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2020- 2022 Policy Process | Green Party of Canada
Where GPC membership collaborates to develop our policies
G21-B012 Strengthen GPC Bilingualism Requirements | VGM-2 Amended Version
Submitter Name
Jean-Charles Pelland
Ratification Vote Results: Adopted
Proposal
This is the amended proposal adopted by GPC membership at the VGM-2.
Bylaw X Bilingualism
X.1 The Party shall endeavour to represent Canada’s diversity in its governance, strategic decision-making, operations and deployment of human and financial resources.
X.2 Official written Party communications with all members, the media and the general public shall be of the same standard in both official languages.
X.3 The Party shall provide Provincial and Territorial Organizations, Regional Associations and EDAs with the ability to reach their respective members according to their language of choice.
X.4 Services and support for members, EDAs, Regional Associations and Provincial/Territorial Organizations shall be offered by the Central Office in both official languages.
X.5 The working languages of the Party are English and French, and the Party shall endeavour to reflect Canada’s two official linguistic communities in its hiring of personnel.
Objective
Ensure that the Party is bilingual in its operations, communications, services and support to members and EDAs.
Benefit
Improve the reputation and credibility of the Green Party of Canada (GPC) among Francophone members of the population. Boost visibility of the GPC in the Francophone media. Increase the number of Francophone supporters, members and volunteers. Increase donations made to the GPC by Francophones. Increase the number of votes from Francophones.
Supporting Comments from Submitter
As a bilingual country and political party (Article 4.1.7 of the GPC Constitution) and given that approximately 30% of Canadians are Francophone, we must demonstrate our commitment to bilingualism. The absence of this kind of commitment, undermines the reputation and credibility of the GPC, the visibility of the GPC in the Francophone media, the recruitment of supporters, members and volunteers, fundraising, and the percentage of votes obtained during the elections.
Green Value(s)
Social Justice, Respect for Diversity.
Relation to Existing Policies
Add to current GPC policy.
Amendments (2)
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4 comments
re. the PDPC agenda on Feb. 27
22-03-27
Final plenary approves the proposal (87% in favour)
Conversation with Vaalea Darkke
I agree we should endeavour to do this and should regardless of a By-Law.
My concern which I don't recall being sufficiently addressed during VGM is what the cost will be to a small party with relatively limited funds once official policy, and how might this requirement delay communications published in a timely manner, and seems now to be a possible hinderance in selecting leadership candidates since only 18% of the Canadian population is bilingual. (Table 4) https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/official-languages-bilingualism/publications/statistics.html
Thank you @Vaalea Darkke for your comment. You raise an important concern: that given our present (or even future) financial situation, the cost of doing translations could add significant delays in getting bilingual documents out to members in a timely fashion.
Currently all official documents are translated, mostly by staff. Where the crunch begins to be felt is when we have national events (think VGM or Leadership contest) which produce a great deal of documentation which we wish to be available to 100% of our membership in their preferred language. This applies to translations in both directions.
You are totally right: we need to be bilingual regardless of a By-law. But the By-law has brought to our attention an awareness that there is a need that is not being met.
So in the spirit of the Action Teams Ecosystem (please see the Green Party X-space at https://wordpress.greensconnect.ca ) the Translation Support Action Team (TSAT) // L'équipe d'action pour le soutien à la traduction (EAST) Is being formed by GPC member-volunteers. We are currently working on our Charter, which we hope will be published this month.
As it is volunteer-based, financial costs will not be a limiting factor. All we will need is bilingual anglophone volunteers and bénévole francophones de langue maternelle. Stay tuned!
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