The President of the AMBM and Reeve of the Rural Municipality of La Broquerie, Mr. Ivan Normandeau, issued the following statement in reaction to Minister Andrew Smith’s letter confirming his favourable view of the deployment of the new Municipal Maturity Model (3M) in Manitoba’s bilingual municipalities:
We would like to extend our warmest thanks to Mr. Andrew Smith, Minister of Municipal Relations, who, in his letter dated August 1st, 2023, informed us that our members’ approach set out in our new Municipal Maturity Model (3M) will be positively considered during the departmental and ministerial review of French-language services by-laws under section 147.1 of the Municipal Act.
We applaud Minister Smith’s commitment and proactivity. Thanks to this support, member municipal councils wishing to adopt the 3M implementation by-law will be able to do so in the short term, in compliance with section 147.1 of the Municipal Act.
The 3M is a Canadian first on the municipal scene. Inspired by the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages’ Maturity Model, and adapted by the AMBM, in consultation with elected officials and Chief Administrative Officers of Manitoba’s rural bilingual municipalities, the 3M was unanimously adopted by the AMBM Board of Directors in June 2022.
The 3M will allow AMBM member local governments to assess their level of maturity and quantify their investment in each of the indicators related to: 1) service delivery and communications with the public, 2) governance, leadership and strategic direction, and 3) people management.
The implementation of the 3M by our member municipalities is an opportunity to modernize and optimize their approach, increase their commitment and reinvigorate their service delivery in both official languages. It is also an excellent tool to strengthen the provincial-municipal partnership in this area as it will allow us to align our objectives and act jointly on various official languages issues.
The winning conditions for the successful deployment of the 3M are now in place. The result of shared leadership between the provincial and municipal governments, the implementation of the 3M is the logical extension of the Province’s long-standing commitment to official languages. In fact, the 3M is the culmination of a strong continuum of service delivery in both official languages by all three orders of government.
On the eve of a paradigm shift in the delivery of municipal services in both official languages, the government of Manitoba has seized the opportunity to reaffirm its leadership and make history by demonstrating once again its support for Official Language Minority Communities (OLMCs) in a province whose bilingual character is recognized and valued by its citizens.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank the Société de la francophonie manitobaine (SFM) for its full support in implementing the 3M. The Model is consistent with the vision expressed in its community strategic plan, Ensemble vers 2035, as well as the newly developed Integrated Rural Development Strategy for Manitoba’s Francophone Community.
The AMBM is the voice of bilingual municipal leadership in the province of Manitoba. It represents 15 local governments committed to offering services in both official languages to their citizens. Together, these municipalities represent the majority of Manitoba’s population. Manitoba’s bilingual municipal leadership is also at the head of the AMBM Group, a consortium of three organizations with complementary mandates: the AMBM, the Economic Development Council for Manitoba Bilingual Municipalities (Conseil de développement économique des municipalités bilingues du Manitoba, or CDEM) and Eco-West Canada (EWC), which specializes in the green economy. Complementing each other, these three organizations actively contribute to the development, vitality and sustainability of the province’s Official Language Minority Communities (OLMCs).
Information: Office of the Chief Executive Officer (O-CEO), 204-289-4077, [email protected].
