North Grenville has a population of approximately 18,000. With its blend of rural and small-town culture providing quality lifestyle close to Ottawa, it is a fast-growing community that has seen a population increase of 9% in the past five years.
“After receiving information about the Winning Strategies, I followed up with Nathalie because I wanted to ensure that we are being due diligent to be inclusive of our French-speaking population,” says Dawn. Although small in absolute numbers, the local Francophone community has almost doubled in the past few years.
Wanting to address the needs of Francophones in a proactive way, Dawn felt it was important to include it in their service policy. “With the rapid changes in the growing population, we are seeing a shift in demand for services. More people are looking for help with home maintenance and housekeeping so they can remain independent at home. We have also seen an increase in mental health, crisis intervention, transportation needs and housing-related calls. Many times, when people don’t know who to turn to, they call us for help. And often, older adults are so happy to get services that they often don't ask for them in French,” adds Dawn.
Research indicates that in many cases, clients do not ask for service in French because they don't want to bother providers or they assume that it’s not available. They may also think that it could cause delays or embarrassment, leading clients to put themselves in vulnerable situations. This is where the Winning Strategies can help organizations by providing them with resources and easy-to-implement ways to improve the active offer of French-language services.
“We track demographics and information like the first language of the client and their preferred language to receive services. And some of our volunteers are bilingual and happy to serve our clients in French, when requested,” explains Dawn. Identifying Francophones is one of the Winning Strategies.
“We’re being proactive. We are working on updating and implementing policies and we want to take incremental steps to ensure that we are compliant with the expectations and agreement with Ontario Health. And if the Winning Strategies can help us to do that, it’s great!” concludes Dawn.
