This text is part of the special Francophonie booklet
Organize the first Quebec Day of the Canadian Francophonie: this is the mandate given to the Center de la Francophonie des Amériques by the Government of Quebec. On March 22, all of the country’s Francophone communities will be honored to celebrate their considerable contribution to the French language.
“This reflects the government’s commitment to affirming its desire to unite us around a common project for the promotion of French in Canada,” explains Sylvain Lavoie, President and CEO of the Center de la francophonie des Amériques.
Its objective is to make known the reality and the added value that the Canadian Francophonie brings to the practice of the language from east to west. A reality that is all the more crucial in minority communities, such as New Brunswick, where Sylvain Lavoie is from.
A variable reality
An initiative that is all the more crucial as it occurs in the context of the decline of the French language that we observe today in Quebec. “Speaking French is a choice we make and renew every day,” says Sylvain Lavoie. The 2.7 million Canadian Francophones who live outside Quebec represent very dynamic communities that work hard to promote French and develop their communities in a context that is not always easy. Some of their ideas, their initiatives or their proposals could feed our reflection here in Quebec to maintain the vitality of the Francophonie,” underlines Sylvain Lavoie.
In fact, speaking French in the rest of Canada can be likened, in certain contexts, to an act of resilience. What we do not always measure in Quebec. It is this reality of Canadian Francophone communities and their sense of belonging to the French language that this day of March 22 wishes to underline in the context of the Mois de la Francophonie.
In the program
It is the faces of two people who participated in the 2022 edition of the Forum of Young Ambassadors of the Francophonie of the Americas that appears on the visual of the Quebec Day of the Canadian Francophonie: Annie Desjardins, from New Brunswick, and David Kandula, from Alberta, but residing in Ontario. This forum is a training program in French aimed at young adults in the Americas aged 18 to 35, aimed in particular at developing their leadership and making them aware of the various challenges and issues of the Francophonie of the Americas.
In Montreal, the grand finale of the Dictée PGL de la Francophonie will be organized on this occasion by the Paul Gérin-Lajoie Foundation as part of the Francofête festivities of the Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF). It is the business community that will thus be challenged to take part in the exercise. The text of the dictation, written by the author originally from New Brunswick, Vanessa Léger, will be read by the minister in person. Fransaskois artist Alexis Normand will also perform at the ceremony. A way of underlining the importance given to the international language that is French, spoken on five continents, and which is expressed in a multitude of sectors of activity, as much in the world of culture as in that of business.
A motion related to the Quebec Day of the Canadian Francophonie will also be tabled in the National Assembly on March 22 by Jean-François Roberge, Minister for the French Language and Minister responsible for Canadian Relations and the Canadian Francophonie.
The Center of the Francophonie of the Americas
This special content was produced by the Special Publications team of the Duty, relating to marketing. The drafting of Duty did not take part.