The Government of Canada is committed to ensuring that all Canadians can learn in the official language of their choice. The education system, from preschool to post-secondary, plays an essential role. Supporting and encouraging education in a minority language and learning the second official language is a government priority, as this unites us and helps build a more bilingual Canada.
Today, the Honourable Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Minister of Official Languages and Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, announced more than $27.8 million in financial support for three projects at the Université de Moncton. This funding is in partnership with the Government of New Brunswick. The minister was accompanied by the Honourable Daniel Allain, New Brunswick Minister of Local Governments and Local Governance Reform, on behalf of the Honourable Trevor Holder, New Brunswick Minister of Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour, and Dr. Denis Prud'homme, President and Vice-Chancellor of the Université de Moncton.
Stabilization and capacity building at the Université de Moncton.
The majority of the funding announced today- $18.5 million over three years from the Government of Canada and $5.5 million over three years from the Government of New Brunswick-is for a project that will allow the Université de Moncton to maintain and expand its priority program offerings, including online courses, in addition to acquiring the materials and equipment needed to deliver the courses. The project also aims to support continuing education for professors and updates to teaching materials. Lastly, this project will provide new $2,000 scholarships for more than 1,000 students over three years and will support advertising and promotional efforts to recruit students.
Renovations and refurbishment of facilities to access learning and support services at the Université de Moncton's three campuses
The governments of Canada and New Brunswick are each investing more than $812,000 in new isolated and soundproof study and examination rooms as well as common areas, which will meet the growing accommodation needs of students at the Université de Moncton. The university will renovate spaces to better meet the needs of students. The university will acquire critical equipment and furniture for various spaces on all three campuses.
Renovations of the technology services facilities and computer equipment upgrades at the Université de Moncton
Finally, the Université de Moncton will receive more than $1.1 million over two years from the Government of Canada and $1.1 million over one year from the Government of New Brunswick to replace and modernize computer equipment in laboratories and classrooms at the Moncton, Edmundston and Shippagan campuses. This will allow for new technologies and strengthen the network and cybersecurity infrastructure connecting the three campuses. The project will also renovate technology services facilities in the Pavillon Jeanne-de-Valois at the Moncton campus.
These projects are funded under the Canada-New Brunswick Agreement on French-Language Education and Second-Language Instruction from 2019-2020 to 2022-2023.
