The French Services Unit, Treasury Board Secretariat, is pleased to announce that Jeff Butt has been hired as bilingual liaison officer. Mr. Butt�s experience as liaison officer with the Language Services division at the 1999 Canada Winter Games in Corner Brook will assist him in ensuring, through a coordinated approach with the Department of Canadian Heritage, other government departments and agencies and Francophone organizations, that services in French are delivered within the provincial government where appropriate and that the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador contributes to the development and vitality of the province�s Francophone and Acadian community. Mr. Butt will be responsible for gathering and analyzing information about federal and provincial programs which could be of interest to Francophones and for facilitating communication between French-speaking groups and the various government institutions with which they deal.

In recent years Mr. Butt has worked on a wide range of French-related matters, from promoting the learning of French as a second language in secondary schools to compiling historical information on French Newfoundlanders and Labradorians and teaching French as a second language to public servants.

As resource person to the Francophone and Acadian community and to the government departments who provide services to this community in the province, Mr. Butt may be reached by telephone at (709) 729-4095, by fax at (709) 729-0781 or by e-mail at jeffkbutt@mail.gov.nf.ca.

As a result of a five-year Canada / Newfoundland and Labrador General Agreement on the Promotion of Official Languages (cost-shared on a 75/25 basis), The French Services Unit is responsible for the design and delivery of government services in the French language and provides advice on matters relating to official languages issues in general. A resource to all government departments, the Unit coordinates the provision of French language service and ensures effective communication and consultation between government and French-speaking organizations in the province. French language training to government employees, translation services, liaison with the community and support for the operations, maintenance and ongoing initiatives of the community component of the Centre scolaire et communautaire Sainte-Anne, La Grand�Terre on the Port au Port Peninsula support the active delivery of these services.

For more information, please contact our bilingual staff: ( 709) 729-0311.

Media contact: David Wells, Communications, (709) 729-6830.

2000 01 25                                             12:10 p.m.