International Federation of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity (IFCCD) - Montreal to be Home to New International Federation for Cultural Diversity

MONTREAL TO BE HOME TO NEW INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION FOR CULTURAL DIVERSITY

PRESS RELEASE
Seville, Spain – Thursday, September 20, 2007

A new international federation of cultural organizations dedicated to upholding the right of countries to apply cultural policies has chosen to base itself in Montreal.

On Wednesday, September 19, delegates from 37 countries voted unanimously to establish the International Federation of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity (IFCCD) and to locate the head office in Montreal, where the Canadian Coalition for Cultural Diversity is also headquartered.

“The creation of the Federation truly represents an historic moment in the evolution of the coalitions movement,” said Solange Drouin, Co-Chair of the Canadian Coalition and also Executive Director of the Quebec independent music producers’ association ADISQ. “We are particularly pleased that our colleagues from around the world decided that the Federation be headquartered in Canada.

The coalitions movement was launched in 1999 with the creation of the first Coalition for Cultural Diversity in Canada, which brings together 35 of Canada`s leading cultural organizations from the sectors of books, music, film, television, live performances, visual arts and new media. Today, there are Coalitions for Cultural Diversity in 42 countries, representing more than 600 cultural professional organizations.

The coalitions movement has been instrumental in building support among cultural organizations around the world as well as at the political level for an international instrument, or treaty, that would recognize the distinctive nature of cultural goods and services and affirm the sovereign right of countries to apply policies in support of their domestic cultural industries.

This campaign ultimately resulted in the UNESCO convention on the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions. Adopted by an overwhelming vote of UNESCO member states in October of 2005, the convention entered into force March 18 of 2007, three months after it surpassed the minimum threshold of 30 ratifications.

To date, 67 countries have ratified the UNESCO convention.

Delegates attending the Seville Congress also agreed that the first meeting of the Federation’s board of directors should take place in Ottawa, immediately prior to the first meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee for the UNESCO convention on the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions, which will take place December 10-14, 2007.

“The decision to create the Federation is a reflection of the remarkable growth of our movement over the past eight years,” Drouin, who was also elected to the board of directors of the new Federation, explained.

“Even more important, it signals our recognition that the work to maximize the legal and political weight of the UNESCO convention is still ahead of us,” she added. “The Ottawa Intergovernmental Committee meeting will be crucial to ensuring the momentum we have generated in channeled into the implementation phase for bringing this convention to life.”

Meanwhile, the work in support of broader ratification must continue: to achieve its full potential, the UNESCO convention needs to quickly surpass the 100 ratifications threshold, and ultimately reach the level of 150 ratifications that is the benchmark for any major international agreement.

“The unanimous decision made in June at the inaugural Conference of Parties to the Convention to select Ottawa as the host of the first Intergovernmental Committee meeting in Ottawa was clearly in recognition of the leadership role that Canada has played in championing this convention,” said Jim McKee, Executive Director of the Canadian Coalition, who was appointed General Secretary for the Federation. “Canada is now well-positioned to continue in this role, and ensure an effective launch of the implementation process.”

“It’s equally fitting that the Federation’s headquarters will be located in Montreal, because the coalitions movement was launched here,” added Solange Drouin. “Since it was created, the Canadian Coalition has benefited from strong, sustained support from the Government of Canada and the Government of Quebec. Without this support, the emergence of the coalitions movement internationally and its evolution into a formally-constituted Federation would quite simply not have been possible.”

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