For the first time in history, a Quebec prime minister will address the assembly of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on Thursday. François Legault will deliver a ten-minute speech to representatives of more than 80 permanent delegations, including around fifty ambassadors.
After meeting the general director of the organization which brings together 194 states, Mr. Legault intends to plead in favor of the defense of linguistic pluralism in a digital world most often dominated by English.
With the exception of the International Organization of La Francophonie (OIF), UNESCO is the only major international organization where Quebec has a representative under an agreement concluded with Ottawa on May 5, 2006. Unlike the OIF , where Quebec is a full member, Quebec’s representative to UNESCO, Catherine Cano, occupies an office within the Canadian delegation.
It must be said that Quebec, with France and Canada, played a major role in the early 2000s in convincing UNESCO member countries to adopt the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of cultural expressions. The Prime Minister’s intervention is part of the desire of Quebec and France to amend this convention so that it takes into account the digital world. A subject on which Quebec is at the forefront and which it has also managed to impose as a subject of debate at the OIF summit which will be held on October 4 and 5 in Villers-Cotterêts and in Paris.
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