Vol. 2, No. 5, September 2004

IN THIS ISSUE:

Cultural Diversity Convention a Priority Issue for New Heritage Minister Frulla at OAS Meeting

Newly-appointed Canadian Heritage Minister Liza Frulla made the proposed UNESCO convention on cultural diversity one of the main issues for her first international mission—the Second Inter-American Meeting of Ministers of Culture held in Mexico City August 23-24.

The meeting, organized by the Organization of American States (OAS), brought together 30 ministers of culture and highest authorities for a discussion focusing on a range of issues, including culture as an engine for economic growth, employment and development, challenges faced by cultural industries, and culture as a tool for social cohesion and the fight against poverty

Minister Frulla identified advocating for the development of a rules-based UNESCO convention on cultural diversity as one of Canada ’s three main goals for the meeting, along with building an effective long-term dialogue among American states on cultural policy, and enhancing cooperation on cultural policy for the developing world.

“The Government of Canada has clearly asserted its role as a leader in developing an international Convention on Cultural Diversity,” the Minister stated in a news release issued at the conclusion of the meeting. “We want Canadians to be able to identify with the music they hear on the radio, the films they see on the big screen, television productions, paintings by Canadian artists, and books that tell our stories.”

“Cultural diversity is about affirming our right to foster and promote our artists, while balancing the need to be open to creative influences from around the world,” the Minister added. “It is essential that we continue pushing Canada ’s agenda on cultural diversity. Every nation has the right to promote the expression of their culture, at home and abroad.”

Quebec Minister of Culture and Communications also took part in the Mexico meeting, and in a release issued following the meeting reiterated her government’s position that the UNESCO convention should establish an international legal foundation for cultural policies that is parallel, rather than subordinated, to international trade law, and which should include an effective dispute resolution mechanism.

The OAS Culture Ministers took up the cultural diversity theme in the declaration issued at the conclusion of their meeting, albeit in a muted fashion that clearly reflected the political dynamic arising from the presence of the United States at the meeting.

The importance of securing a strong convention on cultural diversity at UNESCO was affirmed more emphatically in a declaration presented to the ministers on August 23 by a delegation of representatives from civil society who took part in a preparatory meeting held in Santiago , Chile , in late July. Robert Pilon, Executive Vice President of the CCD, and Maria Victoria Alcaraz, Director of the Argentina ’s Centro Cultural General San Martin, were nominated to be spokespersons for the civil society delegation.

CCD Co-Chair Pierre Curzi was a special guest for the OAS meeting and took part in an informal session between several ministers of cultural and representatives of civil society held on August 22, the evening before the official start of the OAS meeting. The campaign to secure an effective convention on cultural diversity was discussed at length during this session. In addition, over the course of the OAS meeting, Curzi and Pilon had informal exchanges with several ministers, including Ministers Frulla and Beauchamp, as well as Gilberto Gil of Brazil , Jose Weinstein of Chile , and Torcuato di Tella of Argentina , among others.

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Ministers Frulla Joined by Ministers Pettigrew and Peterson As Key Players on Cultural Diversity File

While Minister Frulla will continue to be her government’s point person on campaign to secure a convention on cultural diversity at UNESCO, Pierre Pettigrew and Jim Peterson will have important roles to play on this issue within the cabinet of Prime Minister Paul Martin.

Pettigrew was returned to the cultural diversity file when he was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs after briefly holding the Health portfolio in the first Martin cabinet. Toronto-based MP Peterson, meanwhile, was re-appointed Minister of International Trade

As Minister of International Trade from 1999 to 2003, Pierre Pettigrew played a key role affirming Canada ’s position in the context of international trade negotiations that it would make no liberalization commitments affecting culture while an international convention on cultural diversity was being developed.

Just months after succeeding Pettigrew last December, Jim Peterson used one of his first speeches on trade policy this past February in Toronto to clearly reiterate Canada ’s position that "certain areas are not open to negotiation. I refer, of course, to areas of critical importance to Canada , reflecting our own unique values, such as our health care, public education, social services and culture. They are not on the table, they never have been and never will be."

With the Doha round of WTO negotiations resuming, Minister Peterson will have a key leadership role advocating Canada ’s position in this forum. As will Minister Pettigrew, whose Foreign Affairs department is responsible for Canada ’s ambassadors both at UNESCO and the World Trade Organization.

Meanwhile, Minister Frulla’s predecessor, Hélène Chalifour Scherrer, who during her brief tenure as Heritage Minister was a strong advocate for an effective convention on cultural diversity at UNESCO, has been appointed to the position of principal secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office, replacing the departing Francis Fox.

CCD Reps Meet with Canada’s New Ambassadors
to UNESCO, WTO

New cabinet ministers are not the only notable changes in terms of key players on the cultural diversity file: there are also new faces on the diplomatic side as well. In September, former Liberal MP Yvon Charbonneau will arrive in Paris to succeed Louis Hamel as Canada ’s Ambassador to UNESCO, while Don Stephenson moves to Geneva to succeed Sergio Marchi as Ambassador to the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Ambassador Charbonneau first came to prominence as president of the Quebec teachers union, a position he held for 14 years. Later, he worked in the environmental sector before entering politics in 1994, when he was elected to Quebec ’s National Assembly. In 1997, he moved to the federal stage when he was elected as the MP for Anjou-Rivière-des-Prairies. During that period he held a number of roles, including Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health (1999-2001) and Parliamentary Secretary to the Deputy Prime Minister (2003-2004).

Meanwhile, Charbonneau’s predecessor Louis Hamel is returning to Ottawa to take on the position of Director of Foreign Affairs’ Africa Division.

Although Don Stephenson has been away from direct involvement with the cultural sector since 2002, when he joined the Privy Council Office as Assistant Secretary to the Cabinet, Economic and Regional Development Policy, many will recall him from previous appearances at CCD board meetings when he was Director General of Trade Policy Bureau II at the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade from September 2000 to October 2002. Many cultural organizations also had frequent contact with him in the late 1990s, when he was Director General of Cultural Industries with Canadian Heritage.

Prior to leaving for their new postings, the new ambassadors met with CCD representatives to discuss the state of play on the cultural diversity file. On August 17, Ambassador Stephenson met with CCD Executive Vice-President Robert Pilon and External Relations Director Jim McKee and discussed not only the implications of the recent relaunch of the Doha Round of negotiations at the WTO, but also the timeline for the WTO to develop and communicate its position regarding the proposed convention for the protection of diversity of cultural contents and artistic expressions to UNESCO.

On August 18, CCD Co-Chair Pierre Curzi, Robert Pilon and Jim McKee met with Ambassador Charbonneau to discuss the climate leading up to the first UNESCO inter-governmental negotiations session to be held in Paris September 20-25.

Meanwhile, Canadian Heritage Assistant Deputy Minister International and Intergovernmental Affairs Jean-Pierre Blais, who has held departmental responsibility for the cultural diversity file for the past two years, has been appointed to Assistant Deputy Minister of Cultural Affairs, with responsibility for book, music, film and television policy, among other files. He will continue with responsibilities on the cultural diversity file on an interim basis, and will be in Paris for UNESCO’s first intergovernmental negotiations session September 20-25.

CCD Continues Active Program
of International Missions

If there was one lesson to be taken from the First International Meeting of Professional Associations from the Cultural Milieu, hosted by the CCD in Montreal in September 2001, it was that follow-up missions to meet with cultural professional organizations in their home country are essential to sparking the formation of new coalitions. Follow-up of this kind resulted in seven new coalitions getting off the ground before the end of 2002.

With this lesson in mind, CCD officials went into follow-up mode immediately following the Third International Meeting in Seoul , Korea , June 1-4. CCD Executive Vice-President Robert Pilon embarked on a marathon that saw him meet with leading cultural organizations as well as key government officials in China, Brazil, Uruguay, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador and Mexico, concluding the trip with an early July meeting in Washington with officials of the Organization of American States in anticipation of the Second Meeting of OAS Culture Ministers in Mexico City held August 23-24.

Pilon was also on hand in Madrid, Spain, in early July when a group of 3 key cultural organizations there held a public meeting to announce their intention to establish a coalition and to invite the country’s principal cultural organizations to join. The meeting was accorded extensive coverage in the leading Spanish daily, El Pais, and is expected to lead to a coalition formally being established in Spain by October.

Meanwhile, Director of External Relations Jim McKee proceeded from Seoul to meetings with cultural professional organizations in South Africa , England , and, in conjunction with Debora Abramowicz of the French Coalition , in Dublin , Ireland .

Some of the missions were preliminary in nature, raising awareness of the campaign to secure a convention on cultural diversity at UNESCO and underscoring the risks to culture arising from bilateral, regional and WTO trade negotiations. But the missions to Latin American countries were particularly successful, as in the weeks since new coalitions have been constituted in Colombia , Peru and Uruguay . As well, organizations in Ecuador are making progress towards establishing a coalition of their own, and there is strong interest in Brazil and Ireland .

TOP

• Cultural Diversity Convention a Priority Issue for New Heritage Minister Frulla at OAS Meeting

• Ministers Frulla Joined by Ministers Pettigrew and Peterson As Key Players on Cultural Diversity File

• CCD Reps Meet with Canada’s New Ambassadors to UNESCO, WTO

• CCD Continues Active Program of International Missions

  
  
  

  
  

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