Provincial Francophone Committee (PFC)

Holly Sullivan
[email protected]
Chair
Region 1

Charles Seguin
[email protected]
(519) 803-4840
Vice-Chair
Region 2

Elsa Roussel-Linton
[email protected]
(705) 774-4666
Region 3

Gillian Axten
[email protected]
(514) 909-6682
Region 4

Tony Ivanoff
[email protected]

Secretary/Treasurer
Region 5

Stephanie Harris-Sawatzky
[email protected]
Region 6

Matthew Turner
Region 7

This is a description of the purpose and structure of the Provincial Francophone Committee (PFC).  It outlines information on general aims and functions of the committee, how meetings are conducted, how finances are monitored, and the roles and responsibilities of all elected representatives. To access the Provincial Francophone Committee Terms of Reference, please contact one of your PFC representatives.

The Provincial Francophone Committee was first mandated at the 2011 OPSEU/SEFPO Convention as a result of a constitutional amendment.  The amendment read: “There shall be a Provincial Francophone Committee, composed of one member from each Region, to be elected at the regular biennial Regional election meetings.”

Printable brochure (bilingual)

1. Francophone Advisory Committee

In the early ’90s, following the opening of la Cité collégiale, the first French-language college of applied arts and technology in the province and in anticipation of the opening of two other French-language colleges in 1995, Collège Boréal and Collège des Grands Lacs, OPSEU developed a provincial advisory committee to advise on services offered and services to offer to its francophone members working within these new institutions. The committee also had the mandate to provide advice on services in French that it was to eventually offer to other Francophone members in union locals within bilingual organizations and institutions of the province. Remember that this committee had to operate in the midst of a period of austerity measures imposed on workers for at least 4 years by the government of the day. These measures would force open collective agreements of unionized public sector workers, freeze salaries of public service employees and impose “social contract days“, that is to say, days off, unpaid, to a multitude of them.

2. Francophone Caucus

The mandate of this advisory committee would eventually be bequeathed to the new Francophone Caucus created in the early 2000s and officially recognized by OPSEU in 2001. The Caucus has existed for more than ten years. Many tasks have been added to its first mandate which focused on translation services that OPSEU had to offer to its Francophone members in negotiation, education and training, communication and website, creating additional translator positions, etc. Over the years, the Francophone Caucus has been brought to play gradually the role of ‘French consciousness’ within the organization and in the face of OPSEU leadership.

3. Provincial Francophone Committee

Last year, at the 2011 OPSEU Convention, delegates adopted the following resolution:

BE IT RESOLVED THAT OPSEU creates a Provincial Francophone Committee to replace the Francophone Caucus and that Article 19 of the OPSEU Constitution be amended with the addition of section 19.4, initially, with the following language:

19.4 There shall be a Provincial Francophone Committee, composed of one member from each Region, to be elected at the regular biennial Regional election meetings. The function of the committee shall be to assist in establishing Francophone caucuses and committees within the regions, to develop and promote programs to encourage Francophones to participate in Union activities, and to increase the awareness and understanding of Francophone issues throughout the membership in all Francophone communities across the province.

As part of the Constitution, from now onwards, Francophone representation will be guaranteed within OPSEU and in each of seven regions. The new Provincial Francophone Committee [CPFr] will be duly operational when the seven members who form the executive committee have been elected in their respective regions. Each region will hold its next regular biennial election meeting in 2013, just weeks before the 2013 OPSEU Convention.

The Provincial Francophone Committee needs you…

Dear Franophone members, we need to make connections with each other, connections between Francophones in each of the seven regions of OPSEU and connections between each of these regions. To assume its role and fulfill its mandate, the new OPSEU Provincial Francophone Committee needs to know you and to be able to communicate with you.

We would appreciate it if you could send us your name and email address, along with the number of your local. As well, could you forward this request to other Francophone members of your local? Our email address is: [email protected]  

In solidarity,

Fernand Bégin, Chair
OPSEU Francophone Caucus and Interim Executive Committee of the Provincial Francophone Committee