AMBM Vice President Justin Bohémier issued the following statement following his September 16, 2021 meeting with the Manitoba Premier’s Office, along with representatives of the Société de la francophonie manitobaine (SFM):

I wish to express my gratitude to Premier Kelvin Goertzen and Deputy Premier and Minister of Francophone Affairs Rochelle Squires for their welcome, their openness and their genuine willingness to work together to build stronger and more prosperous Francophone and bilingual communities. The meeting comes less than 10 days after the swearing-in of the new Premier.

The SFM was represented by Angela Cassie, Vice President, and Daniel Boucher, Executive Director, while the AMBM was represented by Justin Johnson, Chief Executive Officer, and myself as Vice President.

We were able to confirm our shared commitment to actively work together to implement our Municipal Economic Recovery Strategy 2021-2024 and to strengthen the delivery of municipal services in both official languages. These are two key issues that will be addressed through the new Working Group on Collaboration and Consultation between the Government of Manitoba and the AMBM, which was established last August.

We also wanted to highlight the leadership of Minister Squires, who is a great ally of Manitoba’s Francophone community and of our bilingual municipalities. Today, I see that Premier Goertzen is also one of our allies and recognizes the added value of French to the strength of bilingualism in Manitoba.

This meeting is a testament to the strength of the provincial-municipal-community partnership. Our 15 bilingual municipalities represent over 98% of Manitoba’s Francophone population. As the level of government closest to citizens, we wish to increase our collaboration with the provincial government and the SFM to actively participate in the development of our Francophone communities, notably by strengthening their access to French-language services in rural areas.

Information: Office of the Chief Executive Officer (O-CEO), 204-289-4077, [email protected].