Public Servants Honoured for Excellence in French-language Services

Public servants are making a difference in developing and delivering services in French for Nova Scotians.

Acadian Affairs Minister Michel Samson was joined today, March 4, by community partners and colleagues from the public service to present provincial government employees with Bonjour! Awards for Excellence in French-language Services.

"We are fortunate to have public servants across government who recognize the value in making French-language services more accessible," said Mr. Samson. "I thank this year's Bonjour! Awards recipients, and all of their partners, for their continued commitment and hard work."

This year's award recipients are:

• Bernardine Wood, Excellence in Leadership
• Nova Scotia Archives Team, Excellence in Service Delivery to the Public
• Nova Scotia Birth Registration Kiosk development team, Excellence in Program Development

Ms. Wood is a past Web Program Co-ordinator at the Department of Justice who helped co-ordinate the publication of French content on the department’s website for a variety of programs such as restorative justice and mental health court.

The Nova Scotia Archives team is committed to delivering high quality services in French in all areas of its operations. The archives website offers more than 20 French-language archival resources including the historical vital statistics website which is bilingual.

The team that developed the new birth registration kiosks showed that including French into a complex service is achievable. Parents can register their newborn electronically eliminating the need to complete more than three separate paper forms in order to apply for key government services.

This year, the province recognized Université Sainte Anne as the Bonjour! Awards champion for French-language services.

"Université Sainte Anne is proud of its role within Nova Scotia’s Acadian and francophone community," said Allister Surette, president and vice-chancellor of Université Sainte-Anne. "We are also proud to offer programs for those who desire to learn and enhance their ability to work in French."

In addition, six former French-language co-ordinators were recognized for their work enhancing French-language services:

• Jennifer Cooper, Department of Energy
• Christine Gibbons, Department of Health and Wellness
• Judy MacDonald, Department of Environment
• Heather MacDougall, Department of Finance
• Grant MacEachern, Department of Economic and Rural Development and Tourism
• Chris Payne, Department of Economic and Rural Development and Tourism.

This is the fifth year for the Bonjour! Awards. Nominations for the 2015 awards will be accepted in the fall.

Nova Scotians can follow the province in French on Twitter @GouvNE .