Prime Minister François Legault will travel to the 18e Francophonie Summit, which opens on November 19, to talk mainly about the economy. But he would benefit from taking an interest in other subjects, such as education and the place of French and Francophone cultures in the digital world. And to talk, since the subject is essential, of the future of the International Organization of La Francophonie (OIF).
The Minister of International Relations and La Francophonie, Martine Biron, a former Canadian radio journalist, does not have an economic profile, but she will relay to Djerba, Tunisia, the priority of the Legault government. If in France, it is the quest for French investment that motivates its action, in Africa, it is rather the export markets that it intends to develop. While in Paris, the Minister did not fail to recall the “primary importance” of Quebec’s relationship with France by launching an economic event, the Year of Franco-Quebec Innovation 2023, which will see about twenty French delegations, made up of entrepreneurs and academics, land in Quebec, and almost as many Quebec delegations make the opposite route, we learned on Wednesday. This 18e Summit is the first for four years, the last edition of the biannual event having been canceled due to the pandemic, but also to the new Tunisian political regime.
Digital is the order of the day. Québec intends to promote its information technology industry and its artificial intelligence sector. But it is access to French-language digital content, disadvantaged by algorithms designed for the English-speaking world, which represents a major challenge, as pointed out by the former Minister of International Relations and La Francophonie Louise Beaudoin and the former administrator of the OIF Clément Duhaime, in a text published in The Press. They suggest that institutions follow the example of the TV5MondePlus global network, created a few years ago, to ensure free online access to cultural, educational and scientific content in French. This is not strictly economic, but it is important.
While the federal government continues to deny study permits to a large number of African students who are accepted with open arms into our French-language CEGEPs and universities, the minister has placed at the bottom of her list of priorities for the Summit vocational training and immigration. The Legault government should start by demanding that Ottawa stop its discriminatory practices against these candidates from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.
La Francophonie is not at the end of its troubles. As reported The duty, several actors in the field, in Africa in particular, are concerned about the reduction in the OIF’s action in education, a theme that is nevertheless at the heart of its mission, since the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Rwanda Louise Mushikiwabo took the reins of the organization, in 2019. In our pages, the great Senegalese poet Amadou Lamine Sall deplored the “invisibility” of the OIF, which the heads of state, gathered at these summits, would lead to the grave. He called for the holding of an extraordinary summit to rebuild La Francophonie.
After the remarkable and sumptuous passage of the Canadian Michaëlle Jean, the OIF still experiences governance problems. As revealed a week ago by Radio-Canada, which relies on internal documents, the Games of La Francophonie, which are to take place in Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, next summer, could be canceled , notably due to cost overruns and organizational shortcomings.
Finally, the question of respect for human rights has resurfaced with acuity since the Summit is taking place in Tunisia, where the autocratic regime of President Kaïs Saïed has settled. Justin Trudeau hesitated before announcing himself, as did French President Emmanuel Macron, who has just confirmed his presence. François Legault also weighed the pros and cons. Be that as it may, Ottawa was not going to let Quebec take part in the Summit without being present.
The governments of several states brought together by the OIF are not, strictly speaking, democracies. Despite everything, we can hope that taking part in the OIF Summit and helping to strengthen La Francophonie is the best way to improve things. It is about the fate of hundreds of millions of French speakers and the future of a certain idea of cultural diversity in the world.