CPF BC & Yukon Chapter Representatives,

Enclosed is the last CRU of 2013! CPF BC & Yukon board and staff would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, and a safe and Happy New Year!

Please note that the Branch office will be CLOSED from December 24th-January 2nd , 2014.

As always please forward this important information to your local chapter mailing lists, school contacts, local media, and partners. We encourage you to include additional stories and activities from your local chapter. One of the best ways to promote membership and recruit new volunteers is by effectively communicating the good work of our organization (at all levels) and the many resources available to support students and parents.   

À bientôt,                                                                                                                

Kirsty Peterson,CPF BC & Yukon Outreach Officer (outreach@cpf.bc.ca)

Oceanside - Is hosting 'Noel sure Glace'. Read about this innovative Sociocultural event at: PQBNEWS 

Kelowna - Is working in Westbank to expand their FI programming to the middle school level.

Squamish - The Sea to Sky district responded quickly to parents requests to implement EFI in Squamish and voted to create this option for Squamish students.

Surrey - This Chapter's longtime member and school trustee Charlene Dobie was presented with the SEVEC Ambassador Award for her work with French youth exchanges. Félicitations! Photo - SEVEC's Twitter feed @SEVEC

Don't forget to send your exciting chapter stories, pictures and even videos to Kirsty at outreach@cpf.bc.ca to be featured in the CRU!

Branch Executive Director Glyn Lewis was in the petite and charming town of St. Vincent, AB Nov 28 – 30 helping with the launch of the CPF sponsored bilingual O Canada! pan-Canadian tour. He coordinated national media and helped prepare the four young Francophone artists for their upcoming 120 school show tour (60 in BC/YK/AB/SK and 60 in Ontario). The young performing artists are incredibly talented, focused, and energetic. The performance piece, written by the brilliant Roger Dallaire, is magnificent.

Once a finalized O Canada! tour schedule is prepared we will be sharing it with you all so that you – and your chapter volunteers – can plan to attend a local school show. We will also be inviting your local media to each and every school performance – assuming with are able to secure the school's permission.

Broad tour schedule:

Jan 6 - 11: Vancouver Island

Jan 13 - 17: Metro Vancouver

Jan 20 - 24: Squamish/Whistler - Central Interior (TBC)

March: Northern BC (TBC) & Yukon

Because we are working with finite resources and time it was not possible to take the touring performance to every school and community. The interest has outstripped the capacity to provide shows. Given this, we are already working on a O Canada! Part II funding application. If successful, we will re-develop and re-launch O Canada! In the Winter/Spring of 2015, specifically aiming to reach those schools we missed on this first round.

For all the information about O Canada! (pictures, videos, blog, media coverage, tour themes, booking information) visit: http://bc-yk.cpf.ca/actvities/youth-activities/o-canada-tour/

On behalf of CPF BC & Yukon, I'm excited to announce the upcoming Lower Mainland Regional Conference on February 22, 2014!

1) SURVEY - Please complete to ensure relevant programming for your chapter

Please provide your input by December 15th, 2013.
Fill out the survey! http://bit.ly/18bBFi2 Any and all recommendations are appreciated.

2) REGISTRATION – LOWER MAINLAND REGIONAL CONFERENCE

Registration: Open December 5th – January 20th

Click here to register: http://bit.ly/1hAqJNT

(Registration and further info online at: Lower Mainland Conference)

Location: Hart House, 6664 Deer Lake Ave, Burnaby, BC V5E 4H3  (604) 298-4278

Each eligible Chapter will be able to send two (2) fully sponsored delegates. This includes travel, food and an evening per diem. To qualify, a chapter must be up to date in their reporting, and each member must have an up to date CPF membership. If you are unsure about your membership status, contact Kirsty at info@cpf.bc.ca

Chapters Eligible to attend:

Abbotsford, Burnaby , Chilliwack, Delta, East Vancouver, Langley, New Westminister, North Vancouver, Richmond, Ridge Meadows, Squamish, Surrey, Tri-Cities, West Vancouver 

Air North
Our grand prize is a round-trip flight for 2 on Air North, Yukon’s airline, valued at over $1000. (Andrea Graham, Cranbrook)
BC Family French Camp
A $600 voucher towards a confirmed spot at BC Family French Camp 2014. (Karina Younk, Nanaimo-Ladysmith)
Educacentre
French lessons for parents, valued at over $150 per course. (Gwendolyn Margetson, Carolyn Reemeyer, Emily Chiang, Vancouver)
Greyhound
A $500 voucher to put towards your next Grehound trip! (Sherri Sunshine, Bulkley Valley)
PNE/Playland
4 free passes to ride the coaster and check out Vancouver’s PNE & Playland! (Danielle Shackley, Ridge Meadows)
Kidsbooks
$100 in gift certificates towards your next purchase at Kidsbooks! (Christine Lee, Kamloops)
Metropolis
Metropolis swag for you and your family to enjoy! (Lucie Huber, Tri-Cities, Carly Hunter, Saanich, Lise Matheson, Williams Lake)
L’Actualité
A one year subscription to Quebec’s political and cultural magazine, L’Actualité. (Shiela Boehm, Williams Lake)
Kohana Jewellery
A hand made “BC Map” Necklack BC jewellery company Kohana! (Dina Davidon, Tri-Cities)
Ethical Bean
A freshly roasted coffee gift-pack from Vancouver based roaster Ethical bean! (Sharon Mansiene, Okanagan-Skaha)

French speaking citizens in Surrey will soon have more books to choose from when they visit their local libraries, thanks to a new partnership between the B.C. government and the City of Surrey. The provincial and municipal governments have signed an agreement to contribute $15,000 each to expand the French collection in various public libraries.

Since 2010, the Province has partnered with nine municipalities to provide more than $87,000 to increase accessibility of French resources at their public libraries. The provincial funding was made possible through the Canada-British Columbia Official Languages Agreement on French Language Services.

The municipal-provincial joint funding has made French resources more accessible at the Coquitlam Public Library, Greater Victoria Public Library, Nelson Municipal Library, Vancouver Island Regional Library, Vancouver Public Library, Kitimat Public Library, Fraser Valley Regional Library and Chetwynd Public Library.

Click HERE for full release

I would like to thank the Canadian Parents for French for recognizing my efforts on my journey to reacquiring my language and culture.  When I decided three years ago to become a French Immersion teacher I didn’t realize what a journey it would be.

I participated and volunteered for anything that would put me in contact with the French community here in Greater Vancouver, to take advantage of the opportunity to immerse myself in the culture and to speak the language with francophones.
I enjoy the annual Festival du Bois both as a participant as a volunteer.  I had the opportunity to be the Coordinator for the French Conversation Club at Place Maillardville.  I was very honoured to be asked by my colleagues during my practicum to participate as a judge for two Concours d’Art Oratoire competitions for grade 4-7 both at the school and the district levels.

I was seeking to acquire the language but what I received in return was a regained sense of pride in my French Canadian heritage.  I was born in Québec to a long French lineage, but when my family moved to Alberta I lost all the French I had as my first language and became Anglophone as I grew up and went to English schools.  So needless to say this journey to becoming a teacher has more personal significance than I first anticipated.  Now as a French Immersion teacher at École Simon Cunningham, I am very passionate about my language and I love sharing and passing on this rich culture not only to my own children but to those who chose profit from our French official language.

Natasha Viens

In the context of our first francophone film festival in Victoria scheduled Feb 28 to March 2, 2014, the Société radio communautaire Victoria (SRCV) is opening a competition for short movies.

Criteria:

• Movies are produced using portable devices such as your smartphone, Ipad, digital camera
• Movies are in French/with French subtitles

Length:

• Movies are between 2 and 15 min long
• Movies are between 16 and 30 min long

Categories :

Action, Fiction, Comedy, Drama, Documentary

Age categories: Open to all ages. Competitors will be classified as:

• less than 20 years of age
• more than 20 years of age

To participate, please share your film with competitioncilsfm@gmail.com via https://www.wetransfer.com/ before midnight (PST) on Feb 15 2014.

*films produced using traditional tools such as cameras or Cameoscopes not accepted