On January 25, a second intergenerational and cross-sector summit on the transmission of French language brought together Francophones from across British Columbia.

About 15 months after the first summit on this important topic, more than 150 participants from different regions of the province discussed practical measures to ensure the continued vitality and sustainability of their communities.

Their interactions focused on how different community elements -- including the three pillars of community organizations, educational institutions, and families -- could work together in more strategic ways to foster the transmission of French to future generations.

Participants first heard from Raymond Théberge, Canada's Commissioner of Official Languages, who spoke at the beginning of the day. This was followed with a presentation by Suzanne Robillard, a PhD student in sociolinguistics at the University of Ottawa, and talks by Maurice Guibord of the Société historique francophone de la Colombie-Britannique and Frédéric Dupré of the Centre de leadership et d’évaluation (CLÉ).

These presentations will soon be available on the Summit website, www.SommetCB.ca.

After the talks, workshops in sub-groups were devoted to the themes of identity building, inclusion and diversity, as well as the development of promising collaborative projects. The discussions identified some targeted initiatives that could be achieved in the coming year.

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Like the previous Summit, the 2020 Summit is the result of the collaboration of nine Francophone organizations: la Fédération des parents francophones de Colombie-Britannique, la Fédération des francophones de la Colombie-Britannique, la Société de développement économique de la Colombie-Britannique, le Conseil jeunesse francophone de la Colombie-Britannique, le Conseil culturel et artistique de la Colombie-Britannique, l’Assemblée francophone des retraité(e)s et aîné(e)s de la Colombie-Britannique, Réseau-Femmes Colombie-Britannique, le Conseil scolaire francophone de la Colombie-Britannique, and the Office of Francophone and Francophile Affairs at Simon Fraser University.

More information about the Summit, as well as various documents and presentations, are available at www.SommetCB.ca.

The partner organizations recognize the Government of Canada's financial support toward the organization of the 2020 Summit.