The last days of the year 2021 give us the opportunity to highlight a marker in the history of Quebec’s international relations, namely the 15th anniversary of the agreement between the governments of Canada and Quebec relating to UNESCO, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
On May 5, 2006, Prime Ministers Stephen Harper and Jean Charest signed this agreement which recognizes Quebec’s unique personality on the international scene and which formalizes the right of representatives of the Government of Quebec to speak, within the permanent delegation of the Canada, in the various forums of this organization.
Academics and opposition parties shouted loud and clear for political recovery, a caricature of asymmetric federalism and the sacrifice of Quebec’s international autonomy. Quebec’s “jump seat” at UNESCO was the expression consecrated by opponents at the time.
The promoters of this agreement, for their part, spoke of a historic moment for Quebec diplomacy, of a Meech in international relations and of a consecration of the Gérin-Lajoie doctrine for Quebec’s international action in multilateral organizations.
One thing is certain, this whole debate obscured the fact that the United Nations of sovereign States are not the Francophonie, that UNESCO’s governance is not that of the International Organization of the Francophonie (OIF) and that Quebec is not Nor did he have to claim a simple associate member status, be content with it and parade alongside Anguilla, Curaçao, the Faroe Islands or Tokelau. The diplomatic instrument that emanates from this agreement is unique. It allows the Quebec state to express itself within the various bodies and to assert its own positions, while respecting the practices that govern relations between the member states and the United Nations.
As the first representative of the Government of Quebec within the Permanent Delegation of Canada to UNESCO, I had the great privilege of contributing to the negotiation and implementation of the 2005 Convention on the Protection and the promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions. I have been the privileged witness of what we can bring to the international community. Quebec, alongside France, Canada and La Francophonie, was able to land in force with its best university experts, its government experts, its artists, its diplomats and its politicians, from all parties.
Strike force
This strike force allowed his ideas to spread to the great international powers, in good complicity with those involved in Canadian diplomacy. Result of the races, this convention recognizes the right of the States to use all the necessary means to protect and promote their cultural and creative industries, to protect their artists and to counterbalance the predators of the digital universe which lead to the transformation of industries. cultural. This convention aims to create the conditions allowing cultures to flourish and interact freely in such a way as to mutually enrich each other. Finally, this international instrument specifically recognizes the importance of the role of women in culture and in society, as well as traditional knowledge linked to First Nations.
Ten years later, as Delegate General of Quebec in Brussels and involved in the last stage of negotiations and in the implementation of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the European Union, it It is with great pride that I took note of the preamble of this new generation trade treaty which takes up the framework of the 2005 UNESCO Convention in order to guide the negotiation of trade issues linked to culture.
The representatives of Quebec who have taken up the torch at UNESCO over the past 10 years have carried this message of cultural diversity, but have also stimulated other debates at UNESCO, whether it be the fight against radicalization, bioethics or social issues related to artificial intelligence.
To mark Quebec’s 15 years of institutional presence at UNESCO, the government, through its Minister of Culture and Communications, announced that the work Get up!, by Quebec artist of French and Anishinaabe origin Caroline Monnet, will be part of UNESCO’s prestigious permanent collection at the organization’s headquarters, Place Fontenoy, in Paris. This work joins those of Giacometti, Picasso, Miró and others who marked their time, their country and their nation. These works are the vectors of the universal values of UNESCO whose mission is: to build peace in the minds of men and women.
Get up! illustrates very well this fight of indigenous women for their dignity and the remarkable contribution of indigenous peoples to the diversity of cultural expressions, as we prepare to celebrate the International Decade of Indigenous Languages 2022-2032.
Get up! also illustrates the road traveled by Quebec for the recognition of its international action.
This is how far a folding seat can take us.