Category: Croatian Wold Congress

Letter to the Minister of State for Immigration and Multiculturalism Services

Canadian Croatian Congress

Canadian Croatian Congress
Kanadsko hrvatski kongress
NGO Member of the United Nations
March 18, 2005

Honourable Patrick Wong
Minister of State for Immigration and Multiculturalism Services
PO Box 9042
Stn Prov Govt
Victoria, British Columbia
Canada, V8W 9E2

Dear Mr. Wong,

On February 12th, 2005 a Roundtable discussion was held between the Canadian Croatian Congress (CCC) and the Honourable Raymond Chan, Federal Minister of State (Multiculturalism) regarding the preservation of the Croatian heritage in Canada. On the topic of language promotion, Mr. Chan referred the Canadian Croatian Congress (CCC) both the British Columbia Ministry of Education and the British Columbia Ministry of Multiculturalism.

The Canadian Croatian Congress (CCC) interested in working with the British Columbia Government to establish a Croatian language Curriculum to be offered to students in Grades 9 to 12. The inclusion of the Croatian language as a secondary school credit would allow students of Croatian heritage an opportunity to maintain their cultural, historical and linguistic ties with their community and to allow other students a chance to develop their linguistic skills.

The aim of this Curriculum is to provide students with the opportunity to expand their basic knowledge of the Croatian language and culture which is over 1300 years old and could be a associated with the heritage language school program offered by the Croatian Parish in Vancouver. We are planning to base our Curriculum on a program successfully used for over 30 years in the Province of Ontario.

This initiative is supported by the Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Waterloo, Croatian Embassy in Ottawa, the Croatian Heritage Foundation in Zagreb, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Education) for the Republic of Croatia, the Croatian Language School in Vancouver and Immaculate Heart of Mary Croatian Parish in Vancouver. 

Please advise on how to begin the process to implement a Secondary School Croatian language program. You may contact Ivan Curman at iab@shaw.ca or (604) 879-8915 for further discuss this matter.

Sincerely,

Ivan Curman, president
Canadian Croatian Congress

Vinko Grubisic, PhD
Associate Professor and Chair for
Croatian Language and Culture,
University of Waterloo
Secretary, Canadian Croatian Congress