Highlights:
Vol. 4, No. 4, December 2006
Ministers Oda, Beauchamp Make Case for Ratification at OAS Culture Ministers’ Meeting
Minister of Canadian Heritage Beverly Oda and Quebec Minister of Culture and Communications Line Beauchamp both used the Third Inter-American Meeting of Ministers of Culture and Highest Appropriate Authorities of the Organization of American States as a platform to promote ratification of the UNESCO convention on the diversity of cultural expressions.
Minister Oda hosted the meeting, held November 13-15 in Montreal, and over the three days returned to the theme of the importance of securing widespread ratification of the convention on a number of occasions, including during her remarks at the opening reception for the meeting.
"Canada remains vigorously committed to pursuing ratification of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions by a large number of countries representing all regions of the world, including the Americas," said Minister Oda. "Ministers and Highest Appropriate Authorities in attendance acknowledged the importance of ensuring that all of us continue to have a voice to express our identities."
Joined by Senator Andrée Champagne, Minister Oda also held a series of bilateral meetings with other OAS member delegations to promote its ratification.
The week after the OAS meeting, on November 24, speaking in the House of Commons, Minister Oda took the opportunity to emphasize the federal government’s close working relationship with Quebec on the convention file, noting that “Both I and my colleague, Madame Line Beauchamp, Quebec’s minister of culture, are taking every opportunity to encourage our colleagues from other countries to pursue ratification of the convention.” The cooperation and share views expressed by two ministers on this file parallels the rapport evident between Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Premier Jean Charest on May 5 when they signed an agreement in Quebec City specifying a formal role for Quebec within the Canadian delegation at UNESCO.
Meanwhile, hosting a luncheon for the OAS ministers on November 14, Minister Beauchamp delivered an in-depth speech detailing the evolution of the campaign to put in place an international convention to protect and promote the diversity of cultural expressions. In it, she explained the crucial role that cultural policies have played in supporting the emergence of a thriving Quebec culture, and detailed her government’s extensive efforts to build international support for the UNESCO convention through the negotiations and into the current ratification campaign.
Noting that the ratification campaign was progressing quickly, Beauchamp emphasized the importance of “the Americas being well represented, notably on the Intergovernmental Committee, where several important decisions will be made with respect to the implementation and follow-up to the convention”.
The Minister stressed that the work must not end with securing the minimum number of 30 ratifications required for the convention. A much greater base of ratifications will be required to give the convention legal and political credibility. And she emphasized that now was the time to prepare for an effective implementation of the convention:
“For our part, here in Quebec, realizing the importance of seeing the convention implemented in an ‘inspired’ manner, we have already started work on this question,” she said. “This work was launched by the publication of a study by professor Ivan Bernier, an international expert who is consulted by all fora engaged in works relating to the convention, and who I asked to identify the optimal conditions for implementing the convention,”
Minister Beauchamp concluded with an appeal to her OAS colleagues :
“The future of our cultural expressions depends on the choices that we must make today,” she said. “We must first convince our governments to engage in support of the convention by ratifying it, and to play an active role in the implementation process. Doing so must begin by being present for the first Conference of Parties. It falls to us, ministers and high officials, to make this happen.”
Earlier in her speech, Minister Beauchamp emphasized her government’s strong continuing working relationship on the UNESCO convention campaign with civil society, notably with Canada’s Coalition for Cultural Diversity, and invited the CCD’s Executive Vice President, Robert Pilon, to address the ministers.
In his remarks, Pilon focused on the importance of widespread ratification of the convention from every region of the world, and urged the OAS ministers and officials present to ensure their governments ratified the convention on a priority basis. “To this end, we welcome every opportunity to work with you, to reach out to cultural organizations in your countries—many of which already have coalitions—to ensure the convention is not only ratified quickly, but implemented effectively.”
PM Harper: Canada will ‘vigorously’ pursue ratification of the UNESCO Convention
In September, Prime Minister Stephen Harper used his first speech at a Summit of Heads of State and Government of the International Organization of La Francophonie to emphatically state his government’s commitment to seeing the UNESCO convention on the diversity of cultural expressions ratified quickly.
Speaking in Bucharest, Romania, on September 28, the Prime Minister saluted La Francophonie saying it “had played a major role in the adoption of a convention at UNESCO that makes cultural diversity an undeniable frame of reference.”
Given Canada’s bilingual and multicultural character, he said it was “no accident that Canada was the first to ratify this convention.” And he indicated Canada would continue to strongly support it within and beyond Francophonie:
“Let me be clear, we will be vigorously pursuing ratification of the Convention on cultural diversity in both our official languages,” he said.
Held September 28-29 in Bucharest, Romania, the Francophonie Summit brought together heads of state and government from the 55 member states of La Francophonie. The organization has been a strong supporter of the idea of convention on cultural diversity dating back to the Final Declaration issued at its Beirut Summit in 2002, and reaffirmed at the organization’s November 2004 Summit in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, at the time when the convention was being negotiated.
The Bucharest Declaration reiterated this support, with a strong emphasis on Francophonie member countries completing and depositing their ratifications with UNESCO as quickly as possible. In reality, Francophonie member states figure prominently among the countries that have ratified the convention so far—of the 21 states that have filed with UNESCO, 12 are Francophonie members.
CCD Founding Co-Chair Pierre Curzi Steps Down After Seven Years
On November 13, at a meeting of the Executive Committee of the CCD held in Montreal, Pierre Curzi announced that he was stepping down as Co-Chair of the CCD—a position he has held since the CCD was established in November of 1999.
In a letter he read to his colleagues on the Executive Committee, Pierre explained that his decision was driven by a desire to ensure “that the announcement that I will be seeking the nomination to be the Parti Quebecois candidate for the riding of Borduas will create neither offence nor obstacle to the relations of the Canadian Coalition for Cultural Diversity with its different provincial and federal partners.”
“I leave, with regret, a magnificent organization—magnificent in the people who created it and give it life, remarkable in its effectiveness and admirable in the results it has achieved,” he said, while emphasizing that he would continue to be “an ardent defender of cultural diversity no matter where my destiny takes me.”
“What tempers the sadness I feel in leaving you all is the victory that we have gained for a cause that was all but unknown even six years ago. We have persuaded one hundred and forty countries, virtually the entire world, of the need to protect and promote cultural diversity. This is no small achievement. I have the feeling that we have laid the basis for what could be a peaceful world that is respectful of our differences.”
“But this convention is nothing without a breath to give it life: launching and implementing it remain inspiring challenges and, who knows, may yet require us to win other battles. I have no doubt as to those future victories.”
In response, the CCD Executive unanimously adopted a motion thanking Pierre for his seven years of tireless service on behalf of the Coalition, during which he met with Prime Minister Harper, former Prime Minister Martin, Premier Charest, had countless meeting with Canadian and Quebec ministers and officials responsible for the file, and represented the coalitions movement in international missions to UNESCO headquarters in Paris, Argentina, Chile, Croatia, Hungary, Mexico, Spain and Switzerland.
Pending an election of a new Co-Chair to join Scott McIntyre at the next annual general meeting of the CCD, the Executive has appointed Solange Drouin, Vice-President of Public Affairs, Executive Director of ADISQ, and CCD’s Treasurer, to serve as interim Co-Chair.
Missions to Argentina, Brazil, India, Ireland, South Africa, South Korea, Togo, U.K. Figure in CCD’s Fall Work Program
On December 2, CCD Executive Vice-President wrapped up the Coalition’s final international mission for this calendar year in Bogota, Colombia, with meetings with the Colombian Coalition for Cultural Diversity to initiate preparations for a meeting of coalitions and cultural organizations of the Americas planned for mid-March 2007.
Pilon began his South American mission by travelling to Rio de Janeiro to lead a delegation of the International Liaison Committee of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity that appeared before the annual ministerial meeting of the International Network on Cultural Policy (INCP). He was joined by Geraldo Moraes, President of the Brazilian CCD and his colleague Jom Tob Azulay, Mané Nett, President of Chile’s CCD, and Cheikh Ngaido Ba of Senegal’s CCD.
He then flew to Buenos Aires, where he met with several member organizations of the Argentinian Coalition, and with Canada’s Ambassador to Argentina, Yves Gagnon, to discuss the status of the campaign to have Argentina ratify the UNESCO convention.
The South America trip concluded a typically intense fall program of international work that began in September when Pilon travelled to Paris to join a delegation of the International Liaison Committee of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity that met with Abdou Diouf, Secretary-General of La Francophonie, to discuss the state of the UNESCO convention ratification campaign among the organization’s member states, and to explore avenues for continuing the close working relationship between La Francophonie and the CCDs in support of quick ratification of the convention.
While in Paris, Pilon also met with Bhaswati Mukherjee, India’s Ambassador to UNESCO, to discuss India’s timetable for ratification, and to advise the ambassador of upcoming missions the CCD will be undertaking to her country with the goal of mobilizing an Indian CCD.
Pilon then joined Jim McKee, the CCD’s Director of External Relations, in Sun City to take part in the Africa and Diaspora Conference on Cultural Diversity and Sustainable Development, held September 11-14 and hosted by South Africa’s Department of Arts and Culture.
There, Pilon and McKee joined political leaders, government officials and civil society representatives from 16 countries for an intensive discussion on the ratification and implementation of the UNESCO convention on the diversity of cultural expressions. Rene Bouchard, Director General of International Affairs, Canadian Heritage, represented Canada at the conference.
While in South Africa, Pilon and McKee also met with several leading cultural organizations representing actors, writers, songwriters, independent music producers based in Johannesburg to explore the potential for creating a new coalition in that country.
Immediately following the Sun City Conference, Pilon travelled to Lome, Togo, to take part in the Second Meeting of Coalitions and Cultural Organizations from Francophonie Member countries, joining the CCD’s researcher Jean-Luc Pilon. Coalitions and cultural organizations from 27 countries took part in the meeting, and Pilon was part of a three-member delegation that then travelled to Bucharest, Romania, and on September 26 presented the Lome Declaration to the meeting of ministers responsible for Francophonie, which was held immediately prior to the Francophonie Summit of Heads of State and Government.
In October, Pilon was part of an ILC delegation that met with the INCP Working Group on Cultural Diversity and Globalization in Paris, then travelled to the Dominican Republic to make a presentation to officials attending the Second Meeting of Culture Ministers of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP).
Meanwhile, Jim McKee travelled to London to meet with leading UK cultural organizations that have expressed an interest in establishing a coalition, and also met with Michael Helston, head of the international unit of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, to get an update on the U.K.’s timetable for ratifying the convention. McKee also travelled to Dublin for a meeting with member organizations of Ireland’s Coalition for Cultural Diversity to discuss efforts underway to encourage their government to ratify the convention quickly. Also in October, McKee was in Korea to represent the Canadian Coalition and the ILC at a seminar organized by Korea’s Coalition for Cultural Diversity in the context of the Pusan International Film Festival. The seminar was the latest effort by the Korean CCD to persuade their government to reconsider its recent decision to slash its domestic screen quota in half in order to meet a U.S. precondition for launching negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement.
In November, McKee travelled to Algiers to make a presentation to the African Committee of CISAC, the International Confederation of Authors and Composers, then travelled to Mumbai to take part in meetings of unions from India’s film and television sectors, and to make a presentation to the World Executive Committee of Media Entertainment International (MEI), an umbrella organization bringing together unions from the media, entertainment and arts sectors that is part of the UNI-MEI Global Union.
The CCD resumes its international activities in January 2007 when Pilon and McKee join a Government of Ontario mission to New Delhi and Mumbai headed up by Premier Dalton McGuinty.
Gilbert Laurin Appointed Canadian Ambassador to UNESCO
Gilbert Laurin, Canada’s new Ambassador and Permanent Delegate to UNESCO, brings extensive international experience to his new posting.
Ambassador Laurin, whose appointment was announced in October by Minister of Foreign Affairs Peter MacKay, was previously Canada’s Deputy Permanent Representative and Ambassador to the United Nations in New York. He joined the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in 1994, serving in the Legal Operations Division and, from 1997 to 2001, in Rome.
Before that, he had postings to Marseille, Paris and Damascus with Canada’s Commission on Employment and Immigration.
Ambassador Laurin succeeds Yvon Charbonneau, who served in the post from 2004 to 2006.
Coalition 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,
Jean-Luc Pilon
Coalition Update is published with the financial assistance of
