Éric Forgues, Executive Director of the Canadian Institute for Research on Linguistic Minorities (CIRLM), is pleased to announce that, starting September 1, 2021, Michel Bourque will join the CIRLM team as Executive in Residence. A federal public servant, Mr. Bourque will carry out his functions through an Interchange Canada assignment until March 31, 2024, on a half-time basis. While supporting the CIRLM in its activities involving research and the disseminiation of knowledge, he will also work half time for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency’s head office.

Mr. Forgues wishes to highlight that this assignment is made possible thanks to the support of the federal organizations listed below. These organizations’ support strengthens CIRLM’s capacity to carry out its work of better understanding issues and challenges facing Official Language Minority Communities and of fostering a better comprehension of these. Mr. Forgues also wants to recognize the Atlantic Federal Council, under whose leadership some of its members allowed this national initiative focused on the promotion of Canada’s official languages.

• Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency
• Canada Border Services Agency
• Canadian Coast Guard
• Canadian Food Inspection Agency
• Canadian Heritage
• Correctional Service Canada
• Employment and Social Development Canada – Service Canada
• Fisheries and Oceans Canada
• Government of Canada Pension Centre
• Health Canada
• Indigenous Services Canada
• Parks Canada
• Public Service Commission of Canada
• Public Service Pay Centre
• Public Services and Procurement Canada
• Shared Services Canada
• Transport Canada
• Veterans Affairs Canada

As Executive in Residence at CIRLM, an independent organization established through a Canadian Heritage endowment fund and housed at the Université de Moncton, Michel Bourque will be called upon to carry out various functions to move national projects forward. He will apply the experience he acquired in the public service, the private sector and not-for-profit institutions.

Originally from New Brunswick and living in Prince Edward Island, Michel Bourque received a B.A. in Translation from the Université de Moncton. Before joining the public service, he worked in children’s literature, in both official languages. He was an Editor with Scholastic Canada, in Ontario and Quebec, and has written and translated children’s books, published notably with New Brunswick-based Bouton d’or Acadie. At the Canada Media Fund, he worked closely with producers from Francophone minority communities.

With the federal government, Michel Bourque worked in areas such as the promotion of official languages, policy development, research, strategic planning and program delivery. With Canadian Heritage, he worked in the Cultural Affairs Sector, notably the Francophone Secretariat, and represented the department on the committee of signatories of the collaboration agreement for the development of arts and culture in the Francophone minority communities of Canada. At the Canadian Embassy in France, he was Trade Commissioner, Arts and Cultural Industries, supporting initiatives such as those related to the Société Nationale de l'Acadie’s international strategy for the promotion of Acadian artists. At Veterans Affairs Canada, he managed initiatives commemorating important moments of the country’s history and was a member of the department’s advisory committee on official languages. With the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, he led files related to, among other things,community revitalization.