The issue of ensuring meaningful engagement of, and interaction between, francophone and anglophone elements of the CBS has been an issue of ongoing concern within the organization. At the June 2009 Annual Conference in Hamilton, a number of CBS members raised the concern once again, and agreed to meet to develop practical steps that the CBS could implement to realize this goal.

The following suggestions were generated from a subsequent meeting in Montreal held in October 2009, for the above purpose. These suggestions were then forwarded to the CBS Executive, who, in December 2009, reviewed and accepted these recommendations, subject to broader CBS member input.

These recommendations are presented below for the purposes of soliciting input from CBS members on whether these measures would be effective in promoting greater and more meaningful interaction between francophone and anglophone members of the CBS. We also seek your feedback on other ways, not suggested below, to achieve these ends. Please provide your feedback to Ghislaine DeLangavant via the CBS Corresponding Secretary Lydia Riddell, at lmriddell@shaw.ca, preferably before February 28, 2010.

Thank you!

The CBS Executive
January 2010

Suggestions

General

• Conduct a survey of CBS members to determine why many of Anglophone members do not attend Francophone presentations at CBS Annual Meetings
  
• Develop a section on the website with information on the promotion of bilingualism within the CBS, including a Bilingualism Five-Year Plan
• Ensure the Executive has proper representation from different parts of the country
  
• Continue to have the newsletter and website in both official languages
  

Annual Conference Plenary Sessions

• Consider hosting a discussion, perhaps via a panel session, at a CBS Annual meeting, on inter-culturalism or pluralism within Canadian society, focusing on the philosophical roots of the diverse values that govern Canadian society, and the value, if any, that this diversity brings to our Canadian bioethics discussions
• Have a panel session or workshop at an upcoming CBS Annual meeting to explore practical ways of promoting bilingualism within the CBS

Annual Conference Concurrent Sessions

• Reduce the total number of concurrent sessions over previous years so that there are more attendees per concurrent session, including those in French
• Mix and match French and English presentations within the same room, so that francophone presenters are not isolated in one room for the duration of the conference
• Where possible, encourage presenters to show powerpoint slides in English and in French (and announce in advance that the slides will be shown in both languages)
• Encourage speakers who are bilingual to use both languages in their presentations
• Encourage Anglophone presenters to ask their questions – even if in English - for French presentations, and not feel guilty about not being able to ask French
• For Anglophone presenters that are comfortable enough to answer questions in French, announce this beforehand
• Create categories or themes, to which members of the CBS could submit abstracts to (e.g.: tick off boxes when submit abstracts. These boxes would be in time slots that would group people with common concerns).

Annual Conference Translation Services

• Have French and English abstracts for all presentations in the conference program
• Ensure a better quality of translations
• Ask presenters to assist translators by having the conference organizers facilitating the provision of the powerpoint slides, and abstracts in both languages, in advance to the simultaneous translators
• Reallocate time slots for simultaneous translation services: rather than have spread out over 4 days, regroup on two days (mixing English and French presentations) and use saved funds for other initiatives to encourage bilingualism.
• Conduct an evaluation on the interest of members in utilizing translation services