Highlights:
Vol. 4, No. 2, May 2006
PM Harper, Premier Charest Pledge Governments to Work Jointly on UNESCO Convention Ratification Campaign,
Then Meet CCD Reps in Quebec City
On May 5, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Quebec Premier Jean Charest met with Coalition for Cultural Diversity Co-Chair Pierre Curzi and Executive Vice President Robert Pilon to discuss the state of play in the campaign to ratify the UNESCO convention on the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions.
The meeting took place immediately following a signing ceremony held at Quebec ’s National Assembly to conclude a new agreement between the two levels of government establishing a formal role for Quebec at UNESCO.
The main component of the agreement provides for Quebec to appoint a permanent representative who will be integrated into the Permanent Delegation of Canada to UNESCO headquarters in Paris .
The campaign to put in place the UNESCO convention is explicitly addressed in the agreement. The preamble recalls that the federal and Quebec governments “worked together actively in promoting the adoption of the Convention on the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions by the General Conference of UNESCO” and it commits Ottawa and Quebec to “continue this work in promoting the ratification and implementation of this international instrument.”
In his remarks at the signing ceremony, held in the Red Room of the Quebec National Assembly, Premier Charest emphasized that the agreement set the stage for Ottawa and Quebec to continue their joint efforts on this file.
“And to show that we will not waste one second in working together once more, immediately upon signing this agreement, the first act of the Prime Minister of Canada and the Premier of Quebec will be to convene a meeting of our respective ministers with the Coalition for Cultural Diversity,” he said.
Joining Prime Minister Harper and Premier Charest for the meeting with the CCD were Minister of Foreign Affairs Peter MacKay, Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities Lawrence Cannon, and Quebec Minister of Culture and Communications Line Beauchamp.
During the approximately 30-minute meeting, Pierre Curzi and Robert Pilon emphasized the high level of importance that all of the Coalition’s 39 member organizations attach to seeing the convention enter into effect as quickly as possible. To this end, Canada’s continued leadership internationally in promoting rapid ratification of the convention by other countries will be key, they said.
Curzi and Pilon also laid out the CCD’s own domestic and international action plans for the year ahead.
Canada became the first country to ratify the UNESCO convention last November, one month after it was adopted by an overwhelming vote of 148-2 at the agency’s 33 rd General Conference in October.
Thirty countries must ratify the convention for it to enter into effect, but a much broader ratification base will be required to give the convention true political and legal weight, Curzi and Pilon noted.
The high level of importance both Ottawa and Quebec place on the agreement formalizing Quebec’s role at UNESCO was underscored by the number of ministers present for the signing ceremony.
Joining Prime Minister Harper and Premier Charest for the signing ceremony were Minister MacKay and Quebec Minister of International Relations, Monique Gagnon-Tremblay, whose departments negotiated the agreement.
Also taking part were Minister Cannon, and Benoit Pelletier, in his capacity as Quebec Minister responsible for Canadian Intergovernmental Affairs.
Also present on behalf of Ottawa were the Minister Responsible for International Cooperation and La Francophonie Josée Verner, Minister of Industry Maxime Bernier, Minister of Labour and Minister of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Region of Quebec Jean-Pierre Blackburn, and Minister of Public Works and Government Services, Michael Fortier.
Canadian Heritage Minister Oda Meet
With CCD’s Curzi, McIntyre and McKee
The CCD’s Co-Chairs Pierre Curzi and Scott McIntyre were in Ottawa May 19 for their first meeting with Minister of Canadian Heritage Beverley Oda.
The Minister was joined by Deputy Minister Judith Larocque and Jacques Paquette, Assistant Deputy Minister, International and Intergovernmental Affairs and Sport.
Minister Oda reiterated her government’s support for the UNESCO convention on the diversity of cultural expressions, and focused the 45-minute discussion on an exchange of views regarding the strategy and concrete actions that can be pursued to obtain timely ratification of the convention by a broad group of countries.
Joined by Jim McKee, the Coalition’s Director of External Relations, Curzi and McIntyre reaffirmed the strong commitment of the CCD’s member organizations to seeing the convention ratified and implemented quickly, and praised the clear engagement on this count by Prime Minister Harper and Premier Charest in their recently-announced agreement formalizing Quebec’s role at UNESCO (see above article).
In presenting the CCD’s own work plan for the year ahead, Curzi, McIntyre and McKee emphasized that the Coalition will maintain its strategy of encouraging the formation of new coalitions in other countries as vehicles for promoting ratification on a country-by-country basis, and work in concert with existing coalitions to support their work to persuade their governments to ratify the convention quickly.
The CCD’s representatives noted that the 35 coalitions now in existence are increasingly coordinating their efforts regionally and intra-regionally, and that the coalitions movement was also expanding the global cultural sector’s mobilization in support of ratification by developing strong relationships with international bodies such as CISAC, the federation of authors’ and composers societies, and Media Entertainment International (MEI), FIA (the international actors’ federation), and FIM (the international federation of musicians).
Minister Oda closed the meeting by pledging to use forthcoming meetings with her counterparts from other countries to encourage them to ensure their governments ratify the convention on a timely basis.
Convention Ratification Campaign Figures Prominently
in Quebec’s New International Policy
The Government of Quebec’s newly announced international policy reaffirms its resolve to work to see the UNESCO convention on the diversity of cultural expressions ratified by a large number of countries—and to maintain its support for the work of the CCD.
Released on May 24 by Minister of International Relations Monique Gagnon-Tremblay, the new policy clearly declares Quebec’s ongoing commitment to seeing the convention widely ratified and implemented.
The policy’s 2006-09 Action Plan states:
“The Ministry of Culture and Communications, the Ministry of International Relations and the Ministry of Economic Development, Innovation and Exports have developed, in concert with the Coalition for Cultural Diversity, an action plan aimed at supporting and encouraging the ratification of the Convention by the largest possible number of countries. This work is being carried out in concert with the federal government.”
“The government, in this regard, will continue its support for the Coalition for Cultural Diversity.”
As part of the announcement, Gagnon-Tremblay joined Minister of Culture and Communications Line Beauchamp in announcing $4.2 millions will be allocated over the next three years towards the international distribution and marketing of Quebec cultural works.
“The active defense and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions, just as with initiatives to support the flourishing of the French language internationally, figure among the priority actions of the policy,” Minister Beauchamp stated. “They are essential to the respect of the foundations of Quebec identity.”
CCD’s Pilon Undertakes Month-long Mission
to Six Countries
CCD Executive Vice President began an intensive month-long international mission that will take him to six countries on May 10 in Beirut by taking part in a two-day conference on the implications of the trade and culture debate.
The conference was organized and hosted by the Middle East office of the Heinrich Böll Foundation, with the participation of the CCD in its capacity as Co-Secretariat of the International Liaison Committee of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity (ILC).
Working in conjunction with Ghassan Koteit of the Fondation Cinéma Liban, Pilon also used his time in Lebanon to meet with the country’s Minister of Culture to discuss the government’s plans for ratifying the convention.
Pilon concluded his four-day stay in Lebanon with a meeting of the country’s cultural organizations. The principal subject of discussion was the possibility of establishing a local coalition. Ghassan Koteit is coordinating ongoing discussions to this end, and the organizations have begun looking at the legal statutes adopted by the coalitions in Tunisia , Morroco and Burkina Faso as models.
The following week, Pilon was in Paris to join Debora Abramowicz of the French Coalition and Kodjo Noussouglo of the Togolese Coalition for meetings with Katarina Stenou, UNESCO’s director of the division of cultural policies and intercultural dialogue, and with officials of the Secretariat of the International Organization of La Francophonie. Abramowicz, Noussouglo and Pilon also held working meetings to flesh out plans for a meeting of coalitions and cultural organizations from Francophonie member countries to be held in Togo in mid-September, just prior to the Francophonie Summit of Heads of State and Governments, to be held September 28 and 29 in Bucharest, Romania .
On May 16, Pilon travelled to Brasilia , where he met with leaders of the Brazilian Coalition for Cultural Diversity and joined them for a meeting with Juca Ferreira, Executive Secretary with the Ministry of Culture, to discuss the expected timeline for ratification of the convention in Brazil and more generally throughout South America .
Joined by Geraldo Moraes, President of the Brazilian Coalition, Pilon then represented the ILC at a meeting of officials of the International Network on Cultural Policy (INCP)’s working group on cultural diversity and globalization. The meeting was preparatory to the annual ministerial meeting of the INCP, which will be held in Brazil November 24 and 25.
On May 22, Pilon was in Asuncion to take part in an event held to mark the creation of the new Paraguayan Coalition for Cultural Diversity, and joined its coordinator, Alejandra Diaz, for a meeting with the country’s Minister of Education and Culture, and for a round of meetings with senior officials from Culture and Foreign Affairs ministries and media interviews.
As this issue of CCD Update was going into production, Pilon was headed to Bolivia, and Ecuador for meetings with representatives of local cultural organizations, coalitions, ministers and government officials.
The final leg of the mission will take place June 4 to 8 in Fortaleza, Brazil , where the Brazilian Coalition will host a meeting of South American coalitions, joined by Spain and Canada.
Recent Changes on the Cultural Diversity
Desks of Ottawa and Quebec :
On March 6, René Bouchard took on the responsibilities of Director General of the International Affairs Branch, succeeding the retiring Denny Gélinas. Bouchard was previously Director General of Heritage’s Broadcast Policy and Innovation Branch.
Meanwhile in Quebec, on May 1st, Dave Atkinson took on the responsibilities of Coordinator and Acting Director of Quebec’s Governmental Secretariat for Cultural Diversity with the Ministry of Culture and Communications.
In his position, Atkinson is the key contact within the Quebec government on the UNESCO convention file, coordinating the activities on this file among the three ministries involved: Culture and Communications, the Ministry of International Relations, and the Ministry of Economic Development, Innovation and Exports.
He succeeds André Dorval, who had held the position for three years, throughout the period when the UNESCO convention was being negotiated and voted on at UNESCO.
Atkinson is no stranger to the file, having served as the Ministry of Culture and Communication’s Principal Advisor with its Cultural Diversity Bureau from 2000 to early 2003.
Motion Backing UNESCO Convention Obtains All-Party Support in Quebec National Assembly
The strong Quebec political consensus in support of the UNESCO convention on the diversity of cultural expressions was again evident on May 23 when MNAs from all three political parties voted unanimously in the National Assembly to endorse a motion urging its ratification by the largest possible number of countries.
The motion was proposed by Minister of Culture and Communications Line Beauchamp on the occasion of International Cultural Diversity Day. In introducing the motion, the Minister emphasized the convention’s importance for Quebec, and paid tribute to all those who had worked to see the convention successfully adopted last October.
« I want to recall the tireless work of members of the previous government, and of the Coalition for Cultural Diversity as well, which was born in Quebec in 1998, became Pan-Canadian and has been ably led by Pierre Curzi, Robert Pilon, Jim McKee. We must look here if we want to understand why today we count close to 35 coalitions in as many countries working in support of ratification and implementation of the convention ».
Minister Beauchamp also thanked and congratulated Professor Ivan Bernier for his important contribution in the elaboration process of the convention.
Daniel Turp, the Parti Quebecois’s culture and communications critic, pursued a theme addressed by the Minister : the work still ahead required to ensure a critical mass of countries ratify the convention.
Turp noted that since Canada ratified the convention, Burkina Faso had as well, and that several countries— France , Brazil , Chile , Uruguay , Mali , Gabon , Senegal , China , India and Switzerland —have set in motion their ratification processes.
This—combined with the recent endorsement by the European Union, which sets the stage for its 25 member states to ratify—significantly increases the chances of reaching the minimum requirement of 30 ratifications so that the convention could be implemented at the October 2007 General Conference, he noted.
« I ardently hope that this will be the case, and this sentiment is shared by the totality of my colleagues and deputies of the official opposition here in the National Assembly, » he said.
MNA Sylvain Légaré, speaking for l’Action Démocratique du Québec, added his party’s voice in support for the convention.
Update is published by
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Editor: Jim McKee
Contributors: Robert Pilon,
Jean-Luc Pilon et Lise Bourgeau
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