Canada is recognized as a bilingual country that has two official languages – English and French. The land known as Canada has always been home to a plurality of languages, including Indigenous languages such as Cree, Inuktitut, Miꞌkmawiꞌsimk, and many more.
After the arrival of European settlers, we saw the emergence of languages unique to this land, such as Michif and Canadian Gaelic, in addition to more recent immigrant languages such as Mandarin, German, Ukrainian, and Tagalog. The terrain is and has always been multilingual. And yet, despite this plurality of languages, we see a linguistic injustice in the production of knowledge. In the wider Canadian society, knowledge is produced and propagated solely in English and, as a result, we see advances in English-speaking communities on social, environmental, and other issues that we don't see in other sociolinguistic communities. This is most evident in French-speaking communities, which are less dependent on English than other minority language communities.
The purpose of this webinar is to invite people who run NGOs or lead justice struggles in bilingual communities who need to navigate two sociolinguistic communities simultaneously so that everyone moves forward together. What are the challenges they face? What are the strengths of operating in a bilingual community? How has it engaged both communities at their distinct starting points?
Multilingual community engagement requires much more than translation and interpretation. This webinar aims to explore these questions and more to launch into a tool to support true multilingual community engagement.
Key topics:
- Linguistic injustice in knowledge production: Discussion of the dominance of English in knowledge dissemination and its impacts on other language communities, especially in efforts at societal change.
- Challenges faced by bilingual communities: Identification of the obstacles and problems faced by change-makers in a bilingual or multilingual context.
- Engaging both sociolinguistic communities: Strategies and approaches for engaging English- and French-speaking communities on an equitable basis.
- Beyond translation and interpretation: Exploring the specific needs and approaches required for true multilingual community engagement, beyond simple translation services.
Who should attend?
- Leaders and members of organizations or agencies working in bilingual environments or on a national scale
- Communication and translation professionals
- Members of linguistic minority communities
- Anyone interested in the issues of linguistic diversity, inclusion and social justice in Canada.
Speakers
Dr Chúk Odenigbo, Directeur conseil - Impact Evaluation, Tamarack Institute
Dr. Chúk Odenigbo (PhD) is the Consulting Director of Impact Evaluation at the Tamarack Institute Learning Centre. Proudly Franco-Albertan, Chúk is passionate about the ways in which the environment impacts human health and the role of justice in our understanding of how our societies function. As a result of this passion, Chúk is very active in changemaking spaces in both Canada and at an international scale. His educational background centres the domains of environment science, chemistry, public health and medical geography. His career has focused on environmental and climate justice and outside formal work settings, he is involved in several boards, committees, conferences and movements to reimagine and recreate societal structures and systems for the well-being of all of our kin. Human and non-human.
Annika Chiasson, Executive Director, New Brunswick Environmental Network 
Originally from Moncton, New Brunswick, Annika Chiasson (she/her) is an Acadian with over 10 years' experience in non-profit organizations. She is passionate about art, language, nature, and history, with a particular interest in action and community involvement. She is currently Executive Director of the New Brunswick Environmental Network, an organization that brings together over 100 environmental groups across the province. When she's not at work, you can find her in her garden beds.
Julie Dunleavy, Program Manager, The Youth Harbour 
Julie (she/her) grew up in an Anglo-dominant city, Guelph, Ontario (Haudenosaunee, Anishinabewaki, Attiwonderonk and Mississauga territories), happily learning French in elementary and high school. She completed an Honours B.SocSci at the University of Ottawa, specializing in International Development and Globalization, with a minor in Geography, and doing so in French immersion with second-language certification. She's a Francophile who loves to learn about French culture and language, and yet, she'll never be able to fully understand everything the language brings. At the same time, she considers herself proud to have this level of bilingualism and always wants to listen to the perspectives and needs of Francophones in Canada. Currently, she lives in Montreal, Quebec (also known as Tiohtià:ke and Mooniyang), and is the Program and Grants Manager at FES, for The Youth Harbour program. Her work life and personal life are largely bilingual, except that she sees English as still quite dominant, even after much effort to make French as accessible and inclusive as possible. She works in the youth-led climate action sector and strives to connect English- and French-speaking movements to collectively fight for climate justice.
Simone Chen, Coordinator of Fruits défendus, Santropol Roulant 
Since 2019, Simone (she/her) has been the coordinator of the citizen collective Les Fruits Défendus, among other types of social organizing. She is also a horticulturist and apple grower on a small plot of land on Île Bizard (a Montreal borough), where she cultivates an agro-ecological orchard on the shores of Lake of Two Mountains. For her, the world of trees gives meaning to the mystery of life. Studying them has convinced her of their unique power to heal the earth, and thus inspired in her to dedicate her life to learning from them and interpreting the lessons and irrefutable wisdom they offer. She dreams of living in a society that considers human relationships of paramount importance, and where we live under the logic of an economy of abundance, built with respect for nature, the resilience of the integrated community and rooted in symbiosis. She also dreams of a world where it's customary to gather every year at the end of June, in the shade of the saskatoon tree's verdant branches and foliage, to pick its fruit together at the dawn of summer's first heatwave, blooming with the joy generated by sharing life's abundant bounty.
Miriam Ponette, Transition Ecologique, La Pêche Coalition for a Green New Deal 
As a trilingual person raised in an English-speaking household in Montreal, Miriam Ponette (she/her) has always been sensitive to the language issues of the Canadian francophone community. Keenly aware of the importance of promoting bilingualism, she has always worked to value and respect the many languages spoken across the country. Among her many experiences working in bilingual contexts, she has worked in a reception center for asylum seekers arriving in Montreal, designed and facilitated bilingual community engagement activities for municipal climate action, and worked for an organization providing multilingual home energy efficiency support designed by and for immigrant communities.