned. Seven per cent did not speak French but had a particular affinity for the language, usually because of a child or grandchild studying in the French immersion system.

It’s a far cry from the Language Crisis of the 1980s when when the Manitoba government intended to pass a bill allowing government services to be received in French.

 

 

Blowback on the bill resulted in the offices of the Société de la francophonie manitobaine to be targeted by an arson attack in January 1983. The province withdrew the bill in 1984. By 1989 the provincial French Language Services Policy was adopted.

“I think those are really interesting stats to show how bilingual Manitoba isn’t just about supporting francophones or folks who have French as a first language, it’s really about making the province as a whole better,” Bentley said.

Providing financial supports for initiatives targeting bilingualism and promoting bilingualism in the province were among the other suggestions in the survey.

Bentley believes human rights should be at the centre of the strategy.

“We often talk about the importance of being able to “live right”… so I think being truly bilingual as a province is that everybody in Manitoba can choose to live in English, like they currently can, or they can choose to live in French,” he said.

The province recently announced the opening of a new francophone school in St. Boniface this fall and the construction of a second school for the Division scolaire franco-manitobaine in Brandon owing to the growing demand for French instruction.

 

 

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca