In the wake of the mission of Quebec’s Minister of Culture and Communications, Mathieu Lacombe, to UNESCO, the question of Quebec’s place in this UN forum has again arisen. I allow myself a clarification by basing my legitimacy on the fact that I had the privilege of having been the first official representative of Quebec, from 2006 to 2011, under the Canada-Quebec Accord on UNESCO .
From the outset, it is necessary to recall that UNESCO is a UN agency governed by the rules of the United Nations. To become a member, there are only two possible paths, unless you want to be accredited among NGOs or national commissions, as is the case for Catalonia.
The first path is that of full members and is reserved for sovereign States recognized by the international community, which gives them all powers, such as sitting on bodies (general assembly, executive council, intergovernmental committees, etc.), participating to the work of standard-setting instruments (conventions), influencing agendas, draft decisions and the conduct of debates.
Having official status within the Permanent Delegation of Canada gives Quebec access to all of these activities and bodies, provided that common ground is found with the Canadian authorities. Diplomacy is therefore exercised at all levels.
UNESCO has 193 Member States, including Palestine. The Holy See is an observer there and two states are said to be non-members: the United States and Israel, which slammed the door in 2018 following the accession of Palestine, thus depriving the organization of a certain international legitimacy, and above all a large budget. The United States has announced its willingness to rejoin the organization soon.
The second route is that of associate members. Twelve small federated or regional states, often islands, are part of this group. They cannot exercise full powers, are more observant and owe their support to the countries to which they belong.
None of the associate members can be compared to Quebec. Without denigrating the British Virgin Islands, Aruba, Tokelau or the Åland Islands, Quebec has greater ambitions, a unique diplomatic system in the world, a significant membership in the world of the Francophonie, a recognized contribution on the international scene in sustainable development, culture, education, science and many more.
The only possible option
The political and administrative arrangement which allows Quebec to sit on the permanent delegation of Canada and to make its voice heard according to its international policy, its program and its competences is not only the best, but the only option. possible. The operating rules of international organizations are like this.
The achievement that best demonstrates the merits of this arrangement for Quebec is undoubtedly the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, one of the greatest successes of Quebec diplomacy since the consecration of the Gérin-Lajoie doctrine. Quebec researchers, artists, civil society and government, under the leadership of the Ministry of International Relations and La Francophonie, have benefited from the Canada-Quebec Accord and its arrangement.
In complicity with the International Organization of La Francophonie, this ecosystem paraded for years in the offices of UNESCO and delegations in Paris, laid the foundations for the first versions of the Convention, imposed its rhythm in the bodies, influenced operational guidelines and positioned its experts to strengthen the capacities of countries in the South.
This success would never have been possible without the political and administrative arrangement in effect since 2006. We could list other significant achievements under Quebec’s leadership, in terms of ethics in science, the fight against radicalization or ethical responsibility of artificial intelligence.
This practice of international relations sometimes makes other member states and the UN civil service uncomfortable, just as it breaches the Westphalian order of sovereign states and makes some representatives of Global Affairs Canada cringe. But modernizing institutions is always a bit of a nuisance.
It will be interesting to see how this arrangement will influence Canada’s behavior in the work of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution, whose fourth negotiating session will take place in Ottawa in the spring of 2024. Although this future normative instrument has subject of a major forum last week at UNESCO, it is the United Nations Environment Program which will be in charge of it.
Québec is an important and recognized player in the great masses of the UN conventions on climate and biodiversity. In this sense, it is legitimate for it to be complicit with the Government of Canada, as is the case with UNESCO.