THE LANGUAGE SECURITY COMMITTEE CELEBRATES ITS 5TH ANNIVERSARY !

Although the Youth Council had already been engaged on the subject for many years, it was in March 2019 that the linguistic security committee was created for the first time! It was the 2018 edition of the SAGA which was the trigger. Indeed, during a fascinating workshop, young people expressed their need to understand this discomfort that inhabits them but which they were unable to name: linguistic insecurity!

This great adventure began with four founding members: Cloé Robert, Emily Deering, Geneviève Poitras and William Robertson. Supervised and trained by Suzanne Robillard - Doctor in sociolinguistics graduated from the University of Ottawa and honorary life member of the CJFCB - the members of the committee worked on the creation of an awareness workshop on (in )linguistic security. This provincial awareness campaign would extend even beyond the borders of British Columbia.

So many challenges met and accomplishments achieved since 2019!

Return in figures over 5 years of commitment: 1 linguistic security committee 4 founding members 14 young people who have joined the committee over the last 5 years 1 expert in sociolinguistics who supervises and trains the committee since 2019: Dr. Suzanne Robillard 58 workshops held across the province and beyond 1700 community members reached 24 organizations and institutions made aware 1 participation in the national symposium on linguistic (in)security in May 2019 4 podcasts on anglicisms in partnership with the Fédération des parents and Radio Canada 1 website: www.belinguiste.com 1 visual awareness campaign broadcast in all CSF secondary schools as well as in 3 post-secondary institutions 1 collaboration as part of a research project on the place of linguistic insecurity among teachers led by Dr. Marie-Ève Bouchard - Assistant professor in sociolinguistics at the University of British Columbia 2 participations in round tables alongside Dr. Marie-Ève Bouchard:

• The CCERBAL 2023 conference entitled “Bilingualism and multilingualism: transversal skills, mobility and well-being”.
• A 2nd/3rd cycle seminar entitled “Immigration and uses of French” for the Chair for the development of research on French-speaking culture in North America (CEFAN) on the theme: Linguistic (In)security in multilingual French-speaking educational environments: avenues for intervention.

Thanks to its work and passion, the linguistic security committee is today a central player in the vitality of French in British Columbia. Members take their role as ambassador very seriously and do not hesitate to embark on new projects to always better meet the needs of their community!

The committee is currently working on the development of video capsules but also on the writing of a guide for teachers with Dr Marie-Ève ​​Bouchard. We’ll tell you more very soon!