The minister of official languages has unveiled a five-year action plan (2023-28) to reverse the decline of the French language across Canada.
Ginette Petitpas Taylor said the plan reflects the priorities and the vision of Canadians who were consulted over the past year.
Calling the funding more ambitious than ever, Petitpas Taylor announced $1.4 billion in new funding over five years.
This is in addition to the cumulative and ongoing funding of $2.7 billion in the previous action plan for a total of $4.1 billion.
“These historic investments will allow us to establish the conditions to ensure real equality of our two official languages in Canada and vibrant and thriving communities,” noted Petitpas Taylor.
The action plan is based on four themes:
- Accelerate the restoration of the demographic through Francophone immigration
- Promote lifelong learning opportunities for our two official languages
- Support the vitality of official language minority communities
- Build on positive government action to support communities
According to Statistics Canada, the share of the population whose first official language was French fell from 27.5 percent in 1971 to 22.0 percent in 2021.
The demographic weight of Francophones outside Quebec fell from 6.1 percent in 1971 to 3.5 percent in 2021.
The action plan stems from consultations across Canada from May to August last year in which over 6, 500 individuals and organizations participated.
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