April 2-3, 2019 – CoED Face to Face Meeting (1.5 days) - Performance Measurement Strategy Implementation,  Ottawa, ON, Branch and National ED participation. 

April 4, 2019 –  CPF Network FSL Awareness Breakfast, Ottawa, ON + CPF CoP Face to Face Meeting

April 5, 2019 – CPF CoP Face to Face Meeting, Ottawa,ON

April 7-13, 2019- National Volunteer Week 

May 23-25, 2019 - CPF National Board of Directors Meeting, Member Consultation and Stakeholder Reception, Niagara Region, ON (in conjunction with CPF ON Branch)

June 1, 2019 – CPF National Concours Finals, Ottawa, ON

June 10 and 11, 2019 – CoED Face to Face Meeting, Planning for Network Funding Application, Toronto – Hotel TBC

 Nicole Redford - Network Volunteer Engagement and Services Coordinator 

Nicole Redford joined the CPF team in February, 2019. Nicole was born and raised in London, Ontario. Nicole has a Master’s in Global Affairs from NYU where she focused on International Human Rights and has a Bachelor’s Degree in French and International Studies from the University of North Carolina at Asheville. Nicole continued her French education in North Carolina. French allowed Nicole the ability to work with many refugees from West Africa while working  and enabled her to conduct reasearch in the Loire valley in 2005. 

In her professional career, Nicole has worked as a national refugee employment expert, overseeing a job upgrade program securing grants and private donations, as the Youth Coordinator across the spectrum of volunteer service areas, as the Program Manager for Art for Refugees in Transition, and working with volunteers at a nonprofit aiming to close the digital divide for low income families across North Carolina. In her spare time, she loves to read and take hikes with her dog Simba. You can reach Nicole at nredford@cpf.ca

Lee-Anne Lavell - Network Coordinator, Project Communications and Digital Media

 Lee-Anne joined the team in early March working from the CPF National Office. She has worked with the non-profit sector for many years as a project coordinator for youth education initiatives, including one organization you may be familiar with: Historica Canada. She is originally from Halifax but has lived in Ottawa for the past several years. CPF means a lot to her as a French immersion alumnus: as a student, she participated in the Concours d’art oratoire, and her family volunteered at the local CPF Chapter.

In her new role, she is responsible for external and stakeholder communications and project coordination support, including the upcoming FSL Awareness Breakfast and Concours d’art oratoire. Serving as staff liaison supporting the Communications Coordination Committee and Public Policy Coordination Committee and coordinating the CPF Magazine. You can reach Lee-Anne at llavell@cpf.ca

As part of our monitoring and evaluation measures, we have instituted a tech support ticket system to enable us to better track the number and type of requests for support, whether troubleshooting or system issues. This will help us better communicate with both our website and CiviCRM management system service providers.

When National and Branch staff require any technical support issues, are in need of troubleshooting, or assistance with technology, please email techsupport@cpf.ca which will create a ticket. This mailbox is monitored by Cheri Nixon, as she will continue to offer support to the Network.

We thank everyone for helping in this endeavour and we will provide reports on our findings after this six month trial period (August 2019).

The 4^th annual FSL Awareness Breakfast on the Hill will take place on Thursday, April 4, 2019 at the Wellington Building (180 Wellington St) in Ottawa. The theme this year celebrates the 50^th anniversary of the Official Languages Act and linguistic duality in Canada. Due to space restrictions, the event is by invitation only. An invitation was sent in late February; guest registration must be completed online.

The Breakfast is followed by stakeholder meetings. Small delegations of CPF volunteers and staff are assigned meetings with government officials providing an additional opportunity to share our CPF Network priorities. Registered CPF leaders will receive a briefing package by email prior to the event. A brief run through session is held on the preceding afternoon to review meeting assignments, roles and key messages.

ACTION: Register your attendance online as soon as possible as seating is limited.

CPF is a partner of Historica Canada’s, Me, Moi + Canada, youth contest.

The Me, Moi + Canada contest asks Canadians ages six and up to share what the experience of living in a country with two official languages means to them, by creating a video telling us why Canada’s two official languages are important for the chance to win exciting prizes!

In 1969, French and English were given equal status under Canadian law through a policy of official bilingualism. To celebrate 50 years of bilingualism in Canada, the Me, Moi + Canada Contest wants to engage youth with the history of Francophone-Anglophone relations in Canada and reflect on our relationships with Canada’s two official languages. What role does bilingualism play in our everyday life? How does our knowledge of the two official languages impact our identity and relationship with Canada?

For more information and to help promote youth participation in the contest, visit the Historic Canda site here.