History

Initiated by an informed parent of Canadian Parents for French, the French Language Resource Centre is a story of successful partnerships. In 2004, three school boards in Grande Prairie united with Canadian Parents for French and the local French Association (ACFA) to put forth a proposal in order to receive federal funds of official languages in education. These funds were made available by Heritage Canada's Action Plan whose goal was to double the amount of functionally bilingual graduates by 2013.

A similar proposal for advanced education dollars was submitted by Grande Prairie Regional College to offer collaboratively a French Education Certificate for teachers. Additional partners joined to make the project a further success: the Grande Prairie Public Library, Peace Library System and the Conseil scolaire du Nord-Ouest. The application submitted to our provincial government was accepted and in 2006, more than $500 000 was awarded over three years. In the fall of 2006, the French Language Resource Centre was created with nine partners. An additional fourth year of bridge financing was awarded in 2008-2009.

Recently, the Centre has grown to add four more partners: Northwest Regional Learning Consortium, Peace River School Division, High Prairie School Division and Holy Family Regional Catholic Division. Upon final approval, the Centre will continue to enhance French language education in North-western Alberta with another four years of financing under Heritage Canada`s Roadmap to Linguistic Duality with over one million dollars of financing for the next four years.

The French Language Resource Centre is made possible through a consortium arrangement of multiple partners:

·  Grande Prairie Regional College
·  Peace Wapiti School Division
·  Association canadienne-française de l’Alberta
·  Grande Prairie and District Catholic Schools
·  Canadian Parents for French
·  Grande Prairie Public School District
·  Grande Prairie Public Library
·  Conseil scolaire du Nord-Ouest
·  High Prairie School Division
·  Peace River School Division
·  Holy Family Regional Catholic Division
·  Northwest Regional Learning Consortium
·  Peace Library System