This text is part of the special Francophonie booklet
The thing seems so obvious that one is surprised that it has just been born. In all the provinces, there are federations of French-speaking business people and other economic development councils, but no representative organization bringing together all these beautiful people ” a mari usque ad mare “.
In January, the Federation of Quebec Chambers of Commerce (FCCQ), the Federation of Francophone Business People of Ontario (FGA), the Economic Council of New Brunswick (CENB) and the Economic Development Council of Alberta (CDEA) announced the creation of a common structure: the Canadian Francophonie Economic Alliance (AFEC). “Our idea is to speak of the French language other than in defence,” said Charles Milliard, president of the FCCQ.
For several years, he explains, the various organizations had been experimenting with collaborative frameworks. For eight years, the FCCQ and the CENB have been organizing the Rendez-vous Acadie-Québec. Since 2021, the Quebec organization and the FGA have been awarding the Ontario-Quebec Francophonie Trade Awards, which reward French-speaking businesses that contribute to increased trade between Quebec and Ontario. “I had also attended the Economic Development Council of Alberta conference, which impressed me greatly,” says Charles Milliard.
Dominic Mailloux, president of the FGA, explains that the collaboration had intensified since 2021 at the time when the four organizations discussed in virtual 5 to 7 in the presence of Mélanie Joly, then Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages. During the same period, the Government of Quebec had organized the Summit on the rapprochement of Canadian Francophonies, and discussions with the Quebec Secretariat for Canadian Relations were also frequent. At the Francophonie Summit in Djerba, Tunisia, in November 2022, the idea of creating the AFEC took hold and things quickly fell into place.
“We want to talk about the Francophonie differently, as an added value, says Dominic Mailloux. Our idea is that networking will generate business opportunities and open trade routes between Francophones. The objective of the AFEC is to establish the driving forces of Francophone economic development in Canada. »
The eternal mesh
“We have a place to take in Canada,” said Charles Milliard. For a few years now, our organizations have been working on the French-language component of major Canadian events, such as the Toronto Global Forum, where we had our French-language half-day, and the national convention on public transit. In Toronto, a third of the room was made up of English speakers who attended without simultaneous translation. We are now targeting other events. »
Impressed by the recent cooperation agreement between Collège Boréal in Sudbury and the Canadian School of Tunis, Dominic Mailloux is convinced that opportunities for networking and networking must be created. “The ecosystem is in place, there are Francophone chambers of commerce everywhere, in Saint-Boniface, in Halifax. It is up to us to encourage encounters. »
Among the imperatives of AFEC is the project to grow the network beyond the four founding organizations. “Discussions are going well with Manitobans and British Columbians. We would like to have at least one representative body per province,” says Charles Milliard.
Another important aspect concerns collaboration with politicians. According to Dominic Mailloux, the AFEC will make its demands heard with government authorities and produce recommendations.
In these eyes, what is happening is in keeping with the spirit of what Mariette Mulaire has been doing in Manitoba since 2007. The former president of the World Trade Center in Winnipeg had argued the added value of bilingualism to the Manitoba government by organizing Centrallia, an international French-speaking forum for SMEs, the first of its kind in Western Canada, and by attracting an impressive number of French-speaking companies, such as the French Roquette and Ubisoft and the Quebec Alt and Nordik Hotels Spa-Nature. “She had made the Manitoba government understand that French was also business. »
In addition to creating events and ensuring a strong Francophone presence at Canadian business events, AFEC wants to activate the international Francophone economic component.
“It was nevertheless the Government of Quebec, at the time of Jean Charest, which initiated the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement with the European Union, and which is underused by Canadians, while the Francophonie represents still a big chunk in Europe, says Charles Milliard. Success doesn’t just happen in the United States. We are thinking of Europe, of course, but also of Africa, which is an exceptional market. »
“Language can be a facilitator in creating wealth. In Ontario, there are 5,000 Francophone business women and men, says Dominic Mailloux. There are 321 million French speakers in the world [selon les chiffres de 2022]. As Francophones, we are the best placed to develop trade corridors to France, Belgium and Africa. Business opportunities are to be seized. »
This special content was produced by the Special Publications team of the Duty, relating to marketing. The drafting of Duty did not take part.