Francoph
one
Affairs
Liberal
PC
NDP
Name
Website
Madeleine Meilleur
http://www.madeleinemeilleur.
onmpp.ca/
Madeleine Meilleur represents
the riding of Ottawa-Vanier.
She was first elected to the
Ontario legislature in 2003
after more than a decade in
municipal politics.
Peter Shurman
http://petershurma
n.com/
In October 2007,
Peter Shurman was
elected to the
Legislative
Assembly of
Ontario as the
Member of
Provincial
Parliament for
Thornhill.
France Gélinas
http://francegelin
as.ca/
France Gélinas is
a resident of the
City of Greater
Sudbury,
a
health
care
professional and
community
leader. She and
her spouse Keith
Harris have three
children
and
seven
grand
children.
Biography
In October 2011, she was
appointed Minister of
Community Safety and
Correctional Services and
continues as Minister
responsible for Francophone
Affairs. Meilleur has served as
Minister of Culture from 2003
to 2006, Minister Responsible
for Francophone Affairs since
2003, and Minister of
Community and Social
Services from 2006 to 2011.
If you have
listened to Toronto
talk radio, Peter
Shurman may be a
familiar name to
you. After a
successful career
in corporate and
small business,
Peter re-invented
Thanks to her leadership,
himself on
Ontario passed laws promoting NewsTalk 1010
the social inclusion of persons
CFRB as a talk
with developmental disabilities radio host in 2004.
and giving Ontarians access to He gained
open adoption records. She also popularity as an
spearheaded efforts to
entertaining and
introduce a new and
outspoken radio
strengthened Ontario Heritage
personality who
Act, concluding 30 years of
tackled emerging
efforts to provide better
political and social
heritage protection.
issues with
creativity and
As Minister Responsible for
imagination,
Francophone Affairs, she has
before deciding to
been committed to building
enter the political
stronger French communities
through critical investments in arena as a
Progressive
education and health services,
France
is
a
trained
and
licensed
physiotherapist.
She started her
career
in
Sudbury
at
Laurentian
Hospital,
now
part of Sudbury
Regional
Hospital. After
graduating from
Laurentian
University with a
Masters
in
Business
Administration,
she became a
health
care
administrator.
During the last
eleven
years
France worked
as the Executive
Director of the
including the expansion of the
Montfort Hospital.
Conservative
candidate in 2007.
Community
Health Centre in
Sudbury. Under
The independence of the
her
leadership
Peter is a
French TV channel TFO, the
the
Centre
committed
creation of the office of the
to
volunteer for many expanded
French-language services
worthy community many small and
Commissioner, and the creation causes. For
rural
of the Franco-Ontarian Day on several years, he
communities in
September 25th are some of her broadcast at the
the North East,
many accomplishments that
the
Radiothon for Sick opened
have benefited FrancoCorner
Clinic
Kids Foundation,
Ontarians.
serving
the
helping to raise
millions of dollars homeless
Meilleur is a registered nurse
population and
each year for the
and lawyer specializing in
became the lead
Hospital for Sick
labour and employment law.
agency for the
Children. He was
the signature voice Sudbury
Homelessness
for VoicePrint - a
Network.
charity, which
reads the news and
France has
other printed
served in
materials for over
multiple
four million
voluntary roles.
vision-impaired
She was a
Canadians.
member of the
United Way’s
Peter has adopted
Citizen Advisory
the children of
Panel, President
Zareinu, a learning
of the Sudbury
centre for children
and Manitoulin
with disabilities
District Health
and helps in
Council,
raising money for
President of the
this one-of-a-kind
Francophone
organization; and
Reference Group
continues to be an
of the Northern
active supporter of
Ontario School
many community
of Medicine, and
groups in his
President of the
highly diverse
Association of
constituency.
Ontario Health
Centres. France
When not fighting
is also a bush
for his constituents
pilot, a
in the Legislature
competitive
or meeting with
them in Thornhill,
Peter is an active
sports enthusiast;
he is a licensed
SCUBA diver, an
avid golfer and an
instrument-rated
pilot who flies his
own airplane.
What they’re
saying
Peter and his wife
Carole raised their
two, now adult
sons in Thornhill
and are active
within the Jewish
community there
and in the support
of Israel.
Conservative Leader John Tory On September 23,
and MPP Peter Shurman should 2010 Thornhill
apologize for calling the
MPP and PC Critic
Franco-Ontarian Flag
for Francophone
"divisive", Madeleine Meilleur, Affairs, Peter
Ottawa Vanier MPP, said
Shurman rose in
today.
the Ontario
Legislature to
Madeleine Meilleur spoke in
recognize
the Legislature on the 33rd
September 25th as
anniversary of the FrancoFranco-Ontarian
Ontarian Flag, and
Day. This is the
Conservative Francophone
first time that the
Affairs Critic Shurman
Ontario
responded by calling the flag
Legislature has
"divisive." He added, "I don’t
recognized this
see any reason why the
important day
Francophone community needs since passage of
a special symbol, whatever the Bill 24 last April
symbol may be. I will never
which officially
support symbols or actions that, named September
in the name of unity, create
25th as Francodivisions in reality."
Ontarian Day.
"John Tory and Peter Shurman
owe the francophone
community an apology and it
“Franco-Ontarian
Day gives us the
rower and an
avid snow
boarder.
France Gélinas,
MPP for Nickel
Belt and NDP
Francophone
Affairs
Critic
thanks
the
French Language
Services
Commission for
his
in-depth
investigation into
the English-only
flyer produced
by the Ontario
Government in
the midst of the
H1N1 pandemic.
“In
October,
2009,
during
Question Period
I raised the issue
of the lack of a
French Leaflet
on the H1N1
virus,” Gélinas
said. “You have
should come today," Meilleur
said. "To say that the FrancoOntarian flag is a divisive
symbol is insulting to the
Francophone community that
fought through the course of
their history to have our rights
recognized," Meilleur said.
"The flag represents over 400
years of history in Ontario.
Both Canada and Ontario were
built by the joint efforts of the
Francophone and Anglophone
people and this flag reminds us
of our heritage. It embodies the
harmony and peace between
the two founding people of our
province.”
"This flag is our cultural
ambassador. It embodies the
beautiful French language and
showcases us to the world. It is
an undisputed symbol of our
community," said Madeleine
Meilleur.
"It's clear that John Tory's
Conservatives don't respect
Franco-Ontario history. They
tainted our day of celebration
and must apologize."
opportunity to
acknowledge the
special place that
the FrancoOntarian
community has in
our province’s
history. The
French presence in
Ontario dates back
four hundred
years. They are
one of the
founding peoples
of our great
nation.” Shurman
noted.
“The vitality of the
Franco-Ontarian
community that we
see today proves
that French
language and
culture remain a
strong and vital
part of Ontario
society,” Shurman
stated.
to remember, at
that time, people
were extremely
worried
about
the health risk of
the H1N1 virus.
The government
responded
by
sending a flyer to
every household
in
Ontario
outlining how to
protect
themselves.
Unfortunately
they failed to
provide
Francophones
with
the
information they
needed, in the
midst
of
a
perceived serious
health threat.”
“I congratulate
the
French
Languages
Commissioner
once again for
his detailed and
accurate report
as well as his
four
recommendation
s,” Gélinas said.
“His conclusions
however
are
quite disturbing.”
In his report the
Commissioner
concludes, “Our
investigation
produced
one
patent
observation: the
violations of the
French Language
Services Act and
more specifically
the mistakes in
Ontario’s recent
H1N1
flu
prevention
campaign reflect
an organizational
culture in which
little attention is
paid to the true
integration
of
French-language
services
into
ministries’
planning
and
communications
activities.
The
rather indifferent
attitude of the
parties involved
toward
the
Francophone fact
illustrates once
again the many
obstacles
and
formidable
challenges that
Franco-Ontarians
have
to
overcome
to
enjoy the same
rights and the
same quality of
life
as
Anglophones.”
France Gélinas
has mounted a
campaign
to
have the French
Language
Commissioner
report to the
Legislative
Assembly as do
other
commissioners
instead of the
Minister
of
Francophone
Affairs. She has
presented
thousands
of
petitions
in
support of this
plan as well as
recently
introducing
a
private
member’s bill.
“Today’s
disturbing report
makes it even
clearer that the
French Language
Commissioner
should be
reporting to the
whole
government and
not just to one
minister,”
Gélinas said.
Ministry
Mission and Vision
Responsibility Created under the French Language Services Act, the Office of
Francophone Affairs works together with the ministries to ensure that
the Act is applied. With assistance from the French Language Services
Coordinators, it ensures that the public has access to services in French
in the 25 designated areas. It also provides information on the province's
Francophone population to other levels of government and the public.
Specifically, the OFA:
Supports the Minister Responsible for Francophone
Affairs in the development of French-language services, policies
and programs that meet the needs of Ontario's Francophones;
Provides expert advice on matters relating to
Francophones and the delivery of French-language services;
Gathers and provides information on Ontario's
Francophone community;
Acts as a link between the Francophone community and
government ministries and their agencies.
Our Vision
The Office is committed to ensuring that Francophones have access to
provincial government services in French and that they participate in the
social, economic and political life of the province, while maintaining
their linguistic and cultural heritage.
Our Mission
To help Francophones, as full members of Ontario
society, to prosper while respecting their cultural diversity;
To assist government ministries and agencies to
understand the Francophone community, to maintain relations with this
community and to ensure the development and delivery of Frenchlanguage services.