ISLAND
FRANCOPHONE TELECOMMUNITY PROJECT
OVERVIEW
OF ACHIEVEMENTS AND PLANNING FOR THE
FUTURE
Presented to:
The Francophone Human Resources
Development Committee
By:
La Société éducative de
l’Île-du-Prince-Édouard
Wellington, Prince Edward
Island
BACKGROUND
The purpose of
this report is to give the Francophone Human
Resources Development Committee an overview of
what has been accomplished since the Island
Francophone Telecommunity Project was launched.
It also seeks to inform the committee of short
and middle-term projects that will be proposed as
part of the telecommunity project and that are of
special interest to the committee, that is, the
knowledge economy and the development of human
resources. In particular, three new bodies will
be created: a technology incubator centre, a
mentoring committee and an incubator services
firm.
Education and the
economy are at the very heart of community
development. On the eve of the 21st century, the
traditional community development methods used in
these two sectors must in the future include new
information and communications technologies
(NICT). Numerous technological developments such
as computers, the information highway,
sophisticated production and marketing methods
have transformed the global economy. We are now
living in a knowledge economy where the
community’s wealth is based on knowledge. In
view of this situation, it is therefore important
to develop a local, regional and provincial
economy capable of adjusting to the myriad of
transformations that the Canadian and global
economic structure will undergo in the coming
years. It is obvious that business creation,
education and training, and the use of innovative
means of economic development are major assets;
the integration and use of technology in these
sectors can ensure sustainable economic
development.
Over the last few
years, the Francophone and Acadian community of
Prince Edward Island has identified its main
needs during various consultations and public
forums held as part of the Société
Saint-Thomas-d’Aquin’s strategic
planning process. They include education and
training, economic development, tourism and
technology. In addition to an urgent need for
ongoing high-quality and technologically advanced
education in French, the community specifically
identified the need to:
- develop
sustainable employment;
- connect the
five Acadian areas of the Island to an
educational computer network;
- develop
databanks that meet industry needs; and
- develop an
appropriate information tool.
To meet these
needs, the Société éducative de
l’Île-du-Prince-Édouard, with the support
of the Acadian community, launched the Island
Francophone Telecommunity Project in November
1996. For the time being, the project has three
priority components: tele-education at the
elementary, secondary and post-secondary levels,
economic development, and the delivery of
government services. It is basically aimed at
getting the infrastructure needed for the
technology and human resources development in
place, in order to create a virtual Francophone
community on Prince Edward Island. More
specifically, the purpose of the project is to
establish virtual incubation sites in order to
develop the NICT industry and, in particular,
French multimedia products. There is an enormous
potential for development here since French
multimedia production is relatively limited and
lags considerably behind English-language
production. In fact, though most of the
francophonie around the world will soon be on-line, there are few multimedia tools available in
French. This project is an opportunity for the
Francophone community to grab a piece of the
global economy, but given the scope of the
project, a partnership with government is one of
the things required. With its special interest in
the knowledge economy, the Société éducative
de l’Île-du-Prince-Édouard is well
positioned to further such partnerships within
the Island Francophone community.
On June 12th of this
year, a government/community partnership came
into effect, the first of its kind in Canada.
Under this agreement, the parties established a
mechanism for cooperation with two major goals:
1.
to work in close cooperation
with the Acadian community to foster its
development through such means as the
delivery of labour market programs and
services to this community; and
2.
to support and promote the development of
the knowledge economy within this
community.
The tripartite
agreement, signed between the federal Department
of Human Resources Development (HRDC), the
Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA), the
Government of Prince Edward Island (represented
by the Deputy Minister of the Department of Economic Development
and Tourism, and by the Clerk of the Executive
Council and Provincial Co-chair of the Knowledge Economy
Partnership) and the Island’s Acadian and
Francophone community (represented by the
Chairperson of the Société
Saint-Thomas-d’Aquin and by the Chairperson of
the Société éducative de
l’Île-du-Prince-Édouard), is the main
implementation mechanism for the Island
Francophone Telecommunity Project.
A joint committee
known as the Francophone Human Resources
Development Committee is in charge of
coordinating the objectives of the agreement.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Based on the
premise that the NICT can be an excellent
information and education tool for community
economic development, the Island Francophone
Telecommunity Project has as its main goal, the
fostering of the development and growth of the
Acadian and Francophone community of Prince
Edward Island by creating a knowledge society
where the use and application of these
technologies is widespread. However, a knowledge
society is not primarily built around technology
but around human resources: investing in training
and upgrading programs, and supporting and
encouraging the creation of productive social
interactions contribute to the development of
sustainable markets for the community as a whole.
By putting the
needed technological infrastructure in place and
developing the required human resources, the
Telecommunity Project seeks to:
- increase the
employability of P.E.I. Acadians;
- provide
Island Acadians with advanced NICT
knowledge;
- improve the
quality of government services in French;
- strengthen
links between the Island’s five
Francophone areas;
- increase the
exchange of knowledge and information
within the community;
- provide
access to the outside world without
necessarily having to move;
The Island
Francophone Telecommunity Project’s strategic plan was
completed in June 1997 and includes seven
priorities:
- Hire human resources, including
contractors, to establish and set up the Island
Francophone telecommunity.
- Provide
the Acadian and Francophone community
of Prince Edward Island with a
telecommunications network connecting
the Acadian and Francophone areas
to form a virtual community or
telecommunity.
- Develop a
knowledge-based culture within the
Acadian and Francophone community by
exploiting the telecommunity concept.
- Provide
the Acadian and Francophone community
with an innovative mechanism for
community development.
- Provide
access to distance education and
training to all Prince Edward Island Acadians and
Francophones.
- Develop
the information technology industry
by encouraging the development of French
multimedia products, which would provide
access to a previously inaccessible
international market.
- Improve
the quality and quantity of French
government programs and services available to
the Prince Edward Island
Acadian and Francophone population.
The Société
éducative de l’Île-du-Prince-Édouard, with
its strategic allies, expects to have finished
implementing these priorities by the year 2000.
PRIMARY STAKEHOLDER
The Société
éducative de l’Île-du-Prince-Édouard is
the primary stakeholder in the implementation of
the Island Francophone Telecommunity Project.
Located in Wellington, the Société éducative is a
non-profit organization with a provincial
mandate. It brings together representatives of
economic, academic and community associations,
dedicated to ensuring excellence in the
continuing knowledge acquisition process of the
Acadian and Francophone population of Prince
Edward Island. Since its creation in 1992, the
Société éducative has always been interested in the
potential of new technologies as development
tools and job creators. The programming offered
by its provincial training centre for adults is
based on the needs of clients and labour market
trends. The means favoured for providing training
are distance education, networking, partners and
NICT.
In implementing
the Island Francophone Telecommunity Project, the Société éducative
has the support of the Regroupement
communautaire des nouvelles technologies de
l’information et des communications
[Community Alliance for New Information and
Communications Technologies], which plays an
advisory role. This group is made up of several
sectoral representatives interested in making use
of French-language NICT.
The knowledge
society consists of dynamic new social
interactions such as communities of interests,
strategic alliances and public-private
partnerships that work together to establish
collaboration networks and to help communities
become self-sufficient. With this in mind, the
Société éducative has established partnerships
with several community and private organizations
for the implementation of the telecommunity. The
level of partnership depends on the nature of the
partnership. The main partners are:
- La Société
de développement de la Baie acadienne
- La Commission scolaire de langue française
- La Société
Saint-Thomas-d’Aquin
- Le Carrefour
de l’Isle-Saint-Jean
- Le Conseil
acadien de Rustico
- L’Association
touristique Évangéline
- Jeunesse
acadienne Ltée
- Le Conseil Coop de
l’Île-du-Prince-Édouard
- L’Association
des troubles
d’apprentissage
- La Caisse
populaire Évangéline
- Telecommunication
service providers
- Internet
Trois-Rivières
- E-Com
MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS
The first step in
NICTs’ integration in the Island Francophone
community was no doubt the opening of the Café
Internet in February 1996. The first of its
kind in Atlantic Canada, the Café Internet
was opened in Wellington by the Société
éducative de l’Île-du-Prince-Édouard,
with the financial support of Industry
Canada’s Community Access Program.
This initiative
triggered an exceptional process of reflection
and development within the Acadian and
Francophone community of P.E.I. Since then, several NICT
development projects have been carried out. The
main ones are:
- Some thirty
people from the Island Acadian and
Francophone community have received
initial multimedia production training at
the Centre provincial de formation pour adultes [Provincial Adult Training Centre] in
Wellington since March 1997;
- A first
technological incubator centre was set up
in March 1997 at the Centre provincial de formation pour adultes in Wellington by the Société
éducative de l’Île-du-Prince-Édouard,
in partnership with the Société de
développement de la Baie acadienne,
and another centre will soon be opening
in Charlottetown. The Wellington centre
has already produced several
French-language multimedia products. For
example, the centre has already been
awarded two contracts by the Department
of Veterans Affairs: the first was for
the production of a Web site using
reality technology to commemorate the
80th anniversary of the capture of Vimy
during World War I, and the second was for
the development of an interactive data
base on the Web containing the profiles
of the Canadian war dead (approximately
110,000 profiles). The centre could soon
get another project, that of developing a
similar data base of the profiles of the
war dead for all Commonwealth countries
(1.2 million profiles);
- Four NICT
firms have been in development since
March 1997 at the virtual incubation site
in Wellington;
- A joint plan
for the integration of new learning
technologies is being prepared by the
Société éducative de
l’Île-du-Prince-Édouard, the
Commission scolaire de langue française [French Language School Board] and the
Department of Education. The aim of the
plan is to integrate technological
innovation into all of the Island’s
Francophone school and post-secondary
community;
- A preliminary
agreement has been reached with Island
Tel and the Department of Education for
the establishment of a media-based
tele-education pilot project at the
elementary and secondary school levels,
using the new ATM broadband network;
- The Rustico
area has been awarded an Industry Canada
Community Access project. This
technological infrastructure project is
being carried out.
NEXT STEPS:
This section
contains two tables: one listing short-term
projects and the other middle-term projects,
according to the priorities of the Island
Francophone Telecommunity Project strategic plan.
With respect to the short-term projects, it
should be noted that the Société éducative
de l’Île-du-Prince-Édouard, in
partnership with the Société de
développement de la Baie acadienne, the
Société Saint-Thomas-d’Aquin and the
Commission scolaire de langue française, will focus on four
projects: the feasibility study into an advanced
technology centre, the establishment of a second
technological incubator centre in Charlottetown,
the establishment of a mentoring committee, and
the establishment of a NICT incubator services
firm. A coherent NICT human resources development
strategy will go a long way towards enabling
these bodies to facilitate the creation of new
NICT businesses that, in turn, will contribute
enormously to the development of the
Island’s knowledge economy.
SHORT-TERM PROJECTS (To March 31,
1998)
1.
Conduct a
feasibility study into the creation of an
advanced technology centre.
- A funding
application for the study is to be
sent to ACOA shortly (approximately
$8,000).
- (The
establishment of a similar model was
recently announced in Sydney, Cape
Breton).
- Société
éducative de l’Î.-P.-É .
- Société de développement de la Baie
acadienne
2. Establish
a non-profit company to offer incubator
services to NICT firms.
- The business
plan is under preparation.
- Société
éducative de l’Î.-P.-É.
- Société de développement de la Baie
acadienne
- Commission scolaire de langue française
3. Establish
a second Technological Incubator Centre in
Charlottetown.
- This project
will be carried out as part of the
delivery of initial and on-going training
in multimedia production this fall.
- Société
éducative de l’Î.-P.-É .
- Société de développement de la Baie
acadienne
- Société Saint-Thomas-d’Aquin
4.
Offer
multimedia production initial and on-going
training programs in Wellington and
Charlottetown.
- The
programming was developed during the last
few weeks. Funding is provided by HRDC.
- Société
éducative de l’Î.-P.-É .
- Société de développement de la Baie
acadienne
- Société Saint-Thomas-d’Aquin
5. Make the necessary contacts
to set up a mentoring committee comprising
federal and provincial government program
managers and private sector representatives with
a stake in the NICT sector and knowledge economy.
- This project
has already been discussed at the last
meeting of the tripartite agreement
Operations Committee.
- Société
éducative de l’Î.-P.-É.
- Société de développement de la Baie
acadienne
- Société Saint-Thomas-d’Aquin
6. Obtain funding for a study
into the infrastructure needed to equip the
Société éducative’s partners. (e.g. SSTA,
Jeunesse acadienne, etc.)
- The aim of
this project would be to strengthen ties
between areas through provincial and
regional organizations.
- Société éducative de l’Î.-P.-É.
- Société de développement de la Baie
acadienne
- Société Saint-Thomas-d’Aquin
7. Obtain funding for the
development of a community communications plan
for carrying out of some of their activities.
- The purposes
of this plan would include making various
community organizations from every
Acadian area of the Island aware of the
advantages and benefits of integrating
NICT into the execution of some of their
tasks.
- Société
éducative de l’Î.-P.-É .
- Société de développement de la Baie
acadienne
- Société Saint-Thomas-d’Aquin
(By March 31, 1999)
1.
Obtain funding
for a study into the training needs of
Francophone adults on Prince Edward Island.
- Such a study,
funded by HRDC, was done in July 1995.
However, it was very general and did not
delve into the community’s specific
training needs.
- Furthermore,
training needs take on a new dimension
with the implementation of the
telecommunity project.
- Société
éducative de l’Î.-P.-É.
- HRDC
- Société Saint-Thomas-d’Aquin
2. Obtain
funding for the development of a literacy
strategy that provides for training which
integrates NICT and literacy.
- This project
fits in very well with the priorities of
the strategic plan and provincial action
plan of the Island’s Acadian and
Francophone community.
- Société éducative de
l’Î.-P.-É.
- Société Saint-Thomas-d’Aquin
3. Develop and implement a
pilot project for the delivery of French government
services.
- The main
purpose of this project is to develop an
Intranet so that the federal and
provincial governments can serve the
Francophone community in French.
- Société
éducative de l’Î.-P.-É.
- ACOA
- Department of Economic Development and Tourism
- HRDC
- Partners in the knowledge economy
- Société Saint-Thomas-d’Aquin
- Société de développement de la Baie
acadienne
4. Develop a databank on NICT
specialists which NICT incubator firms may
access.
- Société
éducative de l'Î.-P.É.
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