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Collaboration Agreement for the Development of Arts and Culture in the Francophone Minority Communities of Canada 2018-2023

Collaboration Agreement for the Development of Arts and Culture in the Francophone Minority Communities of Canada 2018-2023 [PDF version - 488 KB]

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Collaboration Agreement

Agreement signed on the 6th day of December 2018.

Between the Department of Canadian Heritage, the National Arts Centre, the Canada Council For The Arts, the Société Radio-Canada, the National Film Board Of Canada, and Telefilm Canada (Hereinafter The “Federal Institutions,” Represented By Their Respective Delegates) of the one part, and the Fédération Culturelle Canadienne-Française (Hereinafter, The “FCCF,” Represented By The Chair Of The FCCF), of the second part.

Whereas all the participantsFootnote 1 in this Agreement acknowledge the importance of arts and culture for the development and vitality of the Francophone and Acadian communities of Canada and recognize the contribution of these communities to the Francophone expression of arts and culture in Canada;

Whereas arts and culture are engines of economic and social development, they strengthen the capacity of citizens, the vitality and identity of Francophone and Acadian communities, and contribute significantly to the development of the country;

Whereas under section 41 of the Official Languages Act, the Government of Canada is committed to enhancing the vitality of the English- and French-language minority communities in Canada, supporting and assisting their development, and fostering the full recognition and use of both English and French in Canadian society;

Whereas under section 42 of the Official Languages Act, the Minister of Tourism, Official Languages and La Francophonie, in consultation with other federal ministers, encourages and promotes a coordinated approach to the federal institutions’ implementation of the Government of Canada’s commitment to enhance the vitality and development of the English- and French-language minorities in Canada and foster the full recognition and use of both English and French in Canadian society;

Whereas in implementing the Official Languages Act, the federal institutions wish to put positive measures in place for the minority-language communities;

Whereas the FCCF brings together representatives of national theatre, publishing, song/music, media arts and visual arts groups, a group of performing arts presentation networks, a network of community radio stations, and representatives from 11 provinces and territories in Canada focused on cultural and artistic development in the Canadian FrancophonieFootnote 2 (see list in Annex 1);

Whereas the FCCF mobilizes key players from the cultural and artistic sector of the Canadian Francophonie and champions an innovative and inclusive vision of arts and culture serving the Francophone and Acadian communities;

Whereas the FCCF and its members base their actions and activities on the strategic planning for each of their sectors and on the comprehensive development plan for the artistic and cultural sector of the Canadian Francophonie;

Whereas the previous collaboration agreements facilitated cooperation between the artistic and cultural sector of the Canadian Francophonie and the federal institutions by enabling the artistic or cultural community concerned to express its needs;

Whereas the coordination mechanisms established under those agreements, such as working groups, have demonstrated the value of a coordinated approach between the various stakeholders;

Whereas the signatories to the previous agreements have collectively identified strategic collaboration themes and expressed their willingness to work together on priorities for action; and

Whereas the Department of Canadian Heritage, the National Arts Centre, the Canada Council for the Arts, the National Film Board of Canada, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Telefilm Canada and the FCCF wish to strengthen their cooperation by entering into this Agreement.

Now therefore, the participants agree as follows:

1 — Background

1.1 Background of the Agreement

In 1998, a first Agreement for the Development of Francophone Arts and Culture in Canada, also known as the Multipartite Cooperation Agreement on Culture, was signed by the federal institutions—Canadian Heritage, the National Arts Centre, the Canada Council for the Arts—and the Fédération culturelle canadienne-française for an initial term of three years, which was subsequently extended a number of times to 2009.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the National Film Board of Canada both became signatories to the Agreement, respectively in 2000 and in 2002. In 2009 Telefilm Canada also joined the group of signatories.

This Agreement is further to an assessment to which all of the signatories contributed; they wish to renew this Agreement for a five-year term.

2 — Agreement objectives

2.1 The purpose of this Agreement is to strengthen the coordination and consolidate the collaboration between the participants, as part of the positive measures related to arts and culture, to encourage the development of the Francophone and Acadian minorities in Canada and to promote their contribution to the country’s wealth of arts and culture.

2.2 As part of their mandates, the signatories shall act collectively, wherever possible, to better respond to the issues that arise in the Francophone minority community artistic and cultural sectors. They will work in concert to strengthen the capacities of the Canadian Francophonie’s arts and culture sector so that it engages in more outreach in Canada and abroad.

3 — Artistic and cultural strategic collaboration themes

In the context of their respective programs, the signatories wish to take positive measures associated with the strategic collaboration themes of the artistic and cultural sectors below, and identify priorities for action based on the terms and conditions set out in Annex 2.

4 — Responsibilities of the participants

4.1 Responsibilities of the federal institutions

4.1.1 The federal institutions agree to collaborate, exchange and share information about strategic collaboration themes, in particular, those identified in Article 3, to identify priorities for action, and to contribute resources based on their means and expertise, while respecting each signatory's mandate and scope of activities, in accordance with the terms and conditions set out in Annex 2 of the Agreement.

4.1.2 The federal institutions undertake to make provisions for their activities related to this Agreement in their respective strategic plans and to report on these as part of the implementation of section 41 of the Official Languages Act.

4.2 Responsibilities of the FCCF

4.2.1 The FCCF agrees to ensure joint action by the stakeholders in the artistic and cultural sector of the Canadian Francophonie with regard to the strategic collaboration themes (particularly those identified in Article 3) and priorities for action, in keeping with the mandate and scope of activities of each signatory and in accordance with the terms and conditions set out in Annex 2 of the Agreement.

4.2.2 The FCCF undertakes to incorporate the activities related to this Agreement into its strategic planning and to report on them, particularly in its annual reports.

4.3 The roles of the participants are described in Annex 2.

5 — Assessment

5.1 The participants agree that the assessment shall cover the Agreement objectives and be carried out through the mechanism described in Annex 2.

6 — Term

6.1 This Agreement shall take effect on the date on which it is signed by all of the participants and shall terminate, barring its cancellation beforehand, on March 31, 2023.

6.2 One year before the expiration of this Agreement, the participants shall meet to lay the groundwork of their future collaboration.

7 — Amendment

7.1 This Agreement may be amended with the written consent of all of the participants or any person duly authorized to represent them.

8 — Communication with the Canadian public

8.1 The participants agree that it is important to provide the Canadian public with appropriate information about this Agreement and the measures adopted hereunder.

8.2 The participants agree that the full text of this Agreement will be available to the Canadian public.

9 — Annexes

9.1 The following annexes are an integral part of this Agreement:

Annex 1: Members of the Fédération culturelle canadienne-française

Annex 2: Mechanisms for the administration, coordination and assessment of the Agreement

In witness whereof, the duly authorized representatives have signed this Agreement.

For the federal institutions

For the Fédération culturelle canadienne-française

Annex 1

Members of the Fédération culturelle canadienne-française

  1. Alliance culturelle de l'Ontario (ACO)
  2. Alliance des radios communautaires du Canada (ARC)
  3. Alliance des producteurs francophones du Canada (APFC)
  4. Alliance nationale de l'industrie musicale (ANIM)
  5. Association culturelle franco-manitobaine (ACFM)
  6. Association acadienne des artistes professionnel.le.s du Nouveau-Brunswick (AAAPNB)
  7. Association des groupes en arts visuels francophones (AGAVF)
  8. Association des théâtres francophones du Canada (ATFC)
  9. Association franco-yukonnaise (AFY)
  10. Centre culturel franco-manitobain (CCFM)
  11. Conseil culturel et artistique francophone de la Colombie-Britannique (CCAFCB)
  12. Conseil culturel fransaskois (CCF)
  13. Conseil provincial des sociétés culturelles (CPSC)
  14. Fédération culturelle acadienne de la Nouvelle-Écosse (La FéCANE)
  15. Fédération culturelle de l'Île-du-Prince-Édouard (FCÎPÉ)
  16. Fédération des francophones de Terre-Neuve et Labrador (FFTNL)
  17. Fédération franco-ténoise (FFT)
  18. Front des réalisateurs indépendants du Canada (FRIC)
  19. Regroupement artistique francophone de l'Alberta (RAFA)
  20. Regroupement des éditeurs franco-canadiens (RÉCF)
  21. Réseau national des galas de la chanson (RNGC)
  22. Scènes francophones (SF)

Annex 2

Mechanisms for the administration, coordination and assessment of the Agreement

Committee of signatories

A committee of signatories meets annually to discuss the operation of the Agreement. This committee, co-chaired by the Director General of the Official Languages Branch (OLB), Department of Canadian Heritage, and the President of the FCCF, comprises one representative at the executive level designated by each of the participants in the Agreement. This designated representative becomes the key contact person for the Agreement within the participant he or she represents. If one of the co-chairs cannot be present during a meeting, this role may be delegated to a person from their organization to replace them.

The members of the committee of signatories ensure general monitoring of the Agreement and the coordination of related activities.

During the annual meeting of the committee of signatories, the members of the committee exchange on the possibilities for collaboration to support the work of the working groups and identify priorities for action on which they will focus the discussions and work of various coordination mechanisms that arise from the Agreement.

The committee of signatories can also create a new working group to study one or more priorities of action. It can also end the mandate of a working group when it deems that the latter has delivered satisfactorily.

Working groups

Working groups were formed among certain members of the FCCF or other representatives of the artistic and cultural sector and federal institutions as part of the preceding Agreements. Working groups are currently active in the following areas: media arts, visual arts, song/music, theatre and publishing. These working groups are major coordinating mechanisms in the Agreement. They provide a forum for exchanging ideas and discussing the needs of the artistic and cultural sector of the Canadian Francophonie and serve as a tool for collaboration and coordinating initiatives between the Francophone community and the federal institutions.

They may be called on to work on the priorities for action identified by the committee of signatories.

These working groups may be interdisciplinary and therefore include external participants as guests when their contribution is deemed necessary or useful in meeting the Agreement’s objectives.

The FCCF (through its members in the artistic and cultural sector) and the federal institutions concerned participate in the planning and implementation of the work of each working group. Each of the working groups will be co-chaired on a voluntary basis by one FCCF representative and one representative from the federal institutions.

The working group co-chairs will be responsible for reporting annually to the committee of signatories on the status of progress of these working groups’ discussions and work.

The Interdepartmental Relations and Accountability Directorate (IRAD), OLB, will provide general coordination and serve as the secretariat for the annual meetings of the working groups. The IRAD will also work closely with the co-chairs of the working groups to identify and invite the representatives from the federal institutions and the different sectors of the Department of Canadian Heritage that should participate in these meetings.

Each participant may propose the creation of a working group, and each participant shall designate the person(s) it wishes to delegate to the working groups.

The frequency of working group meetings varies and shall be determined based on the needs of the participants in the Agreement.

Bilateral meetings with the signatories to the Agreement

In the spirit of cooperation established by the Agreement, the FCCF organizes bilateral meetings annually or as needed with the executives and senior managers of the federal institutions. These meetings, attended by the FCCF with a delegation of its members, provide an opportunity to take stock of the progress made on strategic collaboration themes and identify potential future collaboration. The IRAD may participate in these meetings, by invitation as an observer, in its role of overall coordination of the Agreement.

Agreement monitoring and assessment mechanisms

The participants agree to take the measures needed to assess their own initiatives, policies and programs in the context of their respective reporting.

One year before the Agreement expires, the participants will meet to establish the bases of their future collaboration. In this respect, in the fourth year of the Agreement, the committee of signatories shall plan and carry out a study to assess the effect of the signatories’ cooperation and collaboration on the progress of the strategic collaboration themes and the various priorities for action identified by the committee of signatories. The committee of signatories will have the mandate to develop the assessment framework and to ensure the participation in this study of all signatories and other parties involved, which it will identify.

Coordination roles

The IRAD shall coordinate and provide the secretariat of the committee of signatories, taking into account the monitoring and assessment mechanisms described previously.

The IRAD will provide coordination and the secretariat for the working groups’ annual meetings.

The IRAD and the FCCF, through its members, shall agree on the organizations that will participate in the working groups.

The FCCF shall prepare minutes of the relevant points raised in the bilateral meetings. Once the reports have been approved by the FCCF and approved by the federal institutions involved, the FCCF shall submit them to the IRAD.

The IRAD shall prepare minutes of the annual meetings of the working groups and the committee of signatories, and will share them with all signatories.

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