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Committee hoping to make Timmins a 'little bit more bilingual'

They're taking "baby steps" towards the goal
2020-06-09 City hall MH
Timmins City Hall on Algonquin Boulevard. Maija Hoggett/TimminsToday

The City of Timmins' Francophone Liaison Committee is working on making the city "a little bit more bilingual," according to a Timmins councillor.

The committee, comprised of up to 20 representatives from local bilingual or francophone agencies and organizations, is led by Coun. Michelle Boileau.

She said Sylvin Lacroix of L’Alliance de la francophonie de Timmins was the driving force behind the creation of the committee.

“The point is to create a sort of network for us to meet and speak and find out what’s going on in each of the organizations but also serve as an advisory committee to the mayor and council on francophone issues,” Boileau said.

She said some of their goals are to provide support to all francophone and bilingual associations and service providers and to ensure francophone representation at all municipal events. The committee’s mandate is to promote the interest of francophones in municipal politics, give French-speaking people an opportunity to work at a community level, and to provide ideas to the city council from a francophone point of view.

“We’re not even a year old, so we’re still in the process of putting the committee together,” she said. “We’re still working through the ins and outs of what it’ll be.”

At the recent meeting held Oct. 20, the committee members adopted the terms of reference and started working on 34 requirements that are needed in order for a municipality to be officially designated as bilingual.

“Some of them won’t be possible for the city right away but we’re going for a low-hanging fruit, what’s doable, what we’re already doing and take baby steps towards seeing a full designation,” Boileau said. “Essentially, we’d like to bring this recommendation forth to the council.”

The committee members are also planning to recommend the city sign up for Bonjour/Welcome. It is a province-wide campaign, led by Assemblée de la francophonie de l’Ontario, encouraging businesses and organizations to offer services in both languages and encouraging the public to request services in French.

“It’s a promotional campaign that businesses and agencies can sign up for and they’ll be a part of the Bonjour/Welcome group and they will receive communications and promotional material,” Boileau said. “That’s an easy win for the francophone community, so we’re going to write a letter as a committee to mayor and council requesting that the City of Timmins signs up for this.”


Dariya Baiguzhiyeva

About the Author: Dariya Baiguzhiyeva

Dariya Baiguzhiyeva is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter covering diversity issues for TimminsToday. The LJI is funded by the Government of Canada
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