Introduction

Dear colleagues, dear Francophone friends, and Francophile friends,

It is a great pleasure for me to join you in celebrating the 30^th anniversary of the organization that has advanced many issues specific to the Francophone community at the Faculty, the Office of Francophone Affairs. Since I have been a member of this group since its inception, I was invited to prepare a short speech to tell you about the events that led to the creation of the Office, its mandate, the context, and its main achievements during its early years. I will provide an overview of these.

I would like to highlight six events that led to the creation of the Bureau des affaires francophones:  

1. The mandate given to the University of Ottawa by the Government of Ontario in 1965: to “foster bilingualism and biculturalism and promote the French language and culture in Ontario.” Ontario’s Francophone population of over 550,000 people must have access to graduate programs in French.
2. Two initiatives by Dean John Seely to establish medical training in French in 1992: The first:  as part of a curriculum reform, the Faculty gave 14 Francophone students, with the support of tutors, the opportunity to participate in two weekly three-hour problem-based learning sessions in French during their two years of preclinical studies. 
   The second: the Faculty signed an agreement with Montfort Hospital to establish a French-language family medicine residency program there, the first of its kind in Ontario. This program gave Montfort a university mandate.
3. Evaluation of the French-language preclinical program by an external consultant: In April 1994, Dean Seely enlisted Dr. Pierre Jean, an expert in medical education at the University of Montreal, to review the partially French-language preclinical program and make recommendations to improve its quality.
   In his report submitted on August 31, Dr. Jean acknowledged the Faculty’s commendable efforts regarding instruction in French, while noting that much remained to be done to enable students to develop the skills necessary to provide quality care to the Francophone population.
4. Appointment of Dr. Jean as Vice-Dean and Development of an Action Plan in Response to the Evaluation: In August 1994, Dr. Jean was appointed Vice-Dean responsible for Francophone affairs and tasked with implementing the recommendations of his evaluation report.
   In the fall of 1994, in collaboration with the Faculty administration, faculty members, and Francophone students, Dr. Jean drafted an action plan titled “Learning Medicine in French at the University of Ottawa: An Action Plan for the Next Five Years, 1995–2000.” This action plan emphasizes a generalist education in a Francophone educational environment that closely resembles the context in which future physicians will practice their profession—that is, outside major tertiary care centres. Systematic planning of the curriculum is deemed essential to ensuring the program’s quality.
5. Securing a five-year grant from the Government of Ontario in the fall of 1994.
6. The creation of a Steering Committee to implement the Action Plan and its educational training: In January 1995, a Steering Committee was created to begin implementing the Action Plan under the leadership of Dr. Jean. I was the first to join the Committee. Four other clinical faculty members were subsequently recruited: Christine Rivet from the Department of Family Medicine, Richard Bonin from the Department of Immunology and Microbiology, Pierre Jacob from the Department of Pediatrics, and Gaëtan Tardif from the Department of Medicine.

From spring to fall 1995, while implementing certain elements of the Action Plan, the Management Team received pedagogical training from Dr. Jean, consisting of two full-semester master’s-level courses. The team members were then tasked with training all the teachers who would participate in the Francophone component.

Establishment of the Office of Francophone Affairs and its composition: 

On November 5, 1995, the Office of Francophone Affairs (OFA) was established to create a structure and provide a base of operations for the Executive Team. In addition to Dr. Pierre Jean, who served as its first director (part-time), the BAF consisted of four members of the Executive Team: Christine Rivet, Richard Bonin, Pierre Jacob, and myself. Louise Nadeau, appointed as administrator and project coordinator, as well as four Francophone students from the Faculty, were also part of the BAF.

Mandate: 

The Office’s primary mandate is to implement the French-language medical curriculum and align it with the English-language component to create a single medical curriculum comprising two linguistic tracks.  This mandate involves numerous tasks.

Operating Model: 

The members of the Office work together in a spirit of collaboration, mutual support, and task sharing. Louise Nadeau is at the heart of all BAF activities, and the contribution of the four students is significant.

Changes in the medical team: 

On July 1, 1996^, I was appointed deputy director of the BAF and assumed the director’s duties during his absences abroad (assignments as an international consultant in training and evaluation of healthcare personnel). To further my knowledge in medical education, I also began a master’s program in health professional education (MHPE) at the University of Illinois at Chicago. On July 31, 1997, Dr. Jean left the Faculty to devote himself to his work as an international consultant. I served as interim director of the Office pending my official appointment by the Faculty Selection Committee in December 1997. In 1998 and 1999, the BAF recruited four new clinical instructors—Drs. Lyne Pitre, Jean Roy, Denis Chauret, and Manon Denis—who received general training in medical pedagogy while working on the implementation of the Action Plan.

The Context

1. A lukewarm reception for the French-language medical curriculum at the Faculty
   Given the Faculty’s long-standing English-speaking tradition, the developers faced several challenges in implementing the French-language medical curriculum. Here are a few of them:   1) a lack of understanding of the need for such a program, given that Franco-Ontarians are generally bilingual; 2) the belief that medical education must be conducted in English to be of high quality; 3) the frequent refusal of English-speaking directors to share power with French-speaking officials in the management of teaching units; 4) the abolition of the position of Vice-Dean of Francophone Affairs upon Dr. Jean’s departure in July 1997; this placed the Francophone component under the leadership of a Vice-Dean of Medical Studies and an Associate Dean of English-language Undergraduate Studies, who had priorities other than facilitating the francization project.
    
2. Threat of closure of Montfort Hospital
   In February 1997, the Health Services Restructuring Commission recommended closing Montfort. This recommendation directly threatened French-language health education programs. Drawing on the Action Plan, the Office Team drafted a document titled “The Essential Role of a Francophone Community Teaching Hospital for the Programs of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ottawa,” which clearly demonstrated that Montfort met all the criteria to support these programs. This document was submitted to President Marcel Hamelin, who forwarded it to the Commission on behalf of the University. This intervention plays a significant role in the fight to save Montfort.
    
3. Creation of the National Centre for Health Education (CNFS) at the University of Ottawa
   In January 1999, in the wake of the Montfort crisis, the “National Health Training Centre” (CNFS) was established at the University of Ottawa. In exchange for training 30 future physicians and 60 future paramedical professionals from Francophone minority communities in provinces other than Ontario, the institution received a substantial five-year grant from the federal government, which was renewable. Within the CNFS, the BAF became responsible for managing the medical component of this program. This provided the BAF with valuable funding and significantly expanded its mandate, while giving the Francophone component of the medical curriculum national visibility.

Key achievements of the BAF during the first 6 years

Establishment of the French-language component of the medical studies program

Thanks to the collective efforts of the Office team, course and internship coordinators, and the dedication of all French-speaking faculty, approximately 90% of training and education activities were offered in French in the undergraduate program by the end of my term on June 30, 2001.

Teacher Training

A key element in implementing the Action Plan was providing pedagogical training to the Executive Team from the outset. The team was then tasked with offering Francophone faculty members pedagogical training tailored to their role with students. This measure had a major positive impact on faculty commitment to the program and on the quality of training activities.

Expansion of the program from a provincial to a national level

The creation of the “National Health Training Centre” in January 1999 made the French-language medical curriculum accessible to applicants from all Francophone minority communities across the country. This contributed to the reach of the Francophone component and significantly expanded the Office’s mandate.

Development of an operational plan focused on “Development and Research”

In the spring of 2000, the Faculty administration agreed to create a position of associate dean for the Francophone component. It proposed entrusting this position with all tasks related to French-language medical training programs, as well as the recruitment and pedagogical training of faculty members. With the creation of this position, the administration no longer saw the need for the BAF and proposed dissolving its team.

The BAF strongly opposes the dismantling of its team, as the program remains fragile and much work remains to be done to complete and consolidate it. In the fall of 2000, it prepared a document titled “Office of Francophone Affairs of the Faculty of Medicine: Operational Plan for the ‘Development and Research’ Component 2001–2005” to demonstrate the importance of maintaining the BAF’s staff and activities. This plan includes 12 areas of activity that will give greater depth to the Francophone component and enable its growth. 

The document helped to clarify the mandate of the position of associate dean, maintain the integrity of the BAF team, and served as a roadmap for the team following the appointment of the third director of the BAF in July 2001.

A few closing remarks

From its inception, the Office has distinguished itself through three qualities: an unwavering commitment to the Francophone community; in-depth pedagogical training for its members; and systematic planning of its training activities, based on the health needs of the Franco-Ontarian population. Thanks to these qualities, it weathered the storms during the implementation of the Action Plan and stayed the course—that of providing Francophone communities in minority settings with quality health care in their own language. We have every reason to celebrate together today!