News Release

FREDERICTON (GNB) – A project to develop environmental awareness led by the Collège communautaire du Nouveau-Brunswick was inaugurated in conjunction with the 15th Francophonie Summit, taking place from Nov. 28 to 30 in Dakar, Senegal.

The project is a sustainable development initiative to train and equip the young people in the commune of Diamniadio for household solid waste management and recovery.

"The provincial government supports the community college, which is managing the project in partnership with the Department of Local Governance, Development and Territorial Planning of Senegal and the mayor’s office of Diamniadio," said Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour Minister Francine Landry, who is also minister responsible for La Francophonie. "As members of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (international organization of the Francophonie), New Brunswick and Senegal subscribe to the desire to strengthen solidarity between members through co-operative action such as the environmental awareness project."

The New Brunswick delegation includes representatives of the francophone and Acadian community and the education and post-secondary sectors.

"This environmental management project stems from the desire of the provincial government to strengthen co-operative ties with Senegal," said Liane Roy, chief executive officer of the Collège communautaire du Nouveau-Brunswick. "The project offers the opportunity to make the college’s and the province’s expertise available to the Diamniadio Nord population, and eventually to Senegal's wider population.”

The Francophonie is made up of 77 states and governments having French as a common language. It is the only international institution that allows New Brunswick to sit as a participating government.