Department of Fisheries and Oceans
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Released: 09 January, 2001

$480,000 Investment In Aquaculture Training Programs

January 9th, 2002

QUEBEC Â- Georges Farrah, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Herb Dhaliwal, today announced the government of CanadaÂ's decision to provide $480,000 for the development of a French-language training program for Francophones studying aquaculture at LÂ'Acadie college in Petit de Grat, Nova Scotia. This new training program will enable this institutionÂ's French-speaking students to take via the Internet courses given in French by the Centre spécialisé des pêches in Grande-Rivière, Quebec.

The funds will also be used to set up a centre offering documentation and technical and scientific support services in French to students and the aquaculture industry.

"This program clearly demonstrates the federal governmentÂ's commitment to the development of linguistic minority communities pursuant to the Official Languages Act," Mr. Farrah stated.

The required funds for this project are being provided through the Interdepartmental Partnership with Official Language Communities (IPOLC) initiative managed by the Department of Canadian Heritage. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the Department of Canadian Heritage will each contribute $180,000 to the project and the Cape Breton Corporation will supply the remaining $120,000.

Minister Dhaliwal was pleased to be participating in this project. "By providing the French-speaking students of Nova Scotia with access to technical training in their own language," he noted, "the government is contributing to the establishment of significant aquaculture expertise in Atlantic Canada, while boosting the cultural vitality of CanadaÂ's linguistic minority communities."

In Quebec, the Centre spécialisé des pêches, which is located in Grande-Rivière on the Gaspé Peninsula, could use the experience acquired through this project to set up a distance learning program in the field of aquaculture for the English-speaking communities of the Gaspé, the North Shore and the Magdalen Islands.

With an annual budget of $5.5 million over five years, the Interdepartmental Partnership with Official Language Communities is a Department of Canadian Heritage initiative. Its mission is to encourage the development and promote the vitality of CanadaÂ's French- and English-speaking official language minority communities.

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