The federal Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration has certainly been busy this week.

Yesterday, the Hon. Diane Finley, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, announced the call for nominations for the Citation for Citizenship, “to honour Canadians for their outstanding contributions in assisting newcomers to successfully integrate into Canadian society.” Submissions must be postmarked by May 16, 2008. A nomination form and more info can be found by visiting the Citizenship and Immigration web site.

Then, just today, two federal government’s programs received a bit of a funding boost: The Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada program, along with the Enhanced Language Training program will receive an investment of $150 million over the coming year (an increase from the $143 million over the past year.)

The Minister made the announcement at the keynote address of a language training programs conference in Niagara Falls today. The conference, planned jointly with Citizenship and Immigration Canada and the Province of Ontario, brings service providers, professionals and federal and provincial officials to discuss language training programs and their improvement.

“Language skill is one of the keys to the new immigrant’s success, said the Minister. “Training is key and the professionals who work in this field are some of the best. We’re very pleased to support their work to help newcomers succeed in Ontario. Their success is our success.”