CANADIAN PARENTS FOR FRENCH elects New President and Vice-President to the National Board of Directors
Ottawa, July 17, 2024 —
On Friday, July 12th, at the 48th Annual General Meeting held in St. John’s, NL, Canadian Parents for French announced the appointment of their new President and Vice-President to the National Board of Directors.
Dr. Kate Ashley (Kentville, NS) will serve as National President. Dr. Ashley served previously as Vice President on the National Board of Directors and as President of the CPF Nova Scotia Branch. She brings more than 18 years of experience in community and CPF Branch service as well as a remarkable academic history, with a J.D., a PhD in French literature, an MPhil in European Literature, and an MèsL in English. She is currently the interim Vice-President Academic at Acadia University (NS).
“Thank you to all delegates for your support. I am humbled to serve as National President and look forward to working with like-minded CPF Branch leaders on the important issues we face on behalf of our members: FSL teacher recruitment and retention, introducing French in the early years, and building linguistic security among French learners to strengthen Canada’s bilingual capacity into the future,” said Dr. Ashley.
Diane Tijman (Richmond, BC) will serve as National Vice President. Tijman served previously as Secretary on the National Board of Directors and as President of the CPF British Columbia and Yukon Branch. She has been a CPF Richmond Chapter member for over 22 years. Through her longstanding association, she strives to create the same opportunities for more Canadian children across Canada.
Sincere thanks were extended to Outgoing President, Derrek Bentley (Winnipeg, MB) who served his full term, four years in the National President role within the eight years on the National Board of Directors. His leadership has been paramount to the success of strengthening CPF Network collaborations and optimizing more inclusive and equitable governance and operational structures within the pan-Canadian organization for the years to come.
Incumbent Directors, Salma Al-Saquaf (Calgary, AB) will return to serve as Treasurer and Isabelle LeVert-Chiasson (Ottawa, ON) will return for the second year of her first term. Two new Directors join the CPF National Board for a two-year term. We welcome:
Candace Newman (Ottawa, ON), a parent of two children in French immersion, who shared their family experience of living in France and striving to become bilingual. Dr. Newman currently works in Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and brings a strong background in policy development, working with philanthropic organizations and lobbying government at all levels.
Amy Boudreau (Fredericton, NB), a SK French immersion graduate raising two children currently enrolled in French. Ms. Boudreau is the Chief Operating Officer for the not-for-profit, LearnSphere Canada, implementing comprehensive, evidence-based learning solutions for the workplace. She also brings experience in building relationships with funding partners at all levels.
The CPF National Annual General Meeting kicked off the annual CPF Leaders’ Networking Event. This year’s program offered an opportunity to learn more about ‘two-eyed seeing’ facilitated by Colleen Paul, Executive Administrator of the Mi’kmaw Cultural Foundation, NL, and how this may be integrated into organizational decision-making practices as well as more inclusive and equitable Branch/Network practices for governance and operations.
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Canadian Parents for French is a nationwide, research-informed, volunteer organization that represents 25,000+ members across Canada and champions the opportunity to learn and use French for all those who call Canada home.
Megan Chartrand
Coordonnatrice de programmes – Québec et Nunavut
Program coordinator – Quebec and Nunavut
she / elle
Email: mchartrand@cpf.ca
PDF of the press release can be found here.
Le communiqué de presse est disponible en français en format PDF ici.