Highlights:
Vol. 5, No. 2, July 2007
UNESCO Conference of Parties:
Canada Elected to Convention’s Intergovernmental Committee—
Will Host First Meeting December in Ottawa
Canada was successful in its efforts to be elected to the Intergovernmental Committee for the UNESCO convention on the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions. Canada was one of 24 member states elected to the Committee during the first Conference of Parties to the Convention, held June 18-20 in Paris.
Canada’s offer to host the first meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee in Ottawa was also accepted by the 56 member states attending the Conference—a tribute to Canada’s leadership role in championing the convention, as the member states made an exception to the strongly supported rule that such meetings should normally be held at UNESCO headquarters in Paris.
The Intergovernmental Committee is in effect a kind of steering committee for the convention. Its responsibilities include developing the mechanisms for making the convention operational, including drafting the guidelines for the International Fund for Cultural Diversity.
Delivering Canada’s opening statement during the Conference, René Bouchard, Director General, Department of Canadian Heritage, set out Canada’s priorities for an effective implementation of the convention.
As a member of the Intergovernmental Committee, he said, Canada will “concentrate its efforts on the key elements of the Convention, including implementing the International Fund for Cultural Diversity, promoting international cooperation, and encouraging the active participation of civil society.”
“Canada believes that civil society must participate in this dialogue in order to ensure a quick and effective implementation of the convention,” he emphasized.
With respect to the Fund, he said that Canada believes that it « should be based on a series of solid guiding principles that are true to the spirit of the convention. Moreover, the Fund must be complementary to other existing funds, have impacts that are structural in nature, and be focused on obtaining concrete results for its beneficiaries.”
Bouchard reiterated Canada’s pledge to contribute to the Fund, but the amount Canada will contribute has not yet been made public.
Michel Audet, Quebec’s representative within Canada’s permanent delegation to UNESCO, emphasized his government’s resolve to continue actively supporting the convention.
“By sharing our best practices, favouring an openness to diverse cultural expressions, by supporting the international outreach work of artists and the coalitions for cultural diversity and finally, by appealing for the broadest possible ratification, we must maintain our engagement towards this convention, which embodies the goals and values of UNESCO.”
Solange Drouin, Co-Chair of Canada’s Coalition for Cultural Diversity, and Jim McKee, Executive Director of the Coalition, attended the conference as part of the observers delegation of the International Liaison Committee of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity.
New CCD Executive Committee Elected
ICo-Chairs Solange Drouin and Scott McIntyre head up the new Executive Committee of the Coalition for Cultural Diversity, which was elected at the CCD’s June 8 Board of Directors meeting in Montreal.
Drouin is the Executive Director and Vice President of Public Affairs of the Quebec independent music producers association ADISQ, and McIntyre is the representative of the Association of Canadian Publishers and Chairman and CEO of Douglas & McIntyre Ltd.
Yves Légaré, Executive Director of SARTEQ, was elected treasurer and Mario Chénart, representative of SPACQ, was elected secretary.
The following vice presidents were also elected: Danielle Bilodeau, Executive Director of Théâtre de la Ville and representative of RIDEAU; Victor Davies, representative of SOCAN; Monique Lafontaine, General Counsel and Director Regulatory Affairs for the Directors Guild of Canada; Raymond Legault, President of Union des Artistes; Catherine Loumède, Policy Director of AQTIS; Guy Mayson, President and CEO of the CFTPA; Maureen Parker, Executive Director of the Writers Guild of Canada and Gilles Pellerin, representative of ANEL.
Strong Turnout for CCD Tribute Evening to Convention Champions
More than 130 people attended the June 8 celebration hosted by the Coalition for Cultural Diversity in honor of ministers, experts and officials who helped advance the campaign for the UNESCO convention on the diversity of cultural expressions, as well as the Coalition’s own co-chairs through this period, who were instrumental in advancing its own efforts to mobilize support within the cultural milieu here in Canada and around the world as part of the campaign for the convention.
Ministers honored as part of the tribute included: Minister of Canadian Heritage Beverley Oda who was represented by Michael M Fortier, Minister of Public Works and Government Services, Monique Gagnon-Tremblay, Quebec Minister of International Relations, Line Beauchamp, Quebec Minister of Sustainable Development, Environment and Parks and Quebec former Minister of Culture and Communications (2003-2007) and Caroline Di Cocco, Ontario Minister of Culture.
Former ministers who contributed to the file who were also honored include: Sheila Copps, former Minister of Canadian Heritage (1996-2003), Louise Beaudoin, former Quebec Minister of Culture and Communications (1995-1998) and former Quebec Minister of International Relations (1998-2003), Agnès Maltais, former Quebec Minister of Culture and Communications (1998-2001), Diane Lemieux, former Quebec Minister of Culture and Communications (2001-2003), Hélène Scherrer, former Minister of Canadian Heritage (2003-2004), Liza Frulla, former Minister of Canadian Heritage (2004-2006) and Madeleine Meilleur, former Ontario Minister of Culture (2003-2006).
Experts honored were Ivan Bernier, professor emeritus at the Faculty of Law, Laval University, and member of the group of independent experts for the elaboration of the preliminary draft convention, as well as cultural industries lawyer and author of Blockbusters and Trade Wars/Le Marché des étoiles, Peter Grant.
Officials honored were Andre Dorval, former Executive Director of International Affairs (2002-2006) and former Governmental Coordinator of cultural diversity file Quebec, Ministry of Culture and Communications (2004-2006), and Jacques Paquette, former Assistant Deputy Minister, International and Intergovernmental Affairs and Sport, Canadian Heritage (2004-2007) and Canada’s chief negotiator during the UNESCO intergovernmental talks that culminated in the convention being adopted by a landside vote at the agency’s 33rd General Conference in October of 2005.
The evening concluded with a thank you and farewell tribute to Robert Pilon, who was stepping down after almost eight years as Executive Vice President of the Canadian Coalition. The Coalition’s Co-Chair, Solange Drouin (Executive Director and Vice President of Public Affairs of ADISQ), and its new Executive Director, Jim McKee, presented the tribute, which included homage delivered by former Coalition Co-Chair Pierre Curzi, Astral Media Chairman Andre Bureau, and Paulo Slachevsky, a Santiago-based independent publisher, who was the first President of the Chilean Coalition for Cultural Diversity, the first new coalition to be established in another country as a result of the First International Meeting of Professional Associations from the Cultural Milieu held September 2001 in Montreal.
The Coalition thanks its sponsors for this celebration: Astral Media Radio, MusicAction, and SODEC.
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:
Jean-Luc Pilon, Julie Masson
Coalition Update is published with the financial assistance of
