Highlights:
Vol. 1, No. 6, December 2003
Quebec MP Hélène Scherrer Appointed
New Minister of Canadian Heritage;
Ontario MP Jim Peterson Takes on
International Trade Portfolio;
Bill Graham Remains Minister of Foreign Affairs
Two out of three
federal ministers sharing responsibility for the cultural diversity file
are new appointees to the cabinet announced by Prime Minister Paul Martin
on December 12.
Hélène Chalifour Scherrer, a Quebec City based MP with a
background in public relations and social work, was named Minister of
Canadian Heritage, while Toronto-based MP Jim Peterson was named Minister
of International Trade. Toronto MP Bill Graham, Minister of Foreign Affairs
for the past two years, retained his responsibilities in this capacity.
Minister Scherrer succeeds Sheila Copps, who held the position of Minister
of Canadian Heritage for the past eight years and during that time was
instrumental in advancing the initiative of a convention on cultural diversity
among her colleagues at the international level.
An indication of Minister Scherrer’s status within the new Martin
government can be seen in her inclusion on a number of key cabinet committees—notably
the domestic affairs committee, the powerful priorities committee, and
the international affairs committee—the latter two being chaired
by Prime Minister Martin himself.
Canadian Legal Expert Among Experts Appointed
to Work
on Convention for Cultural Diversity
Professor Ivan Bernier,
a Quebec City expert in international law who has been one of the leading
scholars articulating possible legal frameworks for an international convention
on cultural diversity, has been named to the experts committee appointed
by UNESCO Director General to begin work on developing the convention
on cultural diversity.
Bernier is one of 15 international experts who started their work in Paris
on December
17 with a four-day meeting during which they were to address the objectives
and scope of the convention, its relation to other international agreements,
and international cooperation/development initiatives that could be associated
with the convention.
The UNESCO process for developing the convention is discussed in greater
detail in the December issue of Coalition Currents.
Quebec Co-Hosts Two-day Conference
on Cultural Diversity in Guadalajara, Mexico
With Quebec the featured guest
at this year’s International Book Fair in Guadalajara, Mexico,
the Government of Quebec used the occasion to focus attention on the
campaign to develop an international convention on cultural diversity
by co-hosting with the book fair a two-day conference on the topic November
30th and December 1st.
Line Beauchamp, Quebec’s Minister of Culture and Communications,
led the government’s delegation at the conference. She was joined
in opening the conference by Sari Bermúdez, president of CONACULTA,
Mexico’s national council on the arts and culture, and by Didier
Le Bret, Deputy Director of cinema, new media and cultural promotion
from France’s Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Minister Beauchamp also spoke during the closing ceremonies and in her
speech
emphasized that it was important "to ask countries engaged in trade
negotiations to be vigilant and preserve their capacity to intervene
in support of culture, while we await the adoption of a convention by
UNESCO by 2005." (Our translation)
Pierre Curzi, co-chair of the Coalition for Cultural Diversity, joined
colleagues from the Mexican, Argentinian and Chilean coalitions for
a panel discussion on the role of coalitions and organizations representing
cultural professionals in ensuring a strong voice for artists and all
cultural professionals in the trade and culture debate.
Curzi’s participation in the conference prompted several prominent
articles and radio reports in major Quebec media, including Le Devoir,
La Presse and Radio-Canada.
Work on Cultural Diversity Earns Pierre Curzi
Personality of the Year Nod for 2003
From Industry Publication
Coalition co-chair
Pierre Curzi has been selected Personality of the Year by Ciné
TV Multimédia, a Montreal based daily newsletter covering the audiovisual
sector.
In announcing the choice, Ciné TV Multimedia publisher Jean-Pierre
Tadros highlighted the contribution Curzi has made through his work with
the Coalition for Cultural Diversity calling it "a role that he has
taken on with a determination and a passion that has earned our admiration…and
if today we are underlining this contribution it is because the defense
of cultural diversity strikes us quite simply to be essential to our cultural
survival."
(Our translation)
International Missions Focus of Coalition Workload
in November-December
Coalition
Co-Chair Pierre Curzi’s participation in the Guadalajara conference
on cultural diversity was just one of a several international missions
the CCD carried out as the year-end approached.
Immediately prior to the Guadalajara conference Curzi joined Executive
Vice President Robert Pilon as well as representatives of France’s
Comité de Vigilance and Senegal’s Coalition for Cultural
Diversity to attend a meeting with the Director General of the International
Organization
of La Francophonie, Abdou Diouf.
The meeting was convened in Paris at the invitation of Diouf in order
to discuss the role organizations representing cultural professionals
from Francophonie member countries can play in the process now underway
to develop the convention on cultural diversity.
Following the Paris meeting, Robert Pilon travelled to Burkina Faso
where he had been invited to take part in a conference at which a new
coalition for cultural diversity was launched by the cultural professional
organizations in that country.
He then went to Senegal to meet with senior political officials and
representatives of member organizations of Senegal’s Coalition
for Cultural Diversity.
Finally, travelling to Morocco, he met with representatives of several
cultural professional organizations who have now started the process
of establishing a coalition in their country—at a moment when Morocco
is in the late stages of concluding a Free Trade Agreement with the
United States.
Meanwhile, Jim McKee, CCD’s Director of External Relations, was
a featured speaker on a seminar on Brazil’s role in the cultural
diversity debate during the
Fifth Congress of Brazilian Cinema held in Fortaleza, Brazil, Nov.
30 – December 3.
The December issue of Coalition Currents contains fuller reports
on these missions.
Update is published by
Canada's Coalition for Cultural Diversity.
154 Laurier Ave. West, Suite 240
Montreal, QUE H2T 2N7
T. (514) 277-2666
F. (514) 277-9994
www.cdc-ccd.org
e-mail:
Editor: Jim McKee
Contributors: Robert Pilon,
Mélanie Marron, Sylvie
Riendeau