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Speech by The Honourable Madeleine Meilleur, Minister Responsible for Francophone Affairs and Minister of Culture

at the Symposium of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine

Grand Paris Room, Radisson Hotel
85 Ste-Anne Rd., Sudbury, Ontario, Friday, May 13, 2005

Ladies and Gentlemen, good evening. I would like to begin by thanking the organizers of this symposium on Francophones and the Northern Ontario School of Medicine.

I find it quite appropriate that Francophones are meeting to discuss their roles within the Northern Ontario School of Medicine.

The creation of this school is a major event, because it is the first new Ontario institution in 30 years devoted to the study of medicine.

This school also stands out because its mandate of providing medical training throughout the vast region of Northern Ontario reflect a real need.

Therefore, the school is expected to improve access by Francophone and Aboriginal communities in medical training and healthcare services.

This symposium provides the opportunity to target the needs of Francophones speakers and to forge links between members of Francophone communities, healthcare workers and the students.

The Northern Ontario School of Medicine responds to an acute need for health care training in a province suffering from a marked shortage of professionals.

We are all aware of the challenges of accessing services in remote communities and particularly, for Francophone population.

Providing French-language healthcare services is fraught with obstacles. Special attention must be given to and solutions must be found.

The establishment of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine eloquently attests to this reality and marks a new and critical step in the development of healthcare services in Northern Ontario.

We have to capitalize on the school's commitment to the training of French-language professionals.

I enthusiastically look forward to the possibility in French, of team and internship learning programs involving French-speaking doctors and patients.

The fact that faculty and staff positions are held by individuals who are fluent in both French and English bodes well for this endeavour.

I am also delighted to see that three Francophones sit on this school's board of directors.

Moreover, I congratulate the Francophone Reference Group for its work among interested communities in identifying the needs of the population in Northern Ontario.

I would like to point out the leadership provided by Ms. Nicole Ranger, Dean of the Department of Health Sciences at Collège Borèal.

Through its community orientation and its openness to diversity, the Northern Ontario School of Medicine promises to become a centre of expertise that will benefit all of Northern Ontario's communities.

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In this era of globalization and disappearing borders, we have a duty to ensure that, in Ontario, French language and culture are in tune with the 21st century, that French is a language associated with success, a so-called "wired" language which, while co-existing with English, satisfies the aspirations of youth in various fields, a language and a culture that take their rightful place within a context of demographic diversity.

The development of Francophone communities in Ontario is achieved through the vitality and widespread influence of its institutions.

I firmly believe that the Northern Ontario School of Medicine shares this same kind of vision.

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Ever since its arrival at Queen's Park, the Government has demonstrated its determination to support the growth of French, not only as a language for obtaining public services, but as a source of cultural, economic social vitality.

I would like to mention a few of the government's achievements that support the development of the Francophone community.

• To begin with, the provincial budget that was tabled this week responds, as you have seen, to the Rae Report's recommendations on postsecondary education.
• Our government will earmark another $6.2 billion for postsecondary education and for training by 2009-10.
• Our government will allocate an additional $2.4 billion to the school boards by 2007-2008.
• This investment and efforts will benefit French language schools in their fight against assimilation and in their efforts to recruit and retain students.
• A new nursing program has been established in Northern Ontario as part of the creation of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine.
• In addition, the number of first-year places in Ontario's faculties of medicine will rise by 15%.
• The $1.6 billion in funding for Ontario's hospitals by 2007-08, will benefit such institutions as Montfort Hospital and other hospitals offering French-language services.
• The number of Family Health Teams will also rise from 52 to 150 by 2007-08.

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The government has demonstrated its support for Francophones in other areas through such initiatives as:

• Creating the Provincial Advisory Committee on Francophone Affairs, which is responsible to advise me on matters of particular interest to Francophones.
• Designating the city of Brampton and the municipality of Callander to offer services in French. This brings the number of designated areas in Ontario to 24; this situation will result in the creation of new services in several ministries (the last such designation occurred for London, in 1994);
• By rolling out GO Transit's French-language services plan, a major initiative in the Greater Toronto Area.
• By adopting Bill 163 regarding the bilingual status of Ottawa.
• By investing an additional $1 million in six Francophone sexual assault centres, including the Centre Victoria in Sudbury.
• By promoting the establishment of daycare centres whenever new schools are built, a strategy that supports student recruitment and the "Francization" of children in French-language schools.
• By investing more than $750,000, including $218,947 for Collège Borèal, to help Francophones who were educated abroad integrate the labour market in Ontario.

With respect to the field of interest to us this evening – healthcare – I would like to highlight the creation of a Francophone working group, under the direction of the Chief Executive Officer of Montfort Hospital, Mr. Gèrald Savoie.

This group is responsible for advising the Advisory Group on Local Health Integration Networks and for representing the interests of Francophone communities.

I say this with the knowledge that this committee's members will make recommendations that correspond with the Francophone community's hopes and needs with respect to healthcare.

The government is committed to increasing the number of Francophones appointed to agencies, boards and commissions.

I would like to emphasize this point, because we must enhance the decision-making roles of Francophones in key areas of government activities, including healthcare.

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The government is committed to strenghtening institutional achievements among Francophones and to moving forward in providing French-language services.

It must obviously place greater emphasis on increasing awareness among governmental and paragovernmental institutions to achieve favourable conditions for the provision of quality healthcare services in French.

I believe that it is extremely important to adopt performance indicators for assessing the delivery and the quality of these services.

The government has, furthermore, signalled its intention of creating a Linguistic Ombudsman position, to provide better protection for the rights of Francophones to receive services in that language and to thoroughly document complaints and recourses.

The government believes that Ontario's diverse Francophone community has much to contribute to the international French-language community; Ontario should accordingly play a leadership role and highlight its value-added community throughout the world.

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This weekend you will be called upon to decide on important issues that will have a major impact on the evolution of French-language healthcare services.

I hope that you will be able to make your decisions under the best circumstances.

I wish every possible success to the Northern Ontario School of Medicine.

Thank you and enjoy your weekend.