They crossed the gentle flowing North Saskatchewan River, the breathtakingly beautiful Edmonton River Valley, leaving their traditional Campus St. Jean or La Cite Francophone base behind to the other half of Edmonton to join forces with their English speaking brothers and sisters to say with one voice that, they want to be part of the solution going forward for the organization that gave them a warm welcome when they first came to Edmonton – the Francophone Newcomer Welcome Centre, known in French as Centre d’accueil et d’établissement, or simply CAE.
Last week, CAE got a letter from Immigration Canada to end their contract by March of 2019, instead of 2020. Immigration Canada says it is because they lost trust in the organization. Alberta Labour also will not be renewing their grant beyond December 2018, but they say it has no connection to Immigration Canada’s decision. CAE can read the writing on the wall when its two major funders are pulling away, 30 jobs at stake in Edmonton, Grande Prairie and Fort McMurray, 2,000 predominantly francophone of African descent banging on its doors each year for help. The Francophone Secretariat of the Alberta Government asked Marc Arnal, the president of the francophone umbrella organization called ACFA to form a crisis committee to work with Immigration Canada and Alberta Labour to find a solution.
…If you are not at the table, you are where, on the menu…
CAE Executive Director has since been relieved of his duties, and the Board has respectfully resign not to become a liability to the organization going forward. What is now left is to put a new Board in place to keep delivering the goods. That falls on the shoulders of ACFA, the francophone umbrella organization under the leadership of Marc Arnal. Most of the organizations called on by Mark Arnal on the crisis committee represent different francophone service providers with no representation from CAE itself that they are trying to help or the community that CAE mostly serves – francophone of African descent. If you are not at the table, you are where, on the menu.
On November 1, 2018, some of the most respected leaders of communities of African descent from both the French and English speaking sides met midway in downtown; those with talents and skills good enough to be put into good use by governments, private sector, universities, other francophone serving organizations, the Africa Centre, a delegation from CAE, entrepreneurs, and other bright minds met at the beautiful Diversity Centre event space, and decided that they will be part of the solution and they want the organization that made them call Edmonton home to continue serving their brothers and sisters that are already in Edmonton, or those coming to Edmonton today, tomorrow, or in future.
…When a child washes his hands, he can dine with the kings…
The leaders of the communities of African descent selected a committee of five; three women and two men, to meet with Marc Arnal to discuss their involvement in the crisis committee to share some of the fantastic solutions that the meeting resulted in.
In Africa we say when a child washes his hands, he can dine with the kings. So the million francophone newcomers question here is, will Marc Arnal let these bright leaders dine with his chosen ones to be part of the solution going forward?
