Piney joins the AMBM to become a bilingual municipality

The RM of Piney has joined the Association of Manitoba Bilingual Municipalities (AMBM) in order to represent its francophone population and be part of a regional network.

“We have a long history of francophones settling the area. Most of them now are bilingual. I’m not sure we have any that are strictly francophone,” said Reeve Wayne Anderson. “There’s a lot of French families that are now English speaking only and AMBM is trying to promote and not lose that francophone flavour to further the use of French and we’re all for that. We want to support our francophone heritage.”

The bilingual population in Piney is 11 percent and the RM had previously applied to be a member of the AMBM, but couldn’t meet the population criteria. With AMBM lowering that criteria, Piney was able to become a member this year. Although the francophone community is spread out in the RM, Anderson said there are a few “hotspots” such as St Labre and South Junction.

“The AMBM now signed up four new municipalities and now they’re 16 municipalities strong and a good percentage of those municipalities are in the Southeast region. So we’re kind of surrounded by bilingual municipalities in the RM of Piney and we’d like to take a regional approach to all the problems our area faces, and we thought it was another good fit to network with our other local neighbours,” said Anderson.

AMBM is using what it calls the 3M model: Municipal Maturity Model. The model allows municipalities to “self-assess, set concrete targets, and measure their progress in providing services in both official languages.”

“This new model gradually phases in bilingual services with little to no cost because we know what our goal is and there is no time frame to reach that goal,” said Anderson.

Some of the ways bilingualism can be brought into the RM is through its website by offering pages in both official languages, through the gradual phasing in of bilingual signage as English signs need replacement, and the hiring of bilingual staff in the RM’s office.

There are other benefits to being a part of the AMBM. Recently, the RM was given a $40,000 grant by the association to hire a temporary economic development officer, who will work with the AMBM’s economic development council.

“The growth for this group is the same thing that Piney is working towards, which is helping to develop our municipality and make things better for everyone,” said Anderson.

Another grant for up to $1,500 will be used to update the RM’s business directory and contact information.