Plain Canada Clair – Our Year

This has been a busy year for Plain Canada Clair! We grew from informal networking on LinkedIn to an organization with bylaws and a bank account. We are set to grow and promote the growth of plain language writing and design in Canada.

October 18, we held our first annual conference – online in both French and English. It was our first participatory conference, and we look forward to more events like that. We thank all who presented and all who attended; we learned from you (and from the process). The opportunity to hear of your experiences in the provinces and territories was valuable.

We held several professional development sessions. We are grateful that we had a variety of presentations for you – some in French and some in English. The topics included

  • communicating change
  • using plain language design principles when developing charts, graphs, and tables 
  • understanding how to protect your online reputation. 

Isabelle Ladouceur-Séguin explained linguistic conservatism and plain language in written French to help us understand how complicated it is to use plain language in French.

We improved and expanded our bilingual website and social media. We are growing each month; new followers sign up through LinkedIn, Eventbrite, and Facebook.

Our newsletter is available in both French and English. We have introduced several members of the volunteer group who are building Plain Canada Clair. We love receiving your feedback and we know that our articles are helpful as you grow your practice.

Also in this issue:

Patron’s Corner

The Cheryl Stephens Innovation Award of Plain Language Association International (PLAIN) honours innovation in plain language practices. The purpose of the award is to recognize advancements in our field.

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