The Ontario Provincial Police has announced a strategy that serves to improve on its ability to communicate with the French-speaking population and build on relationships in the francophone communities it serves.
The two-year strategy was announced by OPP Commissioner Gwen Boniface following the recent Association of Francophone Municipalities of Ontario?s 14th Annual Conference, held in Sudbury in late September.
The strategy addresses five key areas of priority in the delivery of French language services.
They include:
- Staffing and recruitment, including outreach to French language secondary and post secondary schools.
- Core training for officers to enhance French language capabilities.
- Communications centre and general inquiry telephone service.
- Specification of linguistic service levels in municipal policing contracts.
- Community relations and public education program materials developed simultaneously in both languages.
As part of the French Language Services Act, government ministries and agencies are required to provide services in French that are equivalent to those provided in English. As such, the new strategy and the OPP?s implementation of the act will be consistent with provincial requirements.
An annual ?report card? will be provided to various community stakeholders in the province as a means of tracking the performance and measuring the success of the strategy.
