The MLA for Argyle-Barrington says there is still more work to be done to address short-comings in the Office of Acadian Affairs.
Yesterday the minister responsible, Michel Samson, said the office will focus on outreach and engagement, promising a greater emphasis on dialogue with Acadians and Francophones.
Earlier this year Samson asked eight members of the Acadian and Francophone community to form a committee to make recommendations to enhance the role of the office.
Chris d’Entremont, a former Progressive Conservative minister of Acadian Affairs, says there’s good and bad in yesterday’s announcement.
“The good is the realization of the role of the office of Acadian Affairs. Renaming it back to the Office of Acadian Affairs and Francophone Affairs I think is a good statement. Putting back the community consultative committee that was taken away by the NDP so that the minister has a better feeling of what’s is going on across Nova Scotia in Acadian communities.”
“What I found a little disappointing in there is that there’s still work to be done. Deputy ministers will be looking at it. It really doesn’t break the chains of it being in the Department of Communities, Culture and Heritage, so it doesn’t go all the way from where the recommendations were.”
The committee’s report and government’s response are available at http://acadien.novascotia.ca/en/reports.
