In an all-out announcement, the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) unveiled its policy on Sunday “in terms of the Canadian Francophonie”, a first in Quebec for nearly a decade. Investments of millions of dollars, annual conferences and cultural exchanges are on the menu of this vast program.
“It’s beneficial in both directions,” explained the Minister responsible for Canadian Relations and the Canadian Francophonie, Sonia LeBel in an interview with the Homework. “I see us as a French-speaking island in America, Quebec. The rest of the Francophonie is our shores, our safe zones. The stronger they are, the more our island will grow. »
A few minutes earlier, she presented to the press her plan of 75 actions to establish the role of Quebec in the defense of French in America. “We have a responsibility towards our French-speaking compatriots elsewhere,” she underlined.
In summary, his government is proposing to designate March 22 as “Quebec Day of the Canadian Francophonie” in order to remind Quebecers that “we must support Francophones across Canada,” according to Minister LeBel.
His firm also wants to introduce a “francresponsible label”, a label that identifies the offers of services in French across the country. This “identification” does not yet have a logo or precise criteria, but Mme LeBel hopes to make it a standard bearer of the French fact. In an interview, she even mentions a route for French-speaking tourism in America: “only the imagination is the limit”.
Quebec will also grant more scholarships to stimulate exchanges between La Belle Province and the French-speaking and Francophile regions of Canada. Quebecers will thus be able to study more easily in French-Canadian universities, and vice versa for French-speaking students outside Quebec.
To pay for all this, Quebec “will double its financial support by the year 2024-2025”. This represents additional expenditures of $8 million over three years, for a total of $24.5 million.
Continue the conversation
“The most important measure, the one that underpins everything else”, according to Mme LeBel, will consist of hosting representatives of the various French-speaking communities in Canada each year at a summit in Quebec. A first conference of its kind was held in June 2021, and the next meeting is scheduled for May 9 and 10, 2022, in Quebec.
This space for “continuous conversation” between the poles of the Canadian Francophonie was a repeated request from communities across the country, according to the Minister. “Quebec has taken great care of its French and now is the time to reach out,” she says.
This outstretched hand will be caught, assures the president of the Federation of Francophone and Acadian Communities (FCFA), Liane Roy. She sees in it “an impressive change in the discourse of the Quebec state in the way they perceive their role in the Canadian Francophonie”.
This time, she points out, there is a vision that “commits the entire Quebec administration”. For example, M.me Roy now expects to be able to negotiate directly with education-related ministries when planning student exchanges. The same goes for issues related to youth. In fact, more than 20 Quebec departments and organizations are affected by this policy.
As long as Quebec recognizes that it “is not going to speak on our behalf, but simply to defend French”, the president of the FCFA says she is enthusiastic about the idea that “the Quebec government exercises its leadership” in the matter.
However, she doubts the government’s ability to do everything in just three years. “The downside is that we wonder how they are going to do these 75 actions with their budget. »
With or against Canada?
This Quebec policy on Canadian Francophonie was unveiled only a few days after the presentation of a federal bill on the same subject. It’s just a coincidence, according to Sonia LeBel. “We are late in our initial game plan,” she explains, the pandemic having delayed the filing of this action plan by more than a year.
“The federal government definitely has a role to play. [en matière de défense du français]. It’s not a snub to anyone, ”she says.
Seeing Ottawa’s Bill C-13 as “great steps forward,” she nonetheless insists on Quebec’s responsibility to lead the charge. “When one of our official languages in Canada is in difficulty, we have a responsibility to act so that this language survives and flourishes. »