Community media enable minority communities to preserve their language, culture and traditions. These media play an essential role in disseminating local information that reflects the reality and specific needs of these communities, helping to strengthen their sense of belonging.
Today, the Honourable Randy Boissonnault, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages, announced an investment of $12.5 million as part of the Action Plan for Official Languages 2023-2028. This major investment is designed to support official language minority community media across Canada and strengthen their ability to effectively serve their communities.
Of this amount, $7.6 million will be allocated to 89 new projects over the next four years, contributing to the vitality of community media in minority communities across the country. This investment will help identify and implement the measures needed to strategically strengthen community media and increase their capacity to serve Canada's official language minority populations.
In addition, $5 million will be used to train the next generation of community media professionals and address labour shortages in the sector. Thanks to this measure, 125 paid internships will be created at 98 community media organizations across Canada, enabling interns to acquire skills and media to benefit from additional human resources.
Thanks to this new federal investment, minority community radio stations and newspapers will be better supported in their efforts to become viable businesses, while members of the communities they serve will have access to content in their own language and in their own environment.
