As was reported in a subsequent CRU, the BC & Yukon Branch office has decided to start communicating with members directly, at the request of some of the chapters.

We will be sending out 3 all-members emails per year, in January, May and September, as well as the occasional all-member email for events such as the AGM or special bulletins. These e-mails will be clearly marked as "all-member"

If they are not marked, they are being sent to chapter executives only.

Although we are contacting your members directly, we still want to encourage you to forward any important information from the monthly CRUs to your membership, schools and other community partners so they can share as well. Some schools post the CRUs on the school notice boards as well!

Top - Heather Bartlett (Project Coordinator), Diane Tijman (Board Director), Khue-Tu Nguyen (Youth Director), Patti Holm (Board Secretary), Kirsty Peterson (Chapter Support), Victoria Vaseleniuck (Board Vice-President) Bottom - Daphne Lu (Youth Director), Debra Pool (Board President), Glyn Lewis (Executive Director) Missing - Ben Wong (Office and Financial Administrator)

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Last month over 30 delegates from BC/Yukon traveled to Ottawa for the Canadian Parents for French National AGM and Conference.  CPF National released their research publication entitled The State of French-Second-Language Education in Canada 2012: Academically Challenged Students and FSL Programs 

The 2012 report includes comprehensive recommendations to facilitate better access to, and success in, FSL programs for students with learning difficulties that were developed by round table participants. CPF believes that given adequate resources, more awareness about academically challenged students’ abilities, and sufficient teacher support, more Canadians than ever before can become bilingual in both of Canada’s official languages. All FSL programs, and in particular French immersion—the FSL program best suited to the widest range of student ability—should be sufficiently resourced in order to offer all students the chance to become bilingual. For more information read the Executive Summary

The BC & Yukon AGM happened first thing on Thursday morning, with amazing presenters who provided us with information about advocacy and innovative programming. We learned a bit more about French Advisory Committees as well as about the French Funding Guide. A special note of appreciation to Honorable Michael Chong (Wellington-Halton Hills) Chair of the Parliamentary committee on Official Languages and Senator Maria Chaput (Manitoba) chair of the Senate standing committee on Official Languages, for their participation at the BC & Yukon Conference. In the afternoon we had the elections of the Board of Directors. Congratulations to our CPF BC & Yukon Directors: Debra Pool, (President) Victoria Valesniuck, Patti Holm, Diane Tijman, Daphne Lu (Youth Director) and Khue-Tu Nguyen (Youth Director)!

Thanks to all of the delegates who attended!

This October the BC/Yukon Branch has made a number of outreach visits to offer chapters them support and assist with advocacy or other chapter issues. Here are some of the things that have been happening this month:

Agassiz: Kirsty Peterson and Glyn Lewis met with parents in Agassiz who are interested in starting a Chapter and advocating for Early French Immersion in their community.

Burnaby: Kirsty attended the Burnaby Chapter's founding meeting. Burnaby is now officially a chapter!

Chilliwack: Parents in Chilliwack are advocating for Early French Immersion, they also founded a chapter this month and Kirsty attended their founding meeting.

Penticton: The Penticton School District is conducting a feasibility study into EFI for their disctrict. Glyn presented in front of the School Board and Kirsty and Debra Pool attended with the Okanagan-Skaha President Mona Smythe to show support.

Kelowna: Kirsty and Glyn met with parents in Kelowna who want to establish a chapter. 

South Vancouver: The French Immersion Department Head at Churchill is leading the charge to re-establish the Vancouver South Chapter.

Tofino-Ucluelet: Kirsty attended their AGM and spoke with Chapter Reps who are advocating for Late French Immersion in their communities. (Photo: The view from Kirsty's hotel room in Tofino)

Vernon: Kirsty and Debra met with Vernon chapter execs to talk about needing more room for all the FI students in Vernon schools and capping issues. 

Remember that we are here to support your chapters with any issues you may be facing. Contact Kirsty at outreach@cpf.bc.ca if you would like to request a chapter visit or with any questions about how to deal with issues in your community.

Thank you to Chapters for submitting your sociocultural grant applications.

We are expecting a response around mid-November – applicants will be notified whether their project will be funded as well sent also a link to the website, where we will post the results.

Photo: Charlotte Diamond was a hit in Tri-Cities read about it HERE

Our 2012 membership drive has now come to an end. We will give CPF National some time to process all your forms before we get underway with awarding prizes at the end of this month! Great work to all of the chapters, you worked very hard and the effort was obvious in the fantastic events hosted in many chapters over the past couple of months. Bravo!

Prize announcements will come in December's CRU, so be sure to read it!

The Provincial Concours d'art oratorio will take place Saturday May 4th, 2012

In May every year, Canadian Parents for French BC & Yukon Branch hosts the Provincial Concours d’art oratoire. The CPF Concours d’art oratoire offers hundreds of prizes to participants: university scholarships, trips to Ottawa, books, medals, merchandise, cash and more.

Last year, more than 10,000 students in grades six through 12 participated in the Concours in communities throughout BC, almost 300 students participated in the Provincial Concours, and 4 students participated in the National Concours in Ottawa.

Teachers and parents have been organizing Concours for over 25 years, and for many students, it’s now part of the curriculum. For more information about Concours click HERE

Canadian Parents for French BC & Yukon Branch will be kicking off French Immersion Celebration Week by hosting a conference for our Vancouver Island Chapters on February 1-2, 2013.

This will be an excellent opportunity for your chapter to meet with other Island chapters to organize events, share best practices and brainstorm about issues impacting your unique regions.

Registration will be starting soon and executives will be contacted with further details!

In January 2013, Victoria will host the 15th Francophone Youth Parliament of BC. 

Each participant at the YP endorses a particular role: either Minister, member of the Cabinet, or Deputy. In 2013, we are creating 3 new possibilities for the participants: journalist, lobbyist or pages (pages only for kids aged 11-13, from Victoria). These additional possibilitie sopen the event to more than the traditional 84 participants. We are aiming at 100 participants or so.

The event itself is a parliamentary simulation. Kids are involved in a law-debating process that takes place during parliamentary sessions hold in the actual Chamber. Ministers present law drafts and deputies have to adopt, amend, or reject them. Debates are the very heart of the parliamentary sessions.
This activity help kids to develop their oral skills, and above all their sense of opinion, critics and defence.

We do provide training for all participants, according to their choice of activity. None of them is left without training.

All participants are staying at the Harbour Towers Hotel (official host of the YP). After the sessions, all kids are participating into divers social activities such as games, parties and meet ups.

During the very last session, participants vote for their new government (for 2014).

The fee to participate is $150 and this includes everything: transportation, meals, stay at the Harbour Towers, trainings, and activities. Registration for pages is free (they don’t stay at the Harbour Towers nor participant to evening activities)

For more information visit Consiel Jeunesse Francophone de C.-B.