Roundtable Discussion
Political Allies of Healthcare in French – Toward Better Access to Services in French
Antoine Désilets
Thursday, November 10, 2022, from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. (EST)
As the Official Languages Act enters its second half-century—with a bill recently tabled to modernize it—most Francophone and Acadian minority communities still lack access to healthcare services in their own language. What policy-related actions need to be taken to remedy this nation-wide issue? Mr. Raymond Théberge, Commissioner of Official Languages, and Ms. Liane Roy, President of the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada, will share their experiences to help shed some light this question.
With participation from:
- Liane Roy, President, Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada (FCFA)
- Raymond Théberge, Commissioner of Official Languages
- The Honorable Marie-françoise Mégie, Senator, Independent Senators Group
Liane Roy
President, Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada (FCFA)
A New Brunswick native, Liane Roy has devoted her career to the Francophonie provincially, regionally, nationally, and internationally. She has served as associate deputy minister in the Department of Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour and the Department of Intergovernmental Affairs of New Brunswick. She was the first-ever CEO of the Collège communautaire du Nouveau-Brunswick (CCNB), having helped the postsecondary institution become autonomous by overseeing the transition to a new structure. Ms. Roy worked as a youth technical advisor with the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) in Paris in the run-up to the Sommet de la Francophonie in Moncton, and assumed the position of technical advisor for the Partenariat pour l’éducation non formelle (PENF) in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, a workplace literacy cooperation initiative. More recently, she held interim positions at the Collège de l’Île and the Société Nationale de l’Acadie.
Ms. Roy has directed organizations dedicated to promoting Acadia, such as the Société Nationale de l’Acadie and the Société de l’Acadie du Nouveau-Brunswick.
In 2019, she completed her second master’s degree in education in addition to a doctorate of education (Ed.D.) in educational leadership, with a focus on cultural and linguistic diversity management, from Simon Fraser University. She also holds a master’s in education in guidance counselling and a bachelor’s degree in social services from the Université de Moncton.
Ms. Roy currently sits on the board of governors of Université Sainte-Anne and the board of directors of the Marichette Foundation. She has previously sat on the boards of various organizations including the Association des collèges et universités de la francophonie canadienne, in addition to serving as chair of Colleges and Institutes Canada, president of the Consortium national de développement de ressources pédagogiques en français au collegial, and chair of Atlantic Collèges Atlantique.
She was elected president of the FCFA in June 2021.
Raymond Théberge
Commissioner of Official Languages
Commissioner Théberge holds a doctorate in linguistics from McGill University, a master’s degree in applied linguistics from the University of Ottawa, and a bachelor’s degree in history from the Collège universitaire de Saint-Boniface. His experience with minority language communities is noteworthy. His career has included a lengthy period at the Collège universitaire de Saint-Boniface. He has served as president and vice-chancellor of the Université de Moncton. As a senior public official, he worked as an associate deputy minister at the Bureau de l’éducation française of the Department of Education, Citizenship and Youth of Manitoba and executive director of the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada. He later became associate deputy minister of the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities of Ontario.
The honorable Marie-Françoise Mégie
Senator, Independent Senators Group
The honorable Marie-Françoise Mégie was appointed to the Senate of Canada on November
25, 2016 by the Right Honourable Justin Trudeau. She represents the Province of Québec and
the Senatorial Division of Rougemont. She is a member of the Independent Senators Group.
She has over 30 years of experience as a family physician and university professor. Born in Haiti,
she arrived in Quebec in 1976. She rose through the ranks of the medical profession and
university teaching to become a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Family
Medicine at the Université de Montréal.
Her medical practice focused on providing health care services for seniors, persons with severe
disabilities and end-of-life patients. She helped establish the Maison de soins palliatifs de Laval
in 2009, where she served as medical director until December 31, 2016.
In the Senate, she currently sits on the Standing Senate Committee on Official Languages and
on the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying. She served on the Standing
Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology. She is a member of the African
Canadian Senate Group, the Parliamentary Black Caucus, the Canadian Section of ParlAmericas
and the Senate Working Group on Immigration.
